Region(s):
U.S. and U.S. Territories
Status: Registration Closed; In Process

Yield Giving Open Call

Launched on March 21, 2023, the $250 million Yield Giving Open Call is an initiative focused on elevating organizations working with people and in places experiencing the greatest need in the United States: communities, individuals, and families with access to the fewest foundational resources and opportunities. The registration period is now open.

About the Open Call

This initiative seeks community-led, community-focused organizations whose explicit purpose is to advance the voices and opportunities of individuals and families of meager or modest means, and groups who have met with discrimination and other systemic obstacles. Organizations best suited to this initiative will enable individuals and families to achieve substantive improvement in their well-being through foundational resources. This includes, for instance, organizations providing access to health care, stable and affordable housing, education and job training, support for sustained employment, asset ownership, civic engagement, and other pathways. They may also be engaged in data collection and communication to amplify the voices of people and communities struggling against inequities.

Community-led, community-focused nonprofit organizations from across the United States and U.S. Territories are invited to apply and share the impact they have had on the abilities of individuals and families in their communities to achieve substantive improvement in their well-being.

Interested organizations must register to apply before 4 p.m. U.S. Central Time on Friday, May 5, 2023. Complete applications are due before 4 p.m. U.S. Central Time on Monday, June 12, 2023. Organizations must have an annual operating budget of at least $1 million and no more than $5 million for at least two of the last four fiscal years to be eligible to apply.

The Yield Giving Open Call is being managed by Lever for Change, a nonprofit that leverages its networks to find and fund solutions to the world’s greatest challenges, including racial inequity, gender inequality, lack of economic development, and climate change.

After applications are submitted, they will undergo Administrative Review and Participatory Review by other applicants. In the Fall of 2023, up to 1,000 applicants top-rated by their peers will advance to the Evaluation Panel Review by a panel recruited for experience relevant to this initiative. The donor team will select from among the organizations recommended by their peers and this external evaluation panel and announce 250 awardees in early 2024. Each awardee will receive an unrestricted operating gift of $1 million.

Learn More & Apply

Featured Competitions

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Stronger Democracy Award Homepage Image
Closed; Awarded
Stronger Democracy Award

On July 7, 2022, Additional Ventures, The Patchwork Collective, philanthropists Cipora and Vlado Herman, ICONIQ Impact, and Lever for Change announced three recipients for the $22 million Stronger Democracy Award. The Award was launched in 2021 to drive structural reforms to help improve political representation and increase the participation of all citizens in the United States democratic process.

Civil Rights, Social Action, Advocacy
Man holds child in the air joyfully
Closed; Awarded
Racial Equity 2030

On October 11, 2022, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation announced $80 million to five awardees for its Racial Equity 2030 challenge, an open call for bold solutions to drive an equitable future for children, families, and communities around the world. The challenge was launched in 2020 to help build and scale actionable ideas for transformative change in the systems and institutions that uphold racial inequities.

Racial Equity
A group of five women
Closed; Awarded
Equality Can't Wait Challenge

On July 29, 2021, the Equality Can’t Wait Challenge announced four projects that will be awarded a total of $40 million to support their bold ideas to expand women’s power and influence in the United States by 2030: Building Women’s Equality through Strengthening the Care Infrastructure, Ada Developers Academy’s Changing the Face of Tech, Girls Inc.’s Project Accelerate, and The Future is Indigenous Women.

Gender Equality
Image displaying busy highways intersecting
Closed; Awarded
2030 Climate Challenge

On June 22, 2021, Lever for Change announced the Renewable Thermal Collaborative (RTC) as the recipient of the $10 million 2030 Climate Challenge, an award sponsored by an anonymous donor to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. RTC is jointly managed by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, David Gardiner and Associates, and World Wildlife Fund. This funding will help RTC slash industrial thermal emissions 30% over the next decade.

Environment
Aerial drone view above Lady Bird Lake showing kayakers on the water and the Austin, Texas skyline in the distance.
Closed; Awarded
Lone Star Prize

On June 15, 2021, Lever for Change and Lyda Hill Philanthropies announced that Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute was selected as the $10 million recipient of the Lone Star Prize, a Texas-based competition launched in early 2020 to improve the lives of Texans and their communities. The Meadows Institute’s “Lone Star Depression Challenge” will improve quality of life and mental health care access for communities across the state.

Health
Workforce
Environment
Young girl with her hair in braids and wearing a red, white and grey sweatshirt smiles at the camera, while running, with her mother in the background wearing a pink dress and dark headscarf, talking on the phone.
Closed; Awarded
Larsen Lam ICONIQ Impact Award

On May 4, 2021, Lever for Change and ICONIQ Impact announced that Resourcing Refugee Leadership Initiative was selected as the $10 million recipient of the Larsen Lam ICONIQ Impact Award, a competition to secure a brighter, more durable future for refugees globally. The Award sponsors successfully raised a total of $24.25 million in funding to distribute to all five finalist organizations dedicated to improving the lives of refugees around the world.

Refugee Support
An African-American man stands at the front of a room, teaching a technology class. Dressed in a green shirt and grey slacks, he is pointing at a screen.
Closed; Awarded
Economic Opportunity Challenge

On December 15, 2020, premier technology workforce development organization Per Scholas was announced as the awardee of the $10 million Economic Opportunity Challenge. The “Proven Pathways to Transformative Careers in Tech” project will improve economic opportunities for low-income individuals within the United States.

Employment/Jobs
Economic Opportunity/Mobility
Chicago CTA train pulling into the platform
Closed; Awarded
Chicago Prize

On August 6, 2020, the Pritzker Traubert Foundation (PTF) announced that Always Growing, Auburn Gresham was awarded the Chicago Prize, PTF’s $10 million grant competition that sought to invest in collaborative initiatives using physical development to spur economic activity, strengthen civic infrastructure, and improve the safety, well-being, and economic mobility of residents in the city’s South and/or West sides. PTF also committed an additional $2.5 million in development funds accessible to the other finalist teams.

Community Improvement/Capacity Building
100&Change logo 2021
Closed; Awarded
100&Change:2021

On April 7, 2021, the MacArthur Foundation announced a $100 million grant to Community Solutions to accelerate an end homelessness in 75 U.S. communities in five years. MacArthur’s Board selected Community Solutions from the six finalists in 100&Change, the Foundation's global competition to fund a single proposal that promises real and measurable progress in solving a critical problem of our time.

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