J.M.K. Innovation Prize

Overview

The J.M.K. Innovation Prize seeks to identify, support, and elevate innovators who are spearheading transformative early-stage projects in the fields of the environment, heritage conservation, and social justice.

Leveraging a legacy of catalytic grant-making at the J.M. Kaplan Fund, the Prize seeks out visionary nonprofit and mission-driven for-profit organizations that work within, across, or in a manner related to one or more of the Fund’s three program areas:

• The Environment: Slowing the pace of climate change and mitigating climate impacts.
• Heritage Conservation: Conserving the places that communities care about most.
• Social Justice: Strengthening democracy and reforming the criminal justice and immigration systems.

The Prize will be awarded to projects or ideas that:

• Represent a game-changing answer to a clearly identified need;
• Innovate within one or more of the Fund’s three program areas;
• Demonstrate the potential to develop an actionable pilot or prototype with Prize funding; and
• Hold out the promise to benefit multiple individuals, communities, or sectors through a clearly articulated theory of change.

• In 2023, we will award up to ten Prizes, each including a cash award of $150,000 over three years, plus $25,000 in technical assistance funds, for a total award of $175,000. Awardees also receive guidance through the Fund and its resource network, providing tools and training to support them through the challenges of a startup organization.
• Following review of first-round submissions, select applicants will be invited to submit a more detailed second-round application in late spring. Finalists will present their ideas to the trustees of the J.M. Kaplan Fund in the fall, with awardees formally announced in November 2023.
• The Fund normally makes grants to organizations in the United States which have tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (and are not private foundations within the meaning of section 107(c)(1) of the code), and to state colleges and universities provided that no part of the award is used for overhead or administrative expenses. 
• Register for our informational webinar – March 28, 2023, 1:00 PM ET / 10:00 AM PT