20 Competition and Grant Opportunities for Non-Profits and Professionals Across Various Sectors Currently Open – April 27, 2025

Are you a changemaker, nonprofit leader, or professional looking for funding or visibility to scale your impact? We’ve curated a powerful list of 20 current competitions and grant opportunities tailored for individuals and organizations across diverse sectors. Whether you’re driving community development, innovation, education, gender equality, or sustainability, there’s something here for you.

1. D-Prize Global Competition 2025 for Entrepreneurs. 

They award startup grants of up to $20,000 to entrepreneurs launching new organizations. They believe the world needs more social impact organizations, and they seed for-profit ventures, NGOs, and charities. They support organizations in any low-or-middle income country where extreme poverty still exists.
Click here to apply | Deadline: June 8

2. Fifteen Percent Pledge Al Illumination Grant 2025.

The Al Illumination Grant is a program designed to educate Black-owned businesses on how Al can be a game-changing tool for growth and innovation. Al can seem intimidating, but these dynamic webinars will break it down and empower you to embrace this powerful technology with confidence.
Click here to apply | Deadline: May 2

3. IBRO Neuroscience Training Grants 2025. 

Specialized teaching and hands-on training experiences are crucial for the career development of neuroscience researchers. The IBRO Neuroscience Training Grants are designed to support these essential opportunities, covering costs directly associated with the attendance of a neuroscience training course, such as course fees, travel and accommodation.
Click here to apply | Deadline: May 31

4. ACU Higher Education & the SDGs Network Grants 2025.

Higher Education and the SDs Network Grants fund collaborative work around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Open to professional and academic staff at ACU member universities, the grants focus on the priority themes of the ACU Higher Education and the SDGs Network.
Click here to apply : Deadline: June 3

5. Amazon Literary Partnership Grant 2025. 

With the goal of helping writers tell their stories and find their readers, the Amazon Literary Partnership supports nonprofit literary organizations that empower writers to create, publish, learn, teach, experiment, and thrive. They provide grant funding to innovative groups that amplify diverse voices and strive not only for a lasting impact on writers’ lives but on the broader literary and publishing communities.
Click here to apply | Deadline : May 18

6. Kozik Environmental Justice Reporting Grants 2025.

The National Press Foundation and the National Press Club Journalism Institute will jointly award grants to U.S.-based journalists who plan to cover environmental justice.
Click here to apply | Deadline :May 27

7. Intel Community Reach Program 2025. 

Intel is making a call for proposals for projects that can enable populations in underserved areas (and or communities) in the member states of the African Union to have access to education, including in STEM, healthcare, agriculture, environmental services, fintech solutions, or digital skills readiness; for financial, social and tech equity; using or planning to use Artificial Intelligence (Al), especially at the Edge with Al PC and/or broadband connectivity. You will have the opportunity to get their technical, capacity-building, and consultancy support for your respective project.
Click here to apply | Deadline: June 13, 2025

8. Working Assumptions Project Grants 2025. 

Each year, Working Assumptions awards six $10,000 Proiect Grants to support visual storytelling projects that inspire audiences and/or participants to look at family in new, meaningful ways. They invite proposals that employ photography or photo-based art for journalistic, artistic, therapeutic, educational, and research purposes.
Click here to apply | Deadline: May 15

9. CanExport SMEs Program 2025 .

The CanExport SMEs program of Canada’s Trade Commissioner Service is designed to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to export Canadian goods and services to new international markets.
Click here to apply | Deadline: May 31

10. HuCapital x Desmond Fontaine Foundation ‘Catalyst’ Grant 2025. 

The grant is designed to empower early-stage entrepreneurs who are building innovative product-driven and community-based businesses. This grant provides non-dilutive funding to support dreamers, innovators, and worldly thinkers who are making a meaningful impact in their industries and communities.
Click here to apply | Deadline: April 30

11. CanExport SMEs Program 2025. 

The CanExport SMEs program of Canada’s Trade Commissioner Service is designed to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to export Canadian goods and services to new international markets.
Click here to apply |  Deadline: May 31

12. BGE Energizing Small Business Grants 2025. 

The BGE Energizing Small Business grant program, presented in partnership with Hello Alice and the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), is offering grants to help central Maryland businesses succeed and thrive.
Click here to apply | Deadline: June 13

13. 2025 FINCA Ventures Prize Competition. 

The FINCA Ventures Prize Competition supports rising African entrepreneurs who are leveraging innovative technologies and designing disruptive business models to drive impact and innovation.
Click here to apply | Deadline: April 30

14. GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize Competition 2025. 

The 2025 GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize launches its seventh annual competition in search for Africa’s most promising young co-founders and founders across Africa who have launched businesses across Africa’s agrifood value chain “from seed to fork”.
Click here to apply | Deadline: June 10

15. The Nikon Small World Competition 2025.

Are you passionate about microscopy and photography? The Nikon Small World Competition 2025 invites scientists, artists, and enthusiasts worldwide to showcase their stunning images and videos captured through a light microscope. Celebrate the beauty and complexity of life at the microscopic level and compete for prestigious prizes.
Click here to apply | Deadline: April 30

16. Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) Competition 2025. 

Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) is dedicated to identifying, supporting, and inspiring the next generation of African entrepreneurs who are driving impact in their communities, tackling pressing challenges, and building a more sustainable and inclusive economy.
Click here to apply | Deadline: June 30

17. Presidential African Youth in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Competition 2025.

The Presidential African Youth in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Competition is a pioneering initiative driving Africa’s leadership in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) through Al, robotics, and emerging technologies.
Click here to apply |  Deadline: June 13

18. Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition 2025. 

The theme for this year’s competition is Our Commonwealth Journey. Journeys are a fundamental aspect of our lives, helping us to explore, to learn, and to grow. Throughout history, nations, communities, and individuals have undertaken their own journeys, navigating the tides of an ever-changing world.
Click here to apply | Deadline: May 23, 2025

19. Urban Future Prize Competition for Climatetech Startups 2025. 

The Urban Future Lab is seeking groundbreaking startups addressing the climate crisis through innovative technologies and business models. For the ninth year, they are offering not one, but two opportunities to win big!
Click here to apply | Deadline: April 28

20.  Black Artists Grant 2025.

The Black Artists Grant (BAG) offered by Creative Debuts as a no-strings attached financial support to help Black artists. They can spend the grant on whatever they want – be that make new work, buy equipment or materials, travel, research, visit exhibitions or conferences, or to even just cover some life expenses.
Click here to apply | Deadline: Rolling Basis

For more information, visit OD Grants.