Fast, Flexible Grants

We deploy our charitable grants to help organizations manage unexpected disruptions.

We Expect the Unexpected

Open Road is committed to supporting you on your journey to impact.

Our grants help social enterprises and nonprofits overcome obstacles to impact as they challenge the status quo and create a safer planet.

From the health nonprofit facing a clinic shutdown due to a delayed grant payment, to the community solar facility providing clean energy to unelectrified communities in Haiti, our charitable grants ensure innovative efforts to address the planet’s greatest challenges can carry on without interruption.

An Open Road Grant Keeps Impact on Track

Funding Derailments

New regulatory requirements
Changes in personnel
Policy changes
Changes in investment committee schedule
Funder strategy shifts
Pause on investments
Unexpected travel
Third-party delays
World events

Open Road Grant

Impact Kept on Track

Maintain momentum for entering new markets
Continue on-time payment of staff salaries
Enable partnership opportunities requiring upfront investments
Avoid “starvation” of the business
Ensure steady resources for longer-term growth

Our Criteria

As a funder exclusively focused on the unexpected, Open Road provides grants across all geographies and sectors, with an added preference for those that are connected to addressing climate change and reducing carbon emissions. In addition, the projects we fund must meet the following criteria.

Mid-implementation

Unexpected

Discrete

Catalytic

A mid-implementation project is one that is otherwise fully funded, staffed, and designed. If not for this unexpected roadblock or opportunity, there would be no outstanding need.

MEETS CRITERIA

A clinical trial is underway in South Africa. The trial is fully funded, and all personnel have been hired and trained. The trial is six months into its 18-month cycle. At this moment, something unexpected happens which threatens the success of the trial.

DOES NOT MEET CRITERIA

A health NGO is planning a clinical trial in South Africa. They have wanted to conduct this trial for years and now have a gift of $500,000 to make it happen. But they need another $50,000 to fully design and implement the trial as originally envisioned.

A project that encounters an unforeseeable roadblock or opportunity. This includes changes in government regulations, laws, or tariffs; a crop-destroying virus; unusual weather conditions, or other events exogenous to program design.

MEETS CRITERIA

An NGO budgeted $200,000 to build a Monitoring and Evaluation database to improve access to programs and services. Three months into the project, the host country's government asks to license the software. The required software redesign will cost $75,000 and two months to complete.

DOES NOT MEET CRITERIA

An NGO budgeted $200,000 to build a Monitoring and Evaluation database to improve access to programs and services. The project was supposed to take four months to complete. But after four months, the developer and NGO realize that due to the complexity of the work, they need another $75,000 and two months more to complete the project.

A one-time, one project grant to address a specific solvable problem that arose mid-implementation. Once provided, no additional funds should be necessary from Open Road or any other funder to see the project through completion.

MEETS CRITERIA

The development of a new mobile health application for rural Americans is almost complete when the Affordable Healthcare Act is passed. The developer must hire a short-term consultant to adjust the software to remain compliant with the new law.

DOES NOT MEET CRITERIA

The development of a new mobile health application for rural Americans is almost complete when unexpected budget cuts place staff salaries at risk. The NGO needs to find permanent replacement funds for on-going personnel costs.

A catalytic project expands impact significantly beyond a one to one relationship, resulting in a multiplier effect. Catalytic implies exponential or leveraged returns.

MEETS CRITERIA

An education-focused NGO is expanding its entrepreneurial curriculum to 200 schools in the coming year, serving an additional 2,000 students and training 500 new teachers. More importantly, through existing public-private partnerships, the country's Ministry of Education has agreed to adopt the program nationally if the NGO can prove success at scale of 200 schools. Halfway through the school year, an unexpected roadblock occurs.

DOES NOT MEET CRITERIA

An education-focused NGO is expanding its entrepreneurial curriculum to 200 schools in the coming year. The expansion will serve 2,000 new students and train 500 teachers in their methods. Halfway through the school year, an unexpected roadblock occurs.

Application Process

We understand that emergencies can’t wait. We accept applications on a rolling basis. Our full process from inquiry to decision typically takes two to six weeks.

1. Inquiry Submission

The process begins when you submit an inquiry through our Salesforce platform.

2. Initial Review

A member of our social investments team will review the submitted inquiry and determine eligibility.

3. Initial Call

We will schedule an initial conversation to learn more about your situation and will continue our internal review.

4. Submission

Potential partners will be invited to complete a short online application.

5. Review & Revise

A member of our team will work with you to refine your application and prepare for investment committee review.

6. Final Call & Decision

Potential partners will join the Investment Committee for a final interview and a decision will be made within one week.

Need Funding?

We’ll help you through it.

Our grants are designed to keep impact first. If you think that you are eligible for a one-time Open Road grant please submit an initial inquiry.

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Case Studies

Atlas Corps

Atlas Corps was founded on the idea that talent exists everywhere in the world, yet opportunity does not. Atlas Corps connects people from around...

Grameen Foundation

In Kenya, a smallholder farmer’s income typically comes from crops with low yields and marginal profits.

Landesa

West Bengal has one of the highest rates of hunger in India. Despite a recent economic boom, a majority of the 90 million people in West Bengal a...

Grants Frequently Asked Questions

Who is eligible for a grant? What are your terms?

Charitable grants are designed to address an unexpected roadblock or opportunity.

Roadblocks are scenarios in which a disruptive event, beyond the NGO’s control, has derailed, stalled, or otherwise threatened the success of the on-going project. The disruptive event jeopardizes both the original investment and the anticipated impact.

Opportunities are scenarios in which a mid-implementation project unexpectedly encounters or is offered a chance to catalytically multiply its impact. These opportunities typically arise from sources outside of the program and are not a result of project iteration or natural scale/growth.

In either case the proposed scenario must meet the following criteria:

The project must be mid-implementation.*
The roadblock or opportunity must be unexpected.
The solution to removing the roadblock must be discrete, so that a one-time infusion of funds will allow the NGO to fix the problem. Similarly, capitalizing upon an opportunity must be a discrete action that can be completed within a tangible timeline.
The project carries a significant potential to lead to catalytic results.

Terms:

Non-repayable, one-time, charitable grants
Average size: $80,000 – $120,000

Details:

Charitable grants are almost always given to non-profit organizations where there is a loss of funding instead of a timing issue.
Open Road looks for a multiplier effect where the grant will have outsized impact on a given sector.

Why grants?

Most traditional grant programs are inflexible, restrictive, and slow. Because NGOs cannot access additional capital quickly, even high performing programs are stymied when obstacles are encountered mid-implementation.

To address this issue, Open Road provides grant capital to help NGO’s manage unexpected disruptions. Specifically, we deploy our charitable and recoverable grants when a mid-implementation project encounters an unexpected roadblock or opportunity. We provide the necessary, fast, flexible capital to help organizations meet unanticipated challenges.