2025 J.M.K. Innovation Prize | April 25, 2025

**Some programs are limited. Please read solicitations carefully and consult your Office of Research for specifics, such as limited applications through your university and internal application deadlines.**

With the consequences of climate change, cultural loss, and systemic injustice at our doorstep, the urgency for social-impact organizations and community leaders to act has never been greater. Our convergent crises demand not only resilience but also creativity, ambition, and new models of change-making. At the J.M. Kaplan Fund, we believe in the power of innovators to reshape our future – and we know that this work is already underway in unexpected places and through nascent projects across the country. We created the J.M.K. Innovation Prize to help transform these bold, early-stage ideas into lasting impact.

Since 2015, over five biennial cycles, the J.M.K. Innovation Prize has supported 50 wildly creative cultural, environmental, and social initiatives. Past awardees include efforts as varied as building a “revitalization accelerator” to preserve threatened languages, transforming mining runoff and fallen trees into new economic engines, and organizing a collective of birth workers to confront health inequities. Leveraging a legacy of catalytic grant-making at the J.M. Kaplan Fund, the Prize seeks out visionary nonprofit and mission-driven for-profit organizations that work within, across, or in a manner related to one or more of the Fund’s three program areas.

Heritage Conservation: Protecting the places and traditions that communities care about most.
The Environment: Advancing climate solutions for a more resilient, vibrant planet.
Social Justice: Working with communities to build a more welcoming and just society.

For the 2025 cycle, the Fund is proud to partner with The 1772 Foundation, Burnham Family Foundation, and Trinity Church NYC to expand the scope and impact of the Prize. These fellow funders will support our outreach efforts, assist in the review process, and explore our pool of applications for promising early-stage projects that align with their own grantmaking priorities – broadening visibility and funding opportunities for applicants.

Application Deadline: April 25, 2025

Announcement: https://jmkfund.org/innovation-prize-2025/

The Florida Climate Institute (FCI) is a multi-disciplinary network of national and international research and public organizations, scientists, and individuals concerned with achieving a better understanding of climate variability and change.