Global Call for Ideas

Overview

Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF) is committed to promoting scientific and religious exploration that inspires new perspectives on life’s deepest questions. We are pleased to announce that we are currently looking for new ideas to catalyze discovery and accelerate progress in the spiritual search for meaning, purpose, and truth.

As part of TWCF’s strategic planning process, we are seeking to engage the global community in a search for the best ideas wherever they may be found. This is not a traditional request for project proposals. Rather, with this Request for Ideas (RFI) we seek submissions of emerging topics that will form the basis of new funding priorities. This opportunity is expected to result in programmatic priorities funded in the range of USD 5-20 million, over a 5-7 year period.

We are looking for ideas to form the basis of future funding priorities aligned with the foundation’s purpose. Ideas should be bold and innovative, with the potential to deepen or expand our understanding of ultimate reality and what it means to be human. We seek ideas for rigorous research programs that can impact how we each see the world and our place within it. Recognizing that these discoveries may come from diverse sources we seek ideas that might illuminate and point to discoveries in three of our core areas of interest: 

1. the fundamental processes, structures and constituents of the natural world 
2. what it is to be human, as well as the various ways human beings can progress spiritually through their understanding and pursuit of virtues such as love, creativity, gratitude, forgiveness, spirituality, connection, and other positive concepts. 
3. the nature of transcendent divinity and human responses to it. 

Central to TWCF’s mission is our commitment to meaning, purpose, and truth as realities that can be known and pursued. TWCF can fund curiosity-driven research on big questions that expand the horizons of humanity’s perspectives, without necessarily expecting definitive answers. We welcome bold ideas that have potential to generate new insights, even if those ideas may be seen as too risky or contrarian by other funders. 

As well as discovery focused research, we are also open to ideas for more applied programs in specific topics (see Core Funding Areas) that will lead to long-term future benefits for humanity. 

Our current priorities and funded projects exemplify, but do not limit, the range and types of topics that we are interested in. A full description of the scope of our work can also be found in the descriptions of our core funding areas (see Appendix). We invite ideas from a wide range of disciplines, spanning the natural and social sciences, as well as humanities like philosophy and theology. Interdisciplinary ideas that integrate insights from different perspectives through open-minded inquiry are strongly encouraged.

All of TWCF’s strategic priorities are designed to advance the foundation's mandate. Within each strategic priority, individual projects must also align with one of our core funding areas. The largest focus of our grantmaking is on ‘Big Questions in Science & Religion’ outlined above, with over two thirds of our resources directed to this funding area. 

We also fund research and education programs in several specific areas chosen by our founder: genetics, character virtue development, genius, individual freedoms & free markets and voluntary family planning. Ideas related to one of these areas are also welcome.
 

May submit more than one idea (see PDF)

Link to RFI Guidance and FAQs (PDF)

This opportunity is expected to result in programmatic priorities funded in the range of USD 5-20 million, over a 5-7 year period.
Important Context (from RD): Templeton’s Global Call for Ideas is not a traditional grant competition. The USD 5–20M noted in the announcement reflects the expected total investment in the final priority area, not a single grant award. Individual submitters may receive smaller planning or concept awards depending on program development.