Grant
Social Impact Funding for Early Stage Enterprises
Draper Richards Kaplan (DRK) Foundation
At a glance
- Deadline
- Applications are taken as they come. They say: "we accept applications year round from across our priority geographies and..."
- Fee
- No fee to apply
- Who may apply
- an organisation operating in Africa, Europe, India or the United States, with select cases in Latin America
- running your own registered nonprofit or mission driven for profit organisation, generally 3 to 5 years old
- Where
- Wherever the organisation operates, within DRK's funded regions
Rolling grant or investment funding of up to 300,000 US dollars over three years for an early stage nonprofit or mission driven for profit social enterprise, plus about 500,000 dollars of in kind capacity building support such as board service and help with fundraising and scaling. Africa is one of the foundation's funded regions.
Applications are taken as they come. They say: “we accept applications year round from across our priority geographies and sectors” Read it on their page
The facts
- What you get
- Up to 300,000 US dollars in grant or investment funding over three years, plus in kind support valued at about 500,000 US dollars
- Where
- Wherever the organisation operates, within DRK's funded regions
- How long
- Three year funding relationship; the foundation reviews about 3,000 applications a year and funds up to 20
- Share of the prize or equity they take
- Not stated as required; DRK offers both grant and investment capital
Where you stand
This one is free. There is no fee to apply, and nobody should ask you for money at any point.
What they ask for
- an organisation operating in Africa, Europe, India or the United States, with select cases in Latin America
- running your own registered nonprofit or mission driven for profit organisation, generally 3 to 5 years old
- able to show impact on at least 10,000 lives within five years, and a growable earned income stream
Get ready to apply
Built only from what this listing states.
A long application, by our reading.
1. What to get ready
An online form; it names no documents. Some forms do not save as you go, so set aside time to do it in one sitting.
In their words: “Online application form only; email submissions are rejected”
2. Dates
- No closing date is stated.
- Openings with no closing date can close once they have enough people, so sooner is safer. Our advice
Download checklist (.txt) Send to WhatsApp
The download is a small text file. You can read it later without data. It also lists each condition they set, so you can tick yourself against them. WhatsApp sends the same list to you, or to somebody helping you.
No CV yet? Make a plain one from your answers. Nothing you type is kept.
Tips for applying for a grant
General advice from us, the same for every grant. It is not what this organisation says; that is above.
- Say what the money is for, exactly, and how much of it goes where. A simple budget in a table is enough.
- Describe what you have done so far, with numbers you can prove: customers, people served, sales, months running.
- Check whether they need your business registered, and in which country.
- Answer their questions in their order. Reviewers score each one.
If there is an interview or a test
- Expect questions on your numbers. Know them without reading them.
- Be ready to say what happens to the project if you do not get the grant.
All our tips and messages to copy. Practise answering, with nothing kept. Received an offer? Check whether it is real, then read before you say yes.
How to apply
You apply on Draper Richards Kaplan (DRK) Foundation's own website, not here. We never send an application for anybody and we never ask you for anything to pass on. Check their page for anything not shown here.
More like this, open now
How we checked this
This was opened and verified at Draper Richards Kaplan (DRK) Foundation's own website on 5 October 2026: it was real, still open, and open to people from African countries. If anything here is wrong, tell us.