AWS announces expanded IMAGINE Grant opportunities for nonprofits

Today, Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched the 2024 AWS IMAGINE Grant cycle. The AWS IMAGINE Grant is a public grant opportunity open to registered nonprofit organizations and nonprofit healthcare providers who are using cloud technology to accelerate their missions. Now in its seventh year, the AWS IMAGINE Grant is expanding beyond the U.S. and U.K. to also seek proposals from eligible organizations based in Ireland. The AWS IMAGINE Grant may provide resources such as unrestricted funding, AWS Promotional Credit, and technical implementation support to help organizations accelerate their projects.

As nonprofit organizations and nonprofit healthcare providers continue to find value from cloud technology as a force multiplier, cutting-edge tools including machine learning (ML) and generative artificial intelligence (AI) open new doors for organizations solving important and inherently urgent mission challenges. AWS believes these tools should be accessible to everyone, and should be used responsibly and with a people-centric approach. In support of continued innovation involving ML and generative AI, AWS is introducing a new award— the Pathfinder – Generative AI award — that may provide up to $200,000 in financial support to a nonprofit pursuing a generative AI project alongside expert technical guidance through an experiential engagement with the AWS Generative AI Innovation Center.

Nonprofit organizations and nonprofit healthcare providers are encouraged to apply for the IMAGINE Grant award category that best fit their goals – regardless of their size, mission area, or stage of their cloud adoption journey. The 2024 AWS IMAGINE Grant application instructions are now available for download. The first application deadline is June 3, 2024. This year’s award categories are as follows:

Pathfinder – Generative AI

The Pathfinder – Generative AI award will provide support for a highly innovative, mission-critical project that leverages generative AI. This project will have the potential to produce a scaled, repeatable solution that directly accelerates mission achievement and may impact an entire industry or field. Projects in the Pathfinder – Generative AI award may include service types mentioned in the Go Further, Faster and Momentum to Modernize award. The successful Pathfinder – Generative AI project will build on an existing data foundation and have a defined generative AI use case in the planning phase.

The Pathfinder – Generative AI award package may include:

• Up to $200,000 USD of unrestricted financial support
• Up to $100,000 USD in AWS Promotional Credit
• Project implementation support from the AWS Generative AI Innovation Center
• Access to AWS training and support
• An opportunity for AWS marketing promotion

For more details about the Pathfinder – Generative AI award and its requirements, please refer to our application guidelines and instructions. 

Go Further, Faster

The Go Further, Faster award provides support for think big, highly innovative projects that leverage the cloud. These projects have the potential to produce scalable, repeatable solutions and may impact an entire industry or field. They are force multipliers for organizations and include the application of and/or seek integrations with advanced cloud services, such as AI/ML, high performance computing (HPC), internet of things (IoT), and more.

The Go Further, Faster award packages may include:

• Up to $150,000 USD of unrestricted financial support
• Up to $100,000 USD in AWS Promotional Credit
• Project implementation guidance from AWS technical specialist(s)
• Access to AWS training and support
• An opportunity for AWS marketing promotion
  

Momentum to Modernize

As nonprofit organizations seek to transform and enhance their core mission operations with technology, organizations need funding for foundational technology projects, such as migrating servers to the cloud and modernizing new and existing applications. The Momentum to Modernize award provides resources for these transformational infrastructure projects, alongside AWS Promotional Credit and implementation support.

The Momentum to Modernize award packages may include:

• Up to $50,000 USD of unrestricted financial support
• Up to $20,000 USD in AWS Promotional Credit
• Project implementation guidance from AWS technical specialist(s)
• Access to AWS training and support
• An opportunity for AWS marketing promotion

Previous IMAGINE Grant winners are applying AWS technologies across a diverse set of use cases and mission areas, such as: using HPC to analyze massive amounts of climate data; applying advanced AWS data and analytics tools to enable medical research; and modernizing and streamlining data systems to boost fundraising operations.

“We are truly honored to have received this grant, which will play a pivotal role in our technology growth and evolution,” said Matthew Vanderzee, chief technology officer at Crisis Text Line, a winner of the 2023 IMAGINE Grant. “This project will accelerate the capabilities of frontline care responders, resulting in higher quality mental health support in crisis moments – when speed and quality can save lives.”

How to apply for the AWS IMAGINE Grant

Visit the AWS IMAGINE Grant webpage to learn more about eligibility, award packages, application deadlines, and instructions. Please closely review all information, such as the eligibility guidelines in the FAQ.

About the AWS IMAGINE Grant

Since the launch of the AWS IMAGINE Grant program in 2018, AWS has awarded more than $7 million in unrestricted funding, AWS Promotional Credit, and AWS training support to 92 nonprofit organizations. Learn more about past recipients in the Powered by Purpose documentary series. For more information about how AWS supports nonprofits, visit the AWS for Nonprofits hub.