The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

OVERVIEW: The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative focuses its grantmaking and investments on K-12 education, biomedicine and artificial intelligence. It also supports housing, opportunity and community development in the Bay Area of California.

IP TAKE: The Chan Zuckerberg distinguishes itself among other major philanthropic vehicles in the U.S. by underpinning all of its work with technology. In addition to grants and investments, CZI maintains its own “technology teams” that collaborate with grantees and partners to engineer solutions to pressing problems in science, health, education and more. If this organization seems daunting at first, zero in on one of its three main initiatives and check back periodically for new opportunities. While a significant portion of CZI’s grants support existing relationships, signature programs and multi-year projects, it does post RFAs for new subprograms from time to time.

PROFILE: The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) was established in 2015 by by Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, a former teacher and pediatrician. CZI is comprised of four connected entities: the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative LLC, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Foundation, the Chan Zuckerberg Donor-Advised Fund at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Advocacy. These four organizations share the broadly stated mission of “build[ing] a more inclusive, just, and healthy future for everyone.” CZI funds grants and ventures in the areas of science and education nationally, and supports community initiatives in the Bay Area of California. Across all areas of engagement, CZI works “at the intersection of philanthropy and technology” and through a “diversity, equity and inclusion lens.”

Grants for K-12 Education

CZI’s grants and investments for education work to “to equip teachers with the research, tools and partners they need to center students’ well-being in support of academic achievement and success.” The organization is well known for its adherence to the whole child approach, which addresses functioning across multiple contexts to provide “every student [with] exactly what they need to thrive inside the classroom and beyond.” CZI names three major areas of focus for its education giving.

Working from whole child approach, CZI supports research that addresses “student learning and human development, and its translation into classroom practice.” Of specific interest here are the identification of and support for “teaching practices and school cultures” that “center a student’s well-being in support of academic development and success.” CZI also supports evaluations of school environments where whole child interventions are in place to “understand what’s working in schools where students are thriving.”
CZI actively partners with organizations in educational technology to “build tools that help teachers center students’ well-being in support of academic achievement and success.” With its own technology team, CZI partners with Gradient Learning to support the development of whole child platforms like Summit Learning and Along, both of which help teachers design and deliver student-centered learning for diverse needs.
CZI also supports and invests in a broad range of well-being partnerships both within schools and in students’ broader communities. This sub-initiative also supports teacher well-being as a cornerstone for thriving educational environments.

For examples of CZIs grants and ventures in K-12 education, see the organization’s searchable grants database or its newsroom. Grantseekers and others may also sign up for CZIs education newsletter here.

Grants for Early Childhood Education

CZI does not specifically name early childhood education as an engagement area, but it is worth noting that significant funding has supported the development of an early childhood program at the Primary School, which runs schools in East Palo Alto and East Bay in California.

Grants for Public Health, Diseases, Brain and Cell Research

CZI’s science program is heavily but not exclusively focused on biomedicine and works to “catalyze scientific discovery and accelerate the development of treatments and cures.” The program pursues this mission through three separate approaches.

CZI aims to “build and democratize software tools to drive biological insights.” This approach mainly involves CZI’s in-house Science Technology Team, which “develops and supports open-source software critical to accelerating biomedicine with the goal of democratizing emerging methods, tools, and datasets to increase their reach and utility.” Major projects include:
- CZID, a platform that facilitates the identification of new infectious diseases;
- CZ GEN EPI, a program that helps public health organizations “investigate disease outbreaks and perform pathogen surveillance”;
- CZ CELLxGENE, which enables the analysis and sharing of information about cells in the pursuit of new disease treatments; and
- NAPARI HUB, which “helps researchers find high-quality image analysis methods that solve their unique data analysis needs.”
The science program also works to fund “scientific research globally to advance biomedicine,” emphasizing “unmet needs and barriers to success.” Funding prioritizes “technology development, interdisciplinary research collaborations, and partnerships” and CZI names areas of specific interest including imaging, neuroscience and single-cell biology. A fourth subprogram, Science in Society, supports patient-centered, “responsive and inclusive practices” that “bring biomedical research closer to the communities it aims to serve.”
CZI’s science program also aims to “do great science that cannot be done in conventional environments.” This approach involves the development of “new types of research institutes where a diversity of disciplines and scientists come together to build tools” to solve “grand scientific challenges.” Major sites of support and involvement relating to biomedicine include:
- The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Network, which so far operates in San Francisco, Chicago and New York and “brings together researchers from across disciplines to pursue audacious, important scientific challenges” and
- The Chan Zuckerberg Imaging Institute, which is located in the Bay Area and pursues the development of “revolutionary new imaging hardware and software tools to build breakthrough multimodal biological imaging systems.”

