LA2050, in collaboration with our funding partners, is granting approximately $2 million to the issues that LA cares about most!

There’s still plenty of time to put together a successful proposal for up to $75,000 in grant funding. As the June 17th application deadline nears, our team is answering some of the most Frequently Asked Questions.

Q: How does this year's LA2050 Grants Challenge work?

A: This year, we're shifting the focus of public voting from organizations. First, we asked Angelenos to vote for the issues that matter most to them, online from April 18th to May 6th, 2022. Then, we announced the top-voted issues and opened grant applications to organizations working in those areas. Finally, we'll evaluate all of the proposals in collaboration with SJP Los Angeles and award our annual $1 million in grant funding on September 12th, 2022.

Q: How can our organization apply for funding?

A: You can complete an application on our online platform, open until June 17th, 2022 at 5:00 pm. The platform does allow you to log on and off to save your progress. You can preview the application questions here.

Q: What's different about this year's LA2050 Grants Challenge?

A: This year, we held public voting first and asked Angelenos to determine which issue areas would be open for funding. That means applicants will no longer need to receive votes for their proposals from the public. Instead, all of the proposals will be reviewed by external evaluators and winners will be awarded grants of either $50,000 or $75,000.

Q: Is my organization eligible to apply for funding through the LA2050 Grants Challenge?

A: We accept applications from registered non-profit, for-profit, fiscally-sponsored, or governmental organizations serving Los Angeles County and its residents. Both new or existing projects, programs, or initiatives are eligible for funding, as long as your work impacts one or more of this year's 12 issue areas.

Q: Is the Grants Challenge restricted to nonprofits?⁠

A: No! While the majority of our applications come from 501(c)(3) nonprofits, we also accept funding proposals from fiscally-sponsored, for-profit, and governmental organizations.⁠⁠

Q: How does LA2050 define “LA”?⁠

A: We define LA as all of Los Angeles County. Your submission may serve the broader county or zero in on a particular neighborhood, community, city, or region. It’s up to you!⁠

Q: What if our organization's work impacts more than one issue area?⁠

A: On the application, you will select a primary issue area from the 12 available for funding this year. Then, you will have the opportunity to indicate any secondary issue areas that your work impacts. Our evaluators will review your submission across all of the issue areas selected. If you are curious if your organization’s work is a good fit, we suggest that you review our blog post explaining each of the 12 issue areas.

Q: What kinds of ideas are LA2050 looking to support?

A: We’re open! We get most excited about bold ideas that will produce measurable wins for LA. Both new and existing projects, programs, or initiatives are eligible for submission as long as the activities associated with the grant will be completed during the period from October 2022 to October 2023. There are no limitations on administrative or operational expenses.

Q: Our organization has a small social media following, would we still be competitive for this grant?

A: We do not take your organization’s social media presence into consideration and there is no preference for organizations with large social media followings. You can see what our evaluators will consider on our Official Scorecard. Furthermore, because public voting is no longer focused on the proposals, we want to emphasize that your organization will not need to do any sort of social media promotion during the process this year.

Q: What resources are available to us to assist with completing our application?

A: The LA2050 team is here to help! We are hosting virtual Information Sessions and open Office Hours for those who would like to learn more about this year’s Grants Challenge, and we invite you to register for one or both. For those with questions about the application itself and how it will be evaluated, we have published a full Annotated Application Guide and the Official Scorecard.

Thank you for reading! We hope you will consider putting in an application to this year’s LA2050 Grants Challenge. If you have any additional questions, you can always reach out to us at connect@la2050.org.