776 Foundation
OVERVIEW: Alexis Ohanian’s 776 Foundation awards the 776 Fellowship for young people working toward climate change mitigation.
IP TAKE: The 776 Foundation’s two-year fellowship program supports promising climate innovation projects of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 from anywhere in the with the “the space and time (and money) to build something great.” Fellows also enjoy access to strategic support and technology resources of the foundation’s parent company, 776 Management. The next application round will is expected to start in March of 2025. Sign up for updates about guidelines and due dates here.
PROFILE: The 776 Foundation, based in Jupiter, Florida, is the philanthropic vehicle of 776 Management, the venture capital firm founded by Alexis Ohanian. Ohanian is best known as the founder of Reddit, but he has also accumulated significant wealth through an investment firm, Initialized Capital, which specializes in providing seed and early-stage funding for internet an cryptocurrency startups. His second investment vehicle, 776 Management, is geared toward social enterprise and funds “founders that are changing the world” in the areas of media, technology, health, youth development and financial services, to name a few. The affiliated 776 Foundation, pursues a mission “to support problem-solvers at the earliest possible stage” via its fellowship program, which “gives 20 remarkable people the age of 24 and under the chance to spend two years working on the bright idea that’s keeping them up at night.”
Grants for Climate Change, Clean Energy and Scientific Research
The 776 Fellowship is a two-year opportunity for 18- to 24-year olds from anywhere in the world “to work on projects to fight climate change instead of pursuing a university degree.”
- The program prioritizes fellows and projects that “create real, measurable solutions that will benefit underserved communities” and conceives of climate change as a “a technological, social, and political issue.”
- Twenty fellowships are awarded for each grantmaking cycle in amounts of $100,000 to be distributed over the two year fellowship term. Funding is unrestricted an may be used to pay for “[w]hatever you need to bring your idea to life over the next 2 years.”
- Fellows also gain access to 776 Management’s resources including founder networks, programs and its Cerebro operating system.
- The program specifies that the program is a full-time opportunity; applicants may be enrolled in higher education when they apply but are expected to “take two years away from school to focus on their project, company or idea” if awarded the fellowship.
- The fellowship will begin its next application cycle in March of 2025 and will accept applications for a four-week period ending on a specified date in April. Selections are typically announced at the end of May, and the fellowship officially begins in June.
- Sign up for application and program updates here.
Important Grant Details:
The 776 Foundation’s fellowships are awarded in the amount of $100,000 each, which is distributed to fellows over a two-year period.
- This climate-focused fellowship aims to support the next generation of “exceptional founders” with “the space and time (and money) to build something great.”
- The fellowship is open to young people between the ages of 18 and 24 from anywhere in the world. Fellows may not be enrolled in higher education during the two years of the fellowship.
- This program runs every other year and will begin its next application cycle in March 2025.
- Sign up for updates here.
- The 776 Foundation posts profiles of past fellows here.
The 776 Foundation does not provide a direct way to get in touch, but links to its social media accounts are linked to the bottom of the website. The foundation’s phone number is listed as (212) 814-5399.
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