$300,000 DRK Social Enterprise Grant

Organization: Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation

Type: Grant

Location: Global

Funding: Fully Funded

Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation is a venture philanthropy organisation that backs early-stage social enterprises and stays with them for three years. It puts in up to $300,000 as either an unrestricted grant or investment capital, seats one of its own senior people on your board, and values the hands-on support it adds on top at up to $500,000. Applications are open all year, there is no closing date, and DRK funds up to 20 organisations from the roughly 3,000 applications it reads annually. **What you get:** - Up to $300,000 USD over three years, as unrestricted grant funding or as investment capital, usually released in several tranches - Up to $500,000 USD worth of in-kind support, which is how DRK values the capacity it puts in alongside the money - A senior DRK team member in a hands-on board service role for the full three years, often in weekly conversation with you - Specialist help across leadership and board development, fundraising capacity, financial sustainability and scaling strategy - Membership of DRK's portfolio and alumni community, from one to one meetings up to gatherings of 200 people and a three day annual retreat - Written feedback on DRK's reasoning if you are declined, at whatever stage that happens **What you'll do:** - Answer a seven question pre-application screener, then complete an online application that DRK estimates takes 30 to 60 minutes - Attach an executive summary, pitch deck or business plan covering the problem, your solution, your impact evidence, your path to scale and your earned income - Attach a standard CV for the entrepreneurs and key leadership, because applications carrying only text bios are not considered - Wait an average of 8 to 10 weeks for the initial assessment - Take part in exploratory interviews if you progress, a stage roughly 20 percent of applicants reach - Go through formal diligence of 2 to 4 months, sharing legal and financial documents and co-creating a plan for the years ahead - Meet a wider group of DRK staff including the investment committee, then complete a closing documents review - Work with your incoming DRK board member across the whole three year period **Key dates:** - Applications are accepted year round and there is no closing date - Initial assessment after submission takes 8 to 10 weeks on average - Formal diligence typically runs 2 to 4 months - Funding and board support run for three years, and DRK does not reinvest once that period ends **More information:** - The FAQ carries the geography rule, the stage and team attributes, and the full list of what DRK does not fund - A downloadable application template sits on the apply page for applicants without existing materials - Organisations may re-apply up to twice, no sooner than one year after a decline, flagged in the organisation name field - DRK will not review an application sent by email, with no exceptions - General questions go to info@drkfoundation.org; questions about the navigational technology call go to sourcing@drkfoundation.org

Draper Richards Kaplan FoundationGrant

$300,000 DRK Social Enterprise Grant

Rolling

Opportunity type

Grant

Funding

Fully Funded

Location

Global

Deadline

Rolling

About this opportunity

What you get:

Up to $300,000 USD over three years, as unrestricted grant funding or as investment capital, usually released in several tranches
Up to $500,000 USD worth of in-kind support, which is how DRK values the capacity it puts in alongside the money
A senior DRK team member in a hands-on board service role for the full three years, often in weekly conversation with you
Specialist help across leadership and board development, fundraising capacity, financial sustainability and scaling strategy
Membership of DRK's portfolio and alumni community, from one to one meetings up to gatherings of 200 people and a three day annual retreat
Written feedback on DRK's reasoning if you are declined, at whatever stage that happens

What you'll do:

Answer a seven question pre-application screener, then complete an online application that DRK estimates takes 30 to 60 minutes
Attach an executive summary, pitch deck or business plan covering the problem, your solution, your impact evidence, your path to scale and your earned income
Attach a standard CV for the entrepreneurs and key leadership, because applications carrying only text bios are not considered
Wait an average of 8 to 10 weeks for the initial assessment
Take part in exploratory interviews if you progress, a stage roughly 20 percent of applicants reach
Go through formal diligence of 2 to 4 months, sharing legal and financial documents and co-creating a plan for the years ahead
Meet a wider group of DRK staff including the investment committee, then complete a closing documents review
Work with your incoming DRK board member across the whole three year period

Key dates:

Applications are accepted year round and there is no closing date
Initial assessment after submission takes 8 to 10 weeks on average
Formal diligence typically runs 2 to 4 months
Funding and board support run for three years, and DRK does not reinvest once that period ends

More information:

The FAQ carries the geography rule, the stage and team attributes, and the full list of what DRK does not fund
A downloadable application template sits on the apply page for applicants without existing materials
Organisations may re-apply up to twice, no sooner than one year after a decline, flagged in the organisation name field
DRK will not review an application sent by email, with no exceptions
General questions go to info@drkfoundation.org; questions about the navigational technology call go to sourcing@drkfoundation.org

Who can apply

Applicant is an organisation, not an individual: an independent nonprofit or an impact-first, mission-driven for-profit entity
Operating in Africa, Europe, India or the United States, and occasionally Latin America. DRK asks organisations outside these regions not to apply
Post-pilot and pre-scale: your product or service is already in use and you have early evidence of impact on the people you serve
Typically two to five years old. DRK generally does not fund organisations over 10 years old, though it says this is not a strict cutoff
A solution that works within existing systems and stakeholders and can scale to at least 10,000 lives within five years
At least a growable earned income stream, or a concrete plan to build one
Measurable evidence of impact drawn from your own pilots
One or more founders full-time, or going full-time immediately, and proximate to the problem
For-profits: typically Seed to Series A. DRK never leads rounds and generally avoids financings above a $15M USD post-money valuation
Not eligible: idea or pre-pilot stage, post-Series A, place-based models with no plan to scale, awareness, advocacy, policy or field-building organisations, research-only bodies such as think tanks, programmes promoting religious doctrine, projects inside another organisation with no spin-out plan, and US 501(c)(4)s, S-Corps, LPs, LLPs, LLCs and investment funds

AI Verification

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