Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation Grants

Key Details

Sponsor: Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation
Solicitation Title: Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation Grants
Event Type: Rolling Deadline
Funding Amount: up to $300,000

The Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation (DRK) accepts funding applications year-round. Submitting an application is the first step in the funding process. It allows DRK to learn more about your organization and social enterprise and assess how well it aligns with the foundation’s funding thesis.

To make the process accessible and manageable, DRK has designed a relatively simple application that takes approximately 30–60 minutes to complete. Applicants who wish to save their progress and return later should check the box at the top of the online application form to save their information.

Eligibility Requirements

Organizations seeking funding from the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation (DRK) should demonstrate a clear social mission, address a significant social problem, and offer a solution that benefits underserved populations. Applicants should be able to explain their impact, plans for scaling their work, and approach to long-term financial sustainability.

Applicants must submit an executive summary, pitch deck, or business plan addressing DRK’s required topics, along with standard resumes or CVs for the entrepreneur(s) and/or key leadership team members.

Applications are accepted year-round. Organizations that have previously been declined may reapply up to twice, provided at least one year has passed since the relevant decline notification.

Note: Applicants should review the official application form for the foundation’s full funding criteria and requirements.

Required Application Documents

Applicants must upload a written executive summary, pitch deck, or business plan with their application. The document should address the following areas:

1. Problem and Solution

• Mission and objectives: Briefly describe your organization’s mission and objectives.
• Social problem: Explain the social problem your organization aims to address.
• Solution: Describe the solution your organization provides.

2. Impact

• Effectiveness: Explain how your organization addresses the social problem and improves upon existing approaches.
• Support for underserved populations: Describe the underserved population your solution supports and the benefits that population has experienced through your pilot programs.
• Unique approach: Explain how your approach differs from other initiatives or organizations addressing the same problem, where relevant.
• Results and measurement: Describe your organization’s tangible results to date and explain how you plan to measure future outcomes and success.

3. Scale

• Growth strategy: Explain how you intend to scale your organization over time.
• Earned income: Describe the main sources of earned income that will help sustain your work over the long term.

4. Leadership Team

Applicants must attach a standard resume or CV for the entrepreneur(s) and/or key leadership team members, such as the CEO, COO, or Executive Director.

Important: Applications that include only written biographies of entrepreneurs or leadership team members, instead of standard resumes or CVs, will not be considered.

Additional Supporting Documents

Applicants are welcome to submit additional supporting materials, such as financial statements and impact reports. However, these documents are entirely optional.

DRK encourages applicants to reuse or adapt existing materials whenever possible, provided they adequately address the required topics, rather than creating new documents unnecessarily.

Application Guidelines for Organizations Without Existing Materials

Organizations that do not have suitable existing materials may prepare a simple two-to-three-page document responding to the prompts outlined above. Responses may be written in bullet points.

How to Apply

All applicants must submit an online application through the official application portal for DRK’s team to review their organization and determine whether to proceed with the funding process.

Apply for Funding – Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation

Reapplication Policy

Organizations may reapply up to two times following a previous unsuccessful application. A reapplication must be submitted no sooner than one year after receiving a decline notification from DRK.

Applicants submitting a reapplication will be asked to indicate this by including the reapplication designation in the organization name field of the application form.

For further details and to begin the application process, visit the official DRK application portal.