Deadline: June 5, 2026
Applications are open for the AWS Imagine Grant 2026. The goal of the grant is to empower nonprofit organizations to prioritize technology as a mission-critical component of their projects by providing support for organizations pursuing technology-driven goals. As part of the program, they are seeking proposals for pilot projects, proofs of concept, or existing programs that utilize technology in a new or expanded way.
AWS Imagine Grant offers three distinct award categories for 501 (c) nonprofits based in the United States to receive support based on their organizational goals and the stage in their technology adoption journeys.
- Pathfinder Awards: The Pathfinder award will provide support for groundbreaking, mission-critical projects at the frontier of artificial intelligence encompassing a wide range of applications, such as generative AI, agentic AI, and autonomous systems. Pathfinder projects will have the potential to produce scaled, repeatable solutions that directly accelerate mission achievement and may impact an industry or field. Projects in the Pathfinder category may include service types mentioned in the Go Further, Faster and Momentum to Modernize awards, but must include the use of frontier AI capabilities such as generative AI, agentic AI, or autonomous AI as a core workload within the grant term (i.e. one year upon award). The Pathfinder award is designed for organizations with a strong data practice who are already in the planning phase of their projects.
- The Go Further, Faster Award: The Go Further, Faster award will provide support for highly innovative projects that leverage the cloud. These projects will have the potential to produce scaled, repeatable solutions and may impact an entire industry or field. They will be force multipliers for organizations and will include the application of and/or seek integrations with advanced cloud services, such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), high performance computing (HPC), Internet of Things (IoT), and more.
- The Momentum to Modernize Award: As nonprofit organizations seek to transform and enhance their core mission operations with technology, many organizations need funding for foundational technology projects, such as migrating servers to the cloud and modernizing new and existing applications. The Momentum to Modernize award will provide funding for these transformational infrastructure projects, alongside AWS Promotional Credit and implementation support. Nonprofit organizations with specific workloads and outcomes that meet the program criteria are welcome to apply. Projects may include application migration and optimization, net-new application development, database migration and centralization, infrastructure expansion, and more.
Benefits
Pathfinder Award
- Up to $200,000 USD of unrestricted financial support
- Up to $100,000 USD in AWS Promotional Credit
- Project implementation support from the AWS Generative AI Innovation Center
- Access to AWS training and support
- An opportunity for AWS marketing promotion
The Go Further, Faster Award
- Up to $150,000 USD of unrestricted financial support
- Up to $100,000 USD in AWS Promotional Credit
- Project implementation guidance from AWS technical specialist(s)
- Access to AWS training and support
- An opportunity for AWS marketing promotion
The Momentum to Modernize Award
- Up to $50,000 USD of unrestricted financial support
- Up to $20,000 USD in AWS Promotional Credit
- Project implementation guidance from AWS technical specialist(s)
- Access to AWS training and support
- An opportunity for AWS marketing promotion
Eligibility
- Nonprofit organizations with a registered 501(c) status based in the United States are eligible to apply. This includes 501(c)3 organizations, as well as credit unions, public utility organizations, and other 501(c)-designated entities.
- Organizations with annual budgets of any size may apply for this program. AWS Imagine Grant welcomes all causes and mission areas. However, educational institutions are excluded at this time as they are currently outside of our priority funding areas.
Judging Criteria
AWS will judge proposals based on factors that include:
- Innovative and unique nature of the project
- Impact on mission-critical goals
- Clearly defined outcomes
- Detailing and applicability of AWS services within the project scope
- Comprehensiveness of applicant’s proposal and information requested
- Submission of proposal in correct format and within the deadline
Application
For more information, visit AWS Imagine Grant.
