OpenAI People-First AI Fund for U.S. Nonprofits in Community Support Arts and Journalism

Michigan Technology Access Funding via OpenAI is sponsored by OpenAI Foundation. U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofits and select regranting organizations using AI to enhance community services, arts and culture, or local journalism in Michigan and beyond can access funding through the OpenAI Foundation's People-First AI Fund. Grants support community-rooted, people-first AI projects that improve technology access, digital literacy, and nonprofit capacity across the U.S.

The OpenAI Foundation People-First AI Fund is a $50 million initiative supporting U.S. nonprofits using AI to advance education, community innovation, economic opportunity, healthcare, and community resilience. Wave 1 distributed $40.5 million in unrestricted grants to 208 community-based nonprofits across the United States through an open call that received nearly 3,000 applications. Wave 2, totaling $9.5 million in board-directed grants, is slated for early 2026 and targets organizations already advancing scalable AI work in health, education, and community resilience. The fund prioritizes efforts that use AI in creative ways to expand access, improve programmatic and service delivery, build resilience, and advance community-led research. Example grantees include STEM From Dance (combining dance and AI learning for young girls of color) and digital literacy and workforce development programs.

The Atlassian Foundation Collective Action Open Call commits 8,000,000 US dollars to nonprofit-led coalitions, with each successful partnership receiving up to 1,000,000 US dollars across two years alongside participation in a peer learning cohort and free access to Atlassian software. The thematic centre of the call is education and workforce development, and specifically helping education systems adapt to artificial intelligence in ways that close gaps for disadvantaged learners rather than widening them, which positions the programme as an equity-first AI education funder rather than a general edtech funder. Proposals must also demonstrate direct relief of poverty or disadvantage for an identified beneficiary group, so applications framed around general capability building without a named population are unlikely to clear review. The defining structural requirement is collective action: the lead applicant must be a registered nonprofit applying as the lead of a multi-stakeholder initiative, while the other coalition partners may come from any sector, including government and industry. Single-organisation applications do not fit the call. The programme is open globally, with applicants from sanctioned countries ineligible, and the Foundation operates a published eligibility checklist on which any single negative response disqualifies an application, so prospective applicants should work through that checklist before drafting. Applications close on 30 October 2026 at 11:59pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time, and submission runs through the Foundation's Goodstack nomination portal rather than a direct Atlassian form.

The Atlassian Foundation Collective Action Open Call offers up to 1,000,000 US dollars per partnership over two years from a total pool of 8,000,000 US dollars, with a deadline of 30 October 2026 at 11:59 pm AEDT. The call funds collective action initiatives in education at any level and workforce development, with an explicit emphasis on helping education adapt so that emerging technology closes rather than widens gaps for disadvantaged learners, alongside direct relief of poverty or disadvantage for specified beneficiary groups. The programme's defining requirement is structural rather than topical: the foundation is funding multiple players working together through shared goals, shared delivery and shared learning, so a single organisation with a good AI-and-education project is not what this call is looking for. The lead applicant must be a registered nonprofit, but other collective partners may come from any sector including government, business and academia, and applications are accepted globally with the exception of applicants from internationally sanctioned countries. The award is capped at 25 percent of the lead organisation's operating budget, which binds the request for most applicants more tightly than the headline ceiling. Funded work begins May or June 2027 and runs two years. Beyond cash, selected partnerships receive free access to Atlassian teamwork tools and participate in a peer learning cohort, and the budget must include travel for at least one representative to the United States or Australia in 2027 or 2028. Applicants must pass the foundation's eligibility checklist, where any single no answer is disqualifying, so the checklist should be worked through before any proposal writing begins. Applications are submitted through the foundation's Goodstack nomination portal.

The Atlassian Foundation's Collective Action Open Call 2026 is an 8,000,000 US dollar, two-year open call supporting nonprofit-led coalitions that improve education for disadvantaged learners in the AI era. Individual partnerships can receive up to 1,000,000 US dollars over two years, applications close on 30 October 2026 at 11:59pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time, and the Foundation expects to notify applicants by 31 March 2027. Registered nonprofit organisations worldwide are eligible, which makes this one of the few AI-and-education funds of this size genuinely open to Global South applicants rather than restricted to a single country. Three features distinguish it from the broader field of nonprofit AI funding. First, it funds coalitions rather than individual organisations, so the unit of application is a credible multi-organisation partnership with a plan for working together. Second, it takes a deliberately non-prescriptive stance on AI itself: the call covers education in the AI era including reasoned decisions not to use AI, which means a proposal arguing that a particular learner population is better served by protecting human-led instruction is within scope rather than disqualified. Third, the funding is bundled with a learning cohort and free Atlassian tooling, so the Foundation is offering a programme rather than a cheque. Applications are submitted through the Foundation's Goodstack nomination portal.