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AI & Data for Social Good Grants

Invite-only

Patrick J. McGovern Foundation

No open portal; relationship-based, occasional themed RFPs

Amount
$400,000
Deadline
—
Stage
Availability
Link
Open opportunity ↗

Description

PJMF is a global philanthropy advancing AI and data science for a thriving, equitable, sustainable future. 2026 grants (typically $200K–$750K) span 'Data as a Public Good', Journalism & Media, Solidarity, Climate, and Health — e.g., $250K to Public Health Watch for AI-assisted pollution accountability. PJMF largely identifies grantees proactively rather than through an open application portal.

AI for social gooddata as a public gooddigital equity

Timeline & constraints

Expected to hear back
No fixed cycle — PJMF reviews on a rolling basis and largely sources grantees itself; expect a multi-month cultivation before a decision.
Grant period
Typically ~1 year (varies by grant).

Key dates

  1. Rolling / proactively sourced
    TBD

Constraints & requirements

  • No open application portal — access is primarily by invitation / relationship
  • Nonprofit organizations globally
  • Priorities: Data as a Public Good, Journalism & Media, Solidarity, Climate, Health

Who's funding this

The coalition behind the opportunity. Tick the backers that are the best fit for ETC to prioritize.

  • No backers captured yet — add one below, or run a web import.

Who runs it

Organization page ↗
  • Vilas Dhar
    President & Trustee
    no profile
  • Nick Cain
    VP, Strategy & Innovation
    Profile ↗

AI valuation

Scored against the ETC mission profile.

Fit score
68/100
Recommendation
consider
Win probability
35%
Expected value
$140,000
$400,000 × win prob.

Strong mission and funding fit — PJMF's data-and-AI-for-social-good portfolio aligns well with ETC's humanitarian and climate-accountability work, and the award size suits applied prototyping. The key obstacle is that PJMF funds mostly by proactive selection, so ETC should invest in relationship-building and warm introductions (leveraging NYU CGA and Microsoft Research networks) rather than a speculative cold application.

Criteria breakdown

Mission alignment80/100 · weight 30%

PJMF's 'Data as a Public Good', Climate, Solidarity, and digital-equity portfolios map closely onto ETC's humanitarian tech, climate accountability, traceability, and trust-infrastructure work. AI-for-social-good framing fits ETC's applied intervention model directly.

Funding fit80/100 · weight 20%

The $200K–$750K range and social-good focus support applied research, prototyping, and staff time — exactly ETC's needs. The $250K pollution-accountability example shows PJMF funds precisely this kind of intervention work.

Competitiveness40/100 · weight 20%

ETC's NYU CGA + Microsoft Research backing is credible, but PJMF largely selects grantees proactively rather than via open competition, so the main hurdle is getting on their radar rather than out-writing rivals.

Effort / feasibility50/100 · weight 15%

No open application portal means effort shifts from proposal-writing to relationship cultivation and warm introductions, which is uncertain and hard to time; reporting burden itself would be moderate.

Strategic value80/100 · weight 15%

PJMF is a prestigious, well-networked global philanthropy; a relationship would compound across ETC's climate, traceability, and migration projects and open doors to future funding and partners.

Red flags

  • PJMF largely identifies grantees proactively and lacks an open application portal, so a cold application is unlikely to succeed without a warm introduction
  • No stated deadline or intake process makes timing and pipeline planning difficult

Scored Jul 1, 2026 · claude-opus-4-8

Proposal recommendation

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Recommendations & tips

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Funded projects to learn from

Real projects this funder backed — reference points to model and adapt an ETC proposal on.

  • Public Health Watch ↗
    $250,000 · 2026

    Community tools to collect and share local pollution + health data and explore AI to hold polluters accountable, feeding investigative journalism.

    For ETC: Nearly ETC's model — AI for accountability plus community data. A strong template to adapt.

  • The Conversation US ↗
    $400,000 · 2026

    Expand expert-led AI journalism and public AI literacy at scale.

    For ETC: Shows PJMF funds AI-literacy / public-education work ETC could propose.

  • CarbonPlan ↗
    $500,000 · 2026

    Open-source modeling infrastructure for auditable carbon-removal accountability.

    For ETC: 'Auditable accountability infrastructure' framing maps directly onto ETC's strengths.

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