Gates Foundation Grand Challenges – Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Accelerate Charitable Giving

Funding from the Gates Foundation Grand Challenges initiative to explore how AI can strengthen philanthropic practice and unlock new possibilities for charitable giving. Academic institutions cannot apply independently but can be part of a consortium led by an eligible non-profit/for-profit organisation.

Founded in 1997, the Gates Foundation (GF) is a charitable organisation that fights poverty, disease and inequity around the world. GF Grand Challenges (GC) is a family of initiatives fostering innovation to solve key global health and development problems.

GC has issued the Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Accelerate Charitable Giving request for proposals (RFP) to address the core question: How might AI support charitable donors to give more and give sooner? The Foundation’s Philanthropic Partnerships Team (PPT) has launched this RFP to explore how AI can strengthen philanthropic practice and unlock new possibilities for generosity. The aim is to enhance human decision-making with AI-powered tools, data and insights that help donors give more and give sooner.

This RFP is focused on supporting donor-facing applications and underlying systems of giving that test and demonstrate bold, innovative applications of AI that strengthen and expand philanthropic giving. Desired outputs include generating practical evidence and examples to inform broader practice across the philanthropic sector. There is a particular interest in solutions that increase support for global health and development (GH&D). In this instance, GH&D refers broadly to efforts that improve health, economic opportunity and human wellbeing in LMICs. Within this field, there is a particular interest in efforts that reduce preventable mortality, combat infectious diseases and expand pathways out of extreme poverty.

Projects do not need to focus exclusively on GH&D to be competitive. However, proposals that clearly demonstrate applicability to GH&D challenges, or that generate insights relevant to these priorities, will receive additional consideration. Proposals are welcomed that address the needs of various donor types including everyday donors, high-net-worth individuals, foundations or other entities. Proposals must be relevant to the following challenge areas:

• Help donors connect with causes and understand where to give to achieve their giving goals.
• Turn interest and intent into donations.
• Develop the foundational systems and infrastructure that enable AI-powered giving.

Ethical and responsible use of AI is a foundational consideration that should inform how solutions are designed, tested and deployed. Applicants are not required to submit a separate response on ethical and responsible AI considerations. However, proposals should demonstrate thoughtful awareness of ethical issues as part of the project’s learning and experimentation process, including how potential risks may evolve as systems are tested with real users.