2025 Impact Grants
Request for Proposals: Round 2
Submission deadline: November 1st, 2025
Introduction:
The Neilom Foundation is a Maryland nonprofit dedicated to supporting diverse initiatives that harness the power of technology to educate, empower, and engage young people in their communities. With almost 100 years of education experience between our founding members, since 2013 we have awarded 300+ grants, directly impacting over 3500+ participants and reaching nearly 30,000 people. Our mission is to create an active community of young people using technology to improve people’s lives, primarily throughout the state of Maryland.
In our second round of funding, we’re doubling down on our commitment to Maryland’s nonprofit community by offering $100,000 in total awards to organizations making a positive impact in their communities. Proposals will be accepted from September 1st to November 1st, 2025, with awards announced on December 1st, 2025. Funded Organizations will be required to attend a Foundation event in December 2025 to give a brief presentation sharing their project with the audience.
Two-Tiered Awards:
We will award grants in two tiers: $5,000 and $10,000. Proposals that demonstrate exceptional alignment with our mission, innovative approaches, and high potential for impact will be considered for the top-tier $10,000 grants. The remaining proposals will be evaluated for a $5,000 grant.
Objective:
The objective of this request is to provide funding for projects at non-profit organizations that leverage technology to educate, empower, and engage young people in their communities. We aim to support initiatives that showcase young people using technology to drive positive change in the lives of others, while also recognizing projects using technology to directly benefit and support young people themselves. In particular, we seek proposals that demonstrate a clear connection to our mission by highlighting innovative and unusual approaches.
Submission Guidelines:
In order to apply for this funding opportunity, you must be a Maryland-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in good standing.
To submit your proposal, simply click the link APPLY HERE, where you’ll be prompted to fill out a form and provide the following:
Organization Overview (short answer questions, web form)
Your organization’s name, address, website, tax-ID (EIN), point of contact and their position.
A brief description outlining your organization’s mission and goals.
A list of up to three (3) projects/programs your organization has implemented over the past five years and their impact. If you are a brand new organization, please write “New Organization”
Future goals (specific priorities you aim to achieve in the next 3-5 years).
Project Proposal (maximum 2 pages (plus budget), PDF format file upload)
Upload ONE PDF named YourOrganization_RFPNov1.pdf detailing your organization’s project budget and proposal which clearly explains:
How will your project either use technology to benefit young people or enable young people to drive change using technology (or both)?
What impact will this have on young people, the broader community, or both?
What key resources (staff, organization partnerships, and/or technology) will support your success?
How will you measure if the project was successful or not?
If you were to receive additional funding, how would you scale your project?
At the end of your proposal, add an itemized budget on how you would spend the funds for your proposed project (this does not count towards the 2 page maximum)
*****Any proposals without these details will not be considered*****
Evaluation Criteria:
Our evaluation team will review submissions based on the following criteria:
Eligibility: 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, Maryland focused
Alignment: Consistent with The Neilom Foundation’s mission and goals to support innovative use of technology to improve lives.
Youth & Technology Focus: The project clearly demonstrates either using technology to benefit and support young people (e.g., skills-building, digital access, empowerment), or Enabling young people to create change using technology (e.g., youth-led innovation, civic tech, community impact).
Impact: Clear and measurable benefits for young people and the community.
Capability: Evidence that the organization has the staff, partnerships, and resources to effectively carry out the project with the proposed budget.
Quality: Completeness and focus of the proposal.
Budget: Detail of proposed project budget
Innovation: Unique in approach or methodology related to the use of technology
Timeline:
The submission deadline is November 1st, 2025. We expect to notify awardees on December 1st, 2025.
For clarification or questions regarding this RFP, please contact our Director of Operations, Alexander Anand, at alex@neilom.org.
