Skip to content
Unclaimed
Discovery tool, not advice. Every figure is the published rule, not a decision on your case.
Grants

Gates Foundation Grand Challenges

Grand Challenges

Status

Open continuously

No deadline — apply whenever you are ready.

Always open
Amount
Not published

A family of calls rather than one scheme. Grand Challenges Explorations-style awards have historically been around USD 100,000 for phase 1 with follow-on funding up to about USD 1 million; larger targeted challenges award more. Each challenge publishes its own award size.

Funder

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

private · supranational

Deadline: Fixed cut-off dates — New challenges are issued regularly; over 250 challenges have been published. Recent examples include Innovations in Decentralized Pan-Orthoebolavirus Diagnostics (July 2026), the 2026 Grand Challenges Annual Meeting Call-to-Action (June 2026), Innovations in Cost-Disruptive Tools for Diagnosis and Screening (May 2026) and Breakthrough Innovations to Reduce Severe Acute Malnutrition Treatment Costs (March 2026).

Your odds
Not published

This funder does not publish a success rate. We rank it using the rate observed across similar programmes and label it as an estimate rather than implying we know.

Effort
quick

Quick — mostly identity and bank details.

Who can apply

Open to individuals, universities, non-profits and companies worldwide; several challenges specifically prioritise applicants based in low- and middle-income countries.

How to apply

  1. Browse the open challenges list on gcgh.grandchallenges.org
  2. Read the individual challenge page for award size, eligibility and deadline
  3. Submit the online application before the challenge deadline

Related reading: How grant deadlines actually work

Apply on the funder's site

Source. https://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/challenges

"We challenge innovators around the world to work on urgent priorities in global health and development. We issue new challenges regularly and award the most promising proposals with grant funding."

Last checked against the official page on 5 October 2026

Source: funder's homepage — the programme page was not found

Report an error Something wrong or out of date? Tell us.

Similar programmes

Frontier Advance Market Commitment

Open continuously

Frontier (Stripe, Alphabet, Shopify, Meta, McKinsey and others)

Elemental Impact funding opportunities

Status not published

Elemental Impact (formerly Elemental Excelerator)

Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation

Open continuously

Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation

Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme

Open continuously

Tony Elumelu Foundation

Ashoka Fellowship

Open continuously

Ashoka

Breakthrough Energy Fellows

Closes in 21 days

Breakthrough Energy

Paid, separate from Unclaimed

Want a human to review your application?

Involve Consulting can help — a paid expert-review service run by the same person behind Unclaimed, entirely separate from this free check. A flat fee, agreed up front; never a cut of what you receive.

Talk to Involve Consulting