The Big Questions Request for Proposals - Level I Grants

The National Geographic Society's Level I Grants invite innovative storytelling projects that explore profound questions about human existence, curiosity, and the connection between humans and nature. Supported by the John Templeton Foundation, these grants encourage diverse and ambitious proposals including photography, writing, and data visualization. Applicants can request funding up to $100,000, with a recommendation for those with less than five years of experience to seek up to $20,000, all while emphasizing the importance of evaluating project impacts.

The Big Questions-Level I Grants
Through this call for proposals, the National Geographic Society will invite storytellers to delve into some of these big questions – questions we’ve wrestled with for millenia, and questions that are only just emerging.
The Big Questions on human flourishing