Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation: Grants and Eligibility

Updated Nov 10, 20264 official sources

Quick Answer: If you're an early-stage nonprofit or social enterprise founder, the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation (DRK) is one of the few large funders you can apply to cold: its apply page says it accepts applications "year-round" with no deadline.

Full answer and how we checked it

It provides up to $300,000 over 3 years in unrestricted funding, plus a DRK team member on your board for 3 years. The catch is the odds: its FAQ says it reviews nearly 3,000 applications a year and funds up to 20. According to its 2024 Form 990 (EIN 91-2172351), DRK paid $3,550,000 in 45 U.S. grants, every one of them $50,000 or $100,000 in general operating support.

Who this is for: This guide is for founders of young nonprofits and impact-first companies in the U.S., Africa, Europe and India who are weighing an application to the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation. It covers what DRK funds, who qualifies, how the 5-stage process works, who actually got paid, and what to do if you're too early or too late. Grantsights isn't affiliated with DRK.

Data note: DRK filed Form 990-PF as a private foundation through 2022 and Form 990 as a public charity for 2023 and 2024, so grant figures come from Schedule I and Schedule F of its 2024 Form 990, read from the e-filed return on ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer on November 10, 2026. Schedule I lists 45 grants to U.S. organizations worth $3,550,000, matching Part IX's grants to domestic organizations. Schedule F reports $300,000 more in 4 grants to organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa, for $3,850,000 in total grants. Grantsights set nothing aside: every Schedule I line is general operating support to a nonprofit. Because DRK pays in installments, each line is a payment, not a whole award.

Last updated: 2026-11-10.

In this guide

Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation funding open now: 1 rolling application
Who qualifies: the DRK eligibility rules
How the 5-stage DRK process works
Who DRK actually funds
How to apply to DRK, step by step
What DRK's Funding Pages Don't Tell You
Where to look if DRK isn't a fit
How Grantsights Checked This Guide
Sources

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Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation funding open now: 1 rolling application

Grantsights checked 4 DRK pages on November 10, 2026. There's 1 route in, and it's open all year.

DRK offer	What you get	Who qualifies	How to apply	Status on November 10, 2026	Source
Grant (nonprofits)	Up to $300,000 over 3 years, unrestricted, in tranches	Independent nonprofits, 501(c)(3) or non-U.S. equivalent	Online application, 30 to 60 minutes	Open year-round. No deadline	Apply page (opens in a new tab)
Investment (for-profits)	Up to $300,000 in investment capital	Impact-first companies, Seed to Series A	Same online application	Open year-round	FAQ (opens in a new tab)
Capacity support	Up to $500,000 in-kind, including a 3-year board seat for a DRK team member	Every funded organization	Comes with funding	With an award	Apply for funding (opens in a new tab)

The honest read: applying is easy and free, but winning is rare. The FAQ caps new funding at up to 20 organizations a year.

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Who qualifies: the DRK eligibility rules

According to DRK's FAQ, 6 tests decide whether an application gets past the first read.

Age: DRK typically funds organizations 3 to 5 years old (the FAQ also says "ideally between two and five years old") and usually not ones over 10 years old, though it says that isn't a strict cutoff.
Stage: post-pilot and pre-scale, with a program or product in use and early evidence of impact. Idea-stage, pre-pilot and post-Series A organizations are ineligible.
Scale: a path to directly affecting at least 10,000 lives within 5 years, with ambitions well beyond that.
Founders: one or more full-time founders who are close to the problem, learning-oriented and willing to work with DRK for the full 3 years.
Legal form: independent nonprofits (U.S. 501(c)(3) or a non-U.S. equivalent) and impact-first for-profits (C-corps, benefit corporations, hybrids). U.S. 501(c)(4)s, S-corps, partnerships, LLCs and investment funds are out. Fiscally sponsored projects qualify only with a plan to spin out.
Geography: priority regions are Africa, Europe, India and the United States. The FAQ says organizations working outside those regions should not apply.

According to the FAQ, DRK also wants measurable evidence of impact and a plan for earned income, or a growable stream of it. For companies, DRK backs Seed to Series A rounds, never leads, and generally avoids financings above a $15 million post-money valuation.

Common mistake: applying too early. A pre-pilot idea fails the stage test on paper, and the FAQ discourages reapplying unless DRK invites it. You get at most 2 reapplications, each no sooner than 1 year after a decline, so a premature application spends one of your chances.

How the 5-stage DRK process works

The apply-for-funding page describes 5 stages and gives rough drop-off rates.