For additional information about grantees, projects and partners, see CZI’s searchable grants database or its newsroom. Sign up for CZI’s science newsletter mailing list here.

Grants for Science Research, Technology and Higher Education

While the main thrust of the CZI’s science initiative relates to biomedical, disease and cellular research, a few subinitiatives support scientific research and engagement outside of the realm of biomedicine, reflecting CZIs strong interest in the overlapping areas of science, technology and artificial intelligence.

Open Science is a CZI funding program that supports the development of “tools, platforms, and organizations that help expand participation and access to the scientific process by making it open and reproducible, and helping scientists build on each others’ work.” A portion of this funding also supports technologies for higher education and scientific training for researchers, teachers and others. See information about CZI’s open science grantee partners here.
CZI provides ongoing support to the Kemper Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence at Harvard University, whose mission is to “to innovate and advance the field of intelligence research and devise solutions to complex problems for the benefit of humanity.” In addition to research and computing, the institute “offers a range of fellowship and educational programs, catering to students at various levels of study, including graduate, post-baccalaureate, and undergraduate.”

Grants for Work, Opportunity, Housing and Community Development

CZI’s community funding initiative makes grants and investments for housing affordability, economic inclusion and community development. The program mainly supports initiatives for the Bay Area, but a few grants have gone organizations working state-wide and nationally in these thematic areas.

The housing affordability subprogram works broadly “to improve housing affordability and access so people from all backgrounds and income levels can live, work, and thrive in California and beyond.”
- CZI is the main organizer and sponsor behind the California Dream, “an evidence-based narrative framework that advocates can leverage to create a sustained movement for housing reform.” Partners in this work include the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, the Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California and Housing Now, among others.
- CZI provides support to innovative housing finance projects across the state of California. Grants stemming from this subprogram aim to “support funds that are implementing creative solutions to financing the production and preservation of housing in California.” Nonprofits and for-profit enterprises with budgets of over $1 million and assets of less than $5 million with plans to finance the development of at least 5o units of affordable housing were eligible to apply for investments of $1 million to $3 million, to be disbursed over a period of up to ten years. This program accepted applications in 2024, but it is unclear the program will run another grantmaking cycle.
- This initiative also supports housing research that “aims to equip advocates, policymakers, and practitioners with actionable insights and data on housing challenges and solutions.” Grantee partners in this work include UC Berkeley’s Turner Center for Housing Innovation, the Urban Institute and the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association.
CZIs grants and investments for economic inclusion support “a just, inclusive, and thriving Bay Area economy” by “eliminating barriers and and expanding access to entrepreneurs.” Grants specifically target organizations working with “community-rooted entrepreneurs and small businesses.” A recent round of funding provided six two-year project grants of $500,000 to nonprofits and CDFIs that serve small businesses owned by underrepresented entrepreneurs with 20 or fewer employees. It is unclear if CZI will run another cycle of this grant program. See past grantee partners here.
Support for community development is also sourced from the CZI Community Fund, which limits its giving to San Mateo County but supports a broad range of organizations and programs focused on “increasing access to the building blocks of social and economic well-being.” Areas of interest have included affordable housing, community health, local educational opportunities and job training. CZI prioritizes organizations that work in underserved or marginalized communities and those that “demonstrate a long-term commitment and connection to the communities they serve.”
This grant program appears to run annually and makes two-year grants of up to $200,00o for unrestricted or project support. This program’s webpage includes a link to detailed application guidelines and due dates, as well as profiles of past grantees.
It is worth mentioning that CZI also offers its Community Space, located in Redwood City, as a “free meeting and event space for organizations to convene, collaborate, and host events and programs that support the local community.” See details about available rooms and how to book a room here.

See CZI’s grants database or newsroom pages for information about past grants.

Important Grant Details:

Grant amounts range from $40,000 to $14 million, with a few partner organizations and CZI-affiliated projects receiving as much as $100 million.

CZI’s education and science programs support and partner with large, well-established organizations. Smaller outfits have a better opportunity with CZI’s community initiative and giving programs in the Bay Area.
CZI is an active participant and collaborator in research related to to areas of interest.
Technology features prominently in this funder’s work, both as a solution to persistent problems and a tool for research, measurement and information sharing.
This funder makes both grants and investments, partnering with both nonprofits and for-profit enterprises across its areas of engagement. CZI’s website features a searchable database of past grants, as well as pages that name its venture investments and its strategic program investments.
CZI mainly works through exiting relationships, but it frequently posts RFA’s on its program pages for specific opportunities. Grantseekers interested in the education and science programs should sign up for the newsletter specific to those initiatives.

This funder does not provide a direct avenue for getting in touch. The organization’s telephone number is listed as 650-804-7100, but networking with staff on LinkedIn might be a more effective means of contact.

PEOPLE:

Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).

LINKS: