FAQs

This is a Frequently Asked Questions section collecting questions and answers about the Activate AI Challenge. It is updated on a regular basis, and we encourage you to refer back often. If you still have questions, please send an email to challenge@data.org, and we will consider your request for inclusion in the next FAQ update. Thank you for your interest and participation!

Updated: December 12, 2025

1.   Who is eligible to apply?

Eligible applicants include nonprofits, social enterprises, and academic/research institutions from across the globe. Furthermore, applicants must be located outside of Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, Ukraine (Russian-occupied territories), and Yemen, and their proposed project must meet the requirements for charitability.

If you are a for-profit entity (social impact business, research institute, think tank), you can still apply as long as you can demonstrate sufficient proof of your application’s charitable purpose. For more information, refer to the Challenge Rules.

2. Does your organization have to be 501c3 certified?

No, you do not need to be a 501c3-certified organization. Entries are eligible if they:

1. have a charitable purpose, as defined in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States of America, and 
2. are not used for any political lobbying purposes. 

More details are listed in the Challenge Rules.

3. Why must the project have an exclusively charitable purpose? 

data.org is a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Funding from 501(c)(3) organizations must be used exclusively for charitable purposes. Additionally, in order for a project to be charitable under U.S. law, it must not result in financial gain to any individual or non-charitable entity that is more “incidental and tenuous” to the related social impact. You can read more about the second requirement here.  

To meet the second requirement for charitability above, grant agreements between data.org and any Challenge Awardees that are not 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations may include stipulations relating to intellectual property. The nature of any such stipulations will be flexible and will consider your project’s unique structure and goals.

4. Is it possible to take part in this challenge as an individual researcher/consultant?

No, all applicants must be an organization. Examples include a nonprofit organization, a social enterprise, an academic institution, or a research institute. Applications from individuals will not be considered. See the Challenge Rules for more details.

5. Can I submit two proposals for different initiatives of the same org?

Organizations are limited to submitting one Entry to the Challenge. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Challenge may consider multiple Entries from universities and multilaterals. Any such Entries must be distinct, without overlap in the scope of the proposals or the project teams. If you are aware that two or more teams within your organization are submitting Entries to the Challenge, please notify us by email at challenge@data.org and include an explanation as to how your team meets the foregoing requirement. Fiscal sponsors may submit more than one application, but may only submit one application per fiscally sponsored project.

6. What is the award size?

Awardees will receive $115K in grant funding in addition to access to technical assistance.

7. How many awardees will be selected?

A minimum of five awardees will be selected. The selection committee reserves the right to make the final decision.

8. What is the deadline?

Submissions will be accepted until 11:00 pm UTC, January 8, 2026.

9. What is the timeline for the declaration of awardees?

Proposals moving to the next phase will be notified by February 2026, and awardees will be notified by Q2 2026. 

10. While AI is a part of my program design, it is one of several tech tools utilized. Do I still qualify to apply?

Yes, you do. We understand that many solutions will have AI as a tool in a larger, holistic toolkit. Please specify the use of AI in your key activities for the reviewers to understand the role it plays in bringing you closer to your goals.

11. Can I submit the application in regional languages?

We are only able to accept and review applications in English. Please explore Award Force’s user interface translation capabilities for additional support.  

12. Can I submit my proposal as a Word document?

We are unable to accept any applications in Word format. All applications need to be submitted via Award Force for consideration.

13. I am having trouble with my Award Force login. Can you please help?

Award Force has a great support center. Check out its Ultimate Guide for Entrants to see if your question is answered there. You can also submit a form to their help team if the article does not address your question.   

14. Does the proposed project need to have a specific timeline/ project period?

All applications should have a timeline of one year. Your project/solution might be longer term, and that is acceptable, but you will need to articulate what is feasible to achieve within a 12-month period.

15. What are the evaluation commitments for the award?

All awardees will be engaged in impact measurement activities during the grant period and for a short duration afterwards, which will be agreed upon at the grant agreement stage.

16. Is it possible to propose a project that takes place in multiple countries? (Same project activities happening in 2+ countries).

Yes, you can propose a project that takes place in multiple countries. Reviewers will be evaluating applications in terms of their feasibility and scale. Your project proposal may be part of a larger initiative that spans multiple geographies; please be clear about which aspects of your project would be supported by this award so that reviewers can assess the feasibility of your proposal. When completing your application, please choose the country/region where the highest number of people within your target population reside.

17. Can I edit my application after it is submitted?

Once an application is submitted, it is considered final. If you have a compelling reason for it to be reopened, and it is still within the submission period, please contact us at challenge@data.org.

18. Can I apply with a group of organizations?

Organizations may join together as a coalition to submit a single application subject to the Challenge Rules. However, Awards to coalitions must be distributed to a single legal entity that will have legal responsibility for executing the coalition’s proposal in accordance with the terms of their grant agreement.

19. Can the grant be used to fund salaries?

Yes, you can use the money to meet personnel costs. It cannot exceed programmatic activity costs.

20. Where can we find information about previous projects that were awarded grants? 

Yes, this is our fifth innovation challenge. You can read about previous innovation challenges and awardees here. 

21. Are you prioritizing specific geographies? 

No, we are geography agnostic. We encourage applicants from around the world. However, at this juncture, we are unable to accept applications from organisations based in Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, Ukraine (Russian-occupied territories), and Yemen. 

23. Are for-profit companies eligible to apply? 

Yes, for-profit companies can apply as long as they can demonstrate sufficient proof of their application’s charitable purpose. For more information, refer to the Challenge Rules. 

24. Can you please define which project stages are applicable to apply to?  

We are accepting applications where the proposed solutions are in one of the following stages. We are unable to support conceptual ideas at this time. 

1. Pilot: innovations at this stage are early in their implementation and require testing to understand feasibility. An example of this stage is the Data Elevates project from the Generative AI Skills Challenge. 

2. Scaling: innovations at this stage move beyond pilots and integrate innovations into existing systems to reach a larger scale. An example of this stage is Quipu’s project from the AI2I Challenge. 

3. Replication: innovations at this stage can be adapted laterally to different contexts – such as sector, geographies, and implementers. An example of this stage is Link Health’s project from the AI2AI Challenge.

25. Would a proposal focused on enabling AI adoption within our own organization, so internal tooling, capacity building, etc., be considered eligible, or does the challenge require solutions that are externally facing communities? 

Yes, this will be eligible as long as you can clearly articulate the link in organizational capacity building to delivering economic opportunity outcomes to external-facing target communities while leveraging data and AI.

26. How will you treat and use the applicant’s intellectual property?

This is extensively addressed in our terms and conditions. We understand some aspects of IP are proprietary, and some will be open source. We aim to share open-access, open-source materials with the data and AI for social impact community. This will be discussed with the awardees at the final stages, and we maintain flexibility in the treatment of IP products.