Now available: Expanded funding for nonprofits with the 2021 AWS Imagine Grant

Nonprofits have found themselves thrust into a digital-first landscape, with an increasing demand for virtual or remote services for beneficiaries, donors, volunteers, and staff. During the COVID-19 pandemic, nonprofit organizations put forth tremendous effort to fill gaps unmet by the government and private sectors for communities. Nonprofits have shown agility in their pivot to online events, remote service delivery, sharing of data and research, and more.

Nonprofit organizations are in all stages of their digital transformation journeys and often lack funding for foundational IT projects that may be viewed as overhead or administrative expenses. The cloud has a number of benefits for nonprofits looking to better understand and secure their data, scale to meet the demands of a global workforce, facilitate collaboration and connection among donors and beneficiaries, and lower the overall cost of IT expenditures and time spent devoted to managing aging infrastructure.

To help nonprofits access the best-in-class tools provided by AWS, today we are launching the 2021 AWS Imagine Grant program. Guidelines and instructions on how to apply for this year’s cycle are available for download today.

This year, the program has a few key changes to address the evolving needs of nonprofits. The Imagine Grant is expanding to offer two new distinct award categories for more nonprofits to receive support based on their organizational goals and stages in their technology adoption journey. The award categories are:

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. Nonprofit organizations with specific workloads and outcomes that meet the program criteria are welcome to apply. Projects may include but are not limited to: application migration and optimization, net-new application development, data warehouse projects, infrastructure expansion, and more.

Momentum to Modernize awards packages may include:

• Up to $30,000 USD of unrestricted financial support
• Up to $10,000 USD in AWS Promotional Credit
• Project implementation support from Amazon Web Services (AWS) technical specialist(s)
• An opportunity for AWS marketing promotion

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 scaled, 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 artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), high performance computing (HPC), Internet of Things (IoT), and more.

Go Further, Faster awards packages may include:

• Up to $150,000 USD of unrestricted financial support
• Up to $100,000 USD in AWS Promotional Credit
• Project kickoff workshop and implementation support from Amazon Web Services (AWS) technical specialist(s)
• Up to five AWS Training Services Vouchers
• An opportunity for AWS marketing promotion

Both award categories are open to registered 501(c) nonprofit organizations in the United States of all sizes and mission areas. Visit the Imagine Grant webpage to learn more about eligibility, application details, and instructions.

About the AWS Imagine Grant

Since the launch of the Imagine Grant program in 2018, AWS has awarded over $2.5 million in cash, AWS Promotional Credit, and AWS training support to 26 nonprofit organizations. Each year, the Imagine Grant program seeks to fund nonprofit organizations who demonstrate a mission-critical application of technology that will result in magnitudes of impact for their beneficiaries and core mission operations. Learn more about past recipients in our Powered by Purpose documentary series.

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