Stage	What happens	Time or odds on DRK's page
1. Application	Online form plus a pitch deck, executive summary or business plan and founder CVs	Typically 8 to 10 weeks to hear back
2. Early interviews	Exploratory calls with a small DRK group	About 20% of applicants reach this stage
3. Formal diligence	Legal and financial documents, joint planning	Usually 2 to 4 months; fewer than 10% of early-interview candidates get here
4. Meet the team	Meetings with DRK members and investment committee members	Not stated
5. Closing	Final documents; the incoming board member helps draft a 3-year plan	Not stated

The apply page lists what to send: the online form; an executive summary, pitch deck or business plan covering the problem, your solution, how it improves on existing efforts, results to date, how you measure outcomes, how you'll scale and your earned income sources; and a standard resume or CV for each founder. Text bios aren't accepted. Financials and impact reports are optional.

Who DRK actually funds

According to Grantsights analysis of Schedule I on the 2024 Form 990, 45 grants worth $3,550,000 went to 45 differently named U.S. organizations in 15 states and Washington, D.C. All 45 were general operating support. The median was $100,000.

DRK grant line, 2024	Grants	Dollars	Share
$50,000 payments	19	$950,000	26.8%
$100,000 payments	26	$2,600,000	73.2%
U.S. grants on Schedule I	45	$3,550,000	100%
Grants to Sub-Saharan Africa (Schedule F)	4	$300,000	Not in the U.S. total

The two sizes fit the payment schedule on the return. DRK's Schedule F note says grantees submit a progress report with milestones every 6 months, and staff review each report "before making each conditional grant payment every six months." A $300,000, 3-year award paid that way arrives as $50,000 every 6 months, so a $100,000 line is 2 installments in one year.

California led with 14 grants and $1,150,000 (32.4% of U.S. dollars), followed by Massachusetts ($500,000), New York ($450,000), Washington, D.C. ($300,000), Washington State ($300,000) and Texas ($250,000).

Named grantees on the 2024 return

For example, Tarjimly received $100,000 in 2024, as did Housing Connector in Seattle, Child Poverty Action Lab in Dallas, Shamiri Institute in Allston, Massachusetts, The Oakland REACH, First Place for Youth in Oakland, Generation You Employed in Washington, D.C., Texas Water Trade in Austin and Dollar For in Vancouver, Washington. Smaller payments of $50,000 went to groups such as EducationSuperHighway in San Francisco, the American Journalism Project, Lone Star Justice Alliance in Austin and Newark Alliance in New Jersey.

Rocket Learning, listed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, received $50,000. Outside the U.S., Schedule F's 4 African grants support work such as engaging men to reduce gender-based violence, early learning in South Africa's under-resourced communities, practical science education starting in Uganda, and cattle-farming livelihoods in Zambia.

Fiscally sponsored projects appear too: Fast Forward received $50,000 for Adalat AI and $100,000 for GiveDignifiedWork, and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art received $50,000 for Project ReMuseum.

Track record

According to DRK's home page, it has funded 285 organizations over "more than two decades," reports $2.3 billion in "downstream funding catalyzed," and counts 710 million lives affected. Its April 7, 2026 news post says 2 of the 3 Skoll Award for Social Innovation winners that year, SmartStart and Indus Action, are DRK portfolio organizations.

2023 for comparison

According to the 2023 return data, Schedule I listed 43 U.S. grants worth $3,650,000. The 2024 Form 990 reports $13,191,894 in contributions and grants received and public support of 81.5% of total support, which is why DRK now files as a public charity rather than a private foundation.

How to apply to DRK, step by step

These 7 steps come from DRK's apply page, apply-for-funding page and FAQ, as checked November 10, 2026.

Run the 6 eligibility tests honestly. Age, stage, scale, founders, legal form and region. Fail one and you're spending a reapplication.
Prepare your existing deck. The apply page says existing materials can be reused and offers a template. Cover the problem, solution, results, measurement, scale and earned income.
Collect founder CVs. Standard resumes or CVs only; text bios won't be considered.
Fill in the online form. It takes 30 to 60 minutes and saves progress. Email submissions aren't reviewed.
Plan for 8 to 10 weeks. That's DRK's stated time for the first stage.
Get diligence-ready. Clean legal documents, audited or reviewed financials and an impact measurement plan shorten the 2 to 4 month diligence stage.
If declined, wait a year. Mark "re-application" in the organization name field, and use the feedback DRK says it gives.

What DRK's Funding Pages Don't Tell You

Grantsights checked DRK's pages against its 2 most recent Form 990 returns, and 5 things stood out.

The cash is small per year. $300,000 over 3 years is $100,000 a year, and the 2024 return shows it arriving in $50,000 installments tied to 6-month reports. Don't underestimate the reporting load: 6 progress reports over 3 years, each one a condition of the next payment.

The board seat is part of the deal. A senior DRK team member joins your board for 3 years. That's valuable help, but founders who want a hands-off funder should think twice.

The odds are under 1%. Nearly 3,000 applications for up to 20 awards means roughly 1 in 150 succeeds. That's an honest reason to apply anyway (the form is short) but never to build a budget around DRK.

U.S. money clusters on the coasts and in Texas. California, Massachusetts, New York, Washington State, Washington, D.C. and Texas took 35 of 45 U.S. grants in 2024. A red flag for your application is a local-only model with no route to 10,000 lives.

DRK funds what other funders later fund. Its own page claims $2.3 billion in downstream funding, and the Skoll Award winners it backed show the path. The reverse is also true: DRK is a bridge to larger funders, not a long-term source.

Where to look if DRK isn't a fit

Most applicants won't win DRK, so build a wider pipeline.

Later-stage and larger awards: the Skoll Foundation grants guide covers the $2 million award DRK's portfolio companies have won, and the MacKenzie Scott grants guide covers unrestricted gifts to established groups. The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation grants guide covers a funder that also invests in Series A and B companies.

Young nonprofits: see grants for new nonprofits for first funders, the Dr. Scholl Foundation grants guide for one-year program grants once you have 3 years of finances, grants for nonprofit operating costs for unrestricted money, and best grants for startups for company routes. Use the Grantsights grant search to check open federal and state programs you qualify for.

Federal options: search open federal opportunities on Grants.gov's search page (opens in a new tab). A U.S. nonprofit needs 501(c)(3) status for most grants, which the IRS page on 501(c)(3) exemption requirements (opens in a new tab) explains.

How Grantsights Checked This Guide

Grantsights checked 5 DRK pages and 2 DRK returns on November 10, 2026. ProPublica's record and the return header both show EIN 91-2172351 for the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation in Menlo Park, California.

DRK source	What it says	What it means for you
Apply page	Year-round online application; required materials	Apply when you meet the tests
Apply-for-funding page	Up to $300,000 over 3 years; up to $500,000 in-kind; 5 stages and drop-off rates	Plan for months, not weeks
FAQ	Age, stage, scale, legal form and region rules; nearly 3,000 applications, up to 20 funded	Check eligibility first
Home page and April 7, 2026 news post	285 organizations funded; 2 portfolio groups won 2026 Skoll Awards	See the track record
Form 990, 2024 (Schedules I and F)	45 U.S. grants, $3,550,000; $300,000 to Africa; payments every 6 months	Find peers and amounts
Form 990, 2023	43 U.S. grants, $3,650,000	Compare years

DRK files Form 990 now, not Form 990-PF. According to IRS guidance on public charities (opens in a new tab), public charities have broad public support from many sources, while private foundations typically have a single major funding source; the IRS page on the private foundation annual return (opens in a new tab) covers the 990-PF that DRK used to file. To read a grant list yourself, see how to read a 990-PF.

Sources

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation accepting applications?

Yes. DRK's apply page says it accepts applications for funding year-round, with no deadline, through an online form that takes 30 to 60 minutes. Emailed applications aren't reviewed. Applicants who aren't selected receive feedback, according to the apply-for-funding page.

How much does DRK give?

DRK provides up to $300,000 over 3 years, as unrestricted grant funding or investment capital, usually in several tranches. It adds in-kind support valued at up to $500,000, including a senior DRK team member on the organization's board for 3 years. On its 2024 Form 990, every U.S. grant line was $50,000 or $100,000 for general operating support.

Who is eligible for DRK funding?

DRK's FAQ looks for early-stage organizations, typically 3 to 5 years old, that are post-pilot and pre-scale, led by full-time founders, and able to reach at least 10,000 lives within 5 years. Nonprofits and impact-first for-profits qualify; 501(c)(4)s, S-corps, partnerships, LLCs and investment funds don't. Priority regions are Africa, Europe, India and the United States.

What are the odds of getting DRK funding?

Low. The FAQ says DRK reviews nearly 3,000 applications a year and funds up to 20, under 1%. The apply-for-funding page says about 20% of applicants reach early interviews and fewer than 10% of those reach formal diligence, which runs 2 to 4 months.

Can a fiscally sponsored project apply to DRK?

Only with a plan to spin out. The FAQ says fiscally sponsored organizations qualify only if they plan to become independent. DRK's 2024 Form 990 shows grants paid through Fast Forward for 2 projects, Adalat AI ($50,000) and GiveDignifiedWork ($100,000), so it does fund sponsored projects that meet the rule.

Is DRK a private foundation?

Not any more. DRK filed Form 990-PF through its 2022 return and Form 990 for 2023 and 2024. Its 2024 Form 990 reports public support of 81.5% under the public charity test and $13.2 million in contributions. That's why this guide reads its Schedule I grant list rather than a 990-PF.

Last updated November 10, 2026. Published by Grantsights from public sources. See our editorial policy, how we build and check guides, corrections and how we make money.

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