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The Open Call is open to nonprofit organizations from across the United States and U.S. Territories with annual operating budgets of no less than $1 million and no greater than $5 million for at least two of the last four fiscal years. To be eligible, 90 percent of an organization’s annual work must take place in the United States and/or U.S. Territories, and the organization must have been in existence for at least three years. Please refer to the RULES  for more information about eligibility. We encourage you to assess your fit for the Open Call by completing the Organizational Readiness Tool.

Applications must be submitted by:

• An organization that has received a favorable tax determination letter (“Tax Letter”) from the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) that it qualifies as a public charity under section 509(a)(1), 509(a)(2) or 509(a)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”), other than a Type III supporting organization, and the Tax Letter remains in effect.

• A fiscally sponsored organization and the fiscal sponsor has a favorable Tax Letter from the IRS that remains in effect.

• A private operating foundation that has received a favorable Tax Letter from the IRS that remains in effect.

• A tribal government treated as a State pursuant to Internal Revenue Code Section 7871.

To be eligible, an applicant organization must be based in the United States or U.S. Territories and at least 90 percent of their annual work must take place there. Organizations based outside of the U.S. and U.S.-based organizations conducting more than 10 percent of their work outside of the U.S. are not eligible for this Open Call.

Once the initial application submission deadline passes, the Open Call team will perform an administrative review to confirm that each submission meets the RULES and application requirements before advancing to the required Participatory Review.

During Participatory Review, each applicant organization will review the applications of five peer applicant organizations using the scoring rubric that outlines four criteria: equity-focused, track record, community leadership, and team capacity. Up to 1,000 of the top scoring organizations from Participatory Review will advance to the Evaluation Panel, where they will receive additional review and comments from five Evaluation Panel Reviewers. During Evaluation Panel Review, applications will be assessed using the same scoring rubric. 250 awardees will be selected from the top-scoring organizations to receive gifts of $1 million each.

The gifts made in this Open Call will be general operating support gifts. Accordingly, there are no restrictions on their usage.

Faith-based organizations whose main purpose is advancing the voices and opportunities of those most vulnerable, including individuals and families of meager or modest means, and groups who have met with discrimination or other systemic obstacles are welcome to apply. However, religious organizations whose main purpose is spiritual development, proselytizing, and/or religious activities are not eligible to apply.

The Evaluation Panel is comprised of highly experienced and qualified individuals from the community-led nonprofit sector, academia, and the philanthropic community recruited specifically for this Open Call. The reviewers will use the provided scoring rubric to assess eligible applications. Each application will be reviewed by at least five reviewers. You can view the list of reviewers here.