Who can apply
- Individuals aged 18 years and above
- First-time entrepreneurs
- Students and recent graduates
- Professionals
- Social entrepreneurs
- Solo founders
- Founding teams
- Applicants from low- and middle-income countries
- People ready to launch a new organisation or venture
- Very early-stage organisations focused on distributing a proven poverty intervention
- For-profit, nonprofit and other suitable business models
Focus areas
- Childhood diarrhoea treatment
- Family planning and DMPA-SC access
- Reading glasses
- Childcare
- Foundational literacy and numeracy
- Phone-based tutoring
- Road safety
- Government transparency
- Poverty graduation
- Agriculture
- Post-harvest support
- Quality agricultural inputs
- Safe drinking water
- Water filters
- Kangaroo care for newborns
- Medical oxygen access
- Patient identification and referral
- Maternal health
- Prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission
- Distribution of other proven evidence-based poverty interventions
Requirements
- Applicants must be at least 18 years old.
- The proposal must focus on distributing a proven, evidence-based poverty intervention.
- D-Prize primarily funds new organisations and first-time founders.
- Organisations with more than 18 months of full-time operations are typically not supported.
- Organisations that have raised more than US$30,000 in outside funding are typically not supported.
- Existing organisations are considered only where their core focus is distributing a proven poverty intervention.
- The founder must have a clear plan to live and work in the country where the venture will operate.
- Applicants must demonstrate understanding of the local context.
- The proposed venture should focus on one intervention rather than multiple unrelated programmes.
- D-Prize does not fund development or manufacturing of new products.
- D-Prize does not fund unproven inventions or prototypes.
- D-Prize does not fund general community projects such as building schools or wells.
- The Round 1 concept note must not exceed two pages.
- Custom Intervention applicants may submit one additional evidence page.
- Applications must be written in English.
- Only one proposal may be submitted per applicant or team in the competition.
- Concept notes and resumes must be submitted in PDF format.
Application steps
- Visit the official D-Prize website and review the current Distribution Challenges.
- Select one existing D-Prize Challenge that matches the venture you want to launch.
- Alternatively, use the Custom Intervention option if you can demonstrate strong external evidence for another proven poverty solution.
- Download and carefully read the Round 1 Application Packet and the relevant Challenge document.
- Design a distribution model explaining how the proven intervention will reach people who currently lack access.
- Prepare a two-page concept note following the D-Prize application instructions.
- Custom Intervention applicants should include the required additional evidence page.
- Prepare the founder or team resume(s).
- Convert the concept note and resume(s) to PDF format.
- Submit the documents through the official D-Prize Round 1 online submission form.
- Applicants using the extended deadline must register for an extension in advance.
- Submit by the applicable competition deadline.
Global Grants Hub strategic note
A highly accessible seed-funding opportunity for people ready to build a new organisation around the distribution of an intervention that is already proven to work. Applicants should understand that D-Prize is not looking for a new invention, a broad NGO programme or a conventional community project. The strongest proposals identify one proven solution, a population that still lacks access to it, and a practical last-mile distribution model capable of scaling substantially. First-time founders and applicants from low- and middle-income countries are strongly encouraged. Applicants intending to use the 6 December extended deadline must register for the extension in advance.