Humanity AI Launches $10 Million Open Call for Community Led AI Projects

Humanity AI has launched a $10 million open call for U.S. based projects that give communities a more direct role in determining how artificial intelligence is built, governed, and used.

The initiative is aimed at organizations and collaborations working across education, labor and the economy, and humanities, arts, and culture. Grants will range from $75,000 to $1 million, with projects eligible for funding periods of up to three years.

What makes the program notable is its emphasis on community leadership rather than AI adoption alone.

Humanity AI is looking for projects where the people most affected by artificial intelligence are helping define the goals, shape the approach, and drive the work.

That could mean teachers and students establishing rules for AI in schools, workers influencing how automation is deployed in the workplace, or artists developing new approaches to protecting creative work.

The broader idea is simple: communities should have more influence over technologies that increasingly affect their lives.

A $500 Million Philanthropic Initiative Focused on AI and the Public Good

Humanity AI was launched in 2025 as a $500 million, five year collaborative philanthropic initiative focused on ensuring artificial intelligence serves the public good.

Its founding partners include the Doris Duke Foundation, Ford Foundation, Lumina Foundation, Kapor Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, Omidyar Network, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and Siegel Family Endowment.

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors serves as the initiative's fiscal sponsor.

The initiative has positioned itself around a central concern emerging alongside the rapid growth of AI: people and communities often have limited influence over how systems affecting their jobs, schools, culture, and institutions are designed.

The new open call represents a direct attempt to fund alternatives.

Rather than asking only how communities can adopt artificial intelligence, Humanity AI is asking how communities can participate in shaping it.

Three Areas of Focus

The $10 million open call is focused on three areas where artificial intelligence is already creating significant economic and social questions.

Education

Humanity AI is seeking projects that put students, educators, and communities at the center of decisions about AI in education.

Potential work could include new governance models, community driven standards, safeguards for students, or tools developed alongside educators.

The objective is not simply to expand the use of artificial intelligence in schools. It is to ensure AI is introduced in ways that support learning while reflecting the interests of students, educators, and communities.

Labor and the Economy

The labor category focuses on ensuring AI enhances work rather than simply replacing workers.

Humanity AI says it is particularly interested in projects led by workers and worker focused organizations.

That could include worker participation in AI governance, approaches to workplace surveillance, new standards for automation, or technologies designed around the needs of workers themselves.

The underlying issue is becoming increasingly important as companies introduce AI into more operational and professional roles.

The question is not only what tasks artificial intelligence can automate. It is also who participates in deciding how those systems are deployed and how the economic benefits are distributed.

Humanities, Arts, and Culture

Humanity AI is also seeking proposals from artists, writers, scholars, cultural heritage workers, and organizations representing creative communities.

Projects can address issues such as ownership, attribution, creative rights, AI generated content, or the role artificial intelligence should play within cultural institutions.

The initiative describes its broader goal as enhancing human creativity while protecting the work of artists and creators.

What Types of Projects Can Receive Funding?

Humanity AI has organized eligible projects around three broad approaches.

The first involves shaping how AI is governed and used.

These projects could establish rules, standards, accountability mechanisms, or decision making processes around AI systems.

The second is building AI on community terms.

Examples could include community controlled datasets, auditing tools, technical infrastructure, or AI products co designed with the people they are intended to serve.

The third is challenging AI that does not serve communities.

That could include worker coalitions challenging AI surveillance, artists organizing around the use of creative work in AI systems, or communities pushing back on technology deployments they believe conflict with their interests.

Humanity AI says projects do not necessarily have to incorporate artificial intelligence themselves.

Where AI models are central to a proposal, however, priority will be given to projects using open weight or open source models rather than closed models.

That preference signals an interest not only in AI applications, but also in questions around transparency, ownership, access, and control.

What Humanity AI Is Not Looking For

The program also draws relatively clear boundaries around what it does not intend to fund.

Projects primarily focused on AI literacy are outside the scope of the open call.

So are projects primarily designed to increase adoption of specific AI products.

Research only projects are also excluded when they do not advance community leadership or action.

This distinction matters.

Much of the conversation around nonprofit and public sector AI has centered on training organizations to use existing tools.

Humanity AI is funding something different.

The objective is not simply to help more people participate in the AI economy as users.

It is to increase their ability to influence how artificial intelligence operates.

Grants Range From $75,000 to $1 Million

Humanity AI has created three funding tiers.

The first ranges from $75,000 to $150,000 and may fit smaller pilots, emerging organizations, individual practitioners working through fiscal sponsors, or smaller collaborations.

The second ranges from $150,000 to $500,000 and is intended for more substantial initiatives requiring sustained staffing, development work, or collaboration.

The third ranges from $500,000 to $1 million and could support larger coalitions, multi year initiatives, or projects with significant technical and infrastructure requirements.

Humanity AI says it has not predetermined how much of the $10 million will be allocated across the three tiers.

Applicants can propose projects lasting up to three years.

Who Can Apply?

The open call is focused on U.S. based communities.

Lead organizations must generally have 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.

Individuals can participate through a fiscal sponsor or another nonprofit intermediary, while collaborations between multiple organizations are also eligible.

The program is intentionally seeking applicants who may not traditionally think of themselves as part of the artificial intelligence ecosystem.

That creates an opening for organizations that understand the social consequences of AI even if technology is not their primary focus.

A teachers association, worker organization, arts nonprofit, university center, community group, or cultural institution could potentially be just as relevant to the program as an organization traditionally associated with technology.

Why This Matters for the Impact Economy

The larger story may be the emergence of public interest AI as a philanthropic funding category.

Most capital flowing into artificial intelligence has been concentrated in foundation models, computing infrastructure, enterprise software, and consumer applications.

Philanthropic capital is beginning to address a different layer of the ecosystem.

Who protects workers as automation expands?

How should AI operate inside schools?

What rights should creators retain?

How can communities audit systems affecting them?

Who gets to establish the rules?

Humanity AI has already begun deploying capital in this area. In May 2026, the initiative announced more than $18 million in new commitments, including $8 million for an initial group of grantees and the $10 million later allocated to this open call.

Those investments suggest that philanthropy around AI may increasingly move beyond digital literacy and technology access toward governance, infrastructure, ownership, and community power.

What Applicants Should Think About

Organizations considering an application should probably begin with the community rather than the technology.

A strong proposal should be able to clearly answer several questions:

Who is directly affected by the AI system or issue?

What decisions are currently being made without meaningful community participation?

How will community members help define the goals and shape the work?

What authority or influence will they actually gain?

And what changes if the project succeeds?

Humanity AI defines community led work as efforts where members of the community are demonstrably defining the goals, shaping the approach, and driving the work.

That is a higher bar than simply conducting community interviews or assembling an advisory board.

For organizations applying, community leadership appears to be part of the core operating model the funder wants to see.

Application Deadline

Applications for the Humanity AI open call are due October 21, 2026.

Finalists are expected to be notified in December 2026, with grant awards expected to be announced in early spring 2027.

Organizations interested in applying can review eligibility requirements, funding tiers, evaluation criteria, FAQs, and application materials on the Humanity AI website.

Learn more: https://humanityai.ai/open-call/

The long term significance of this program may extend beyond the organizations that ultimately receive funding.

As artificial intelligence becomes embedded across education, work, culture, government, and everyday life, the question of who gets to shape these systems will become increasingly important.

Humanity AI is putting $10 million behind the idea that communities should be part of answering it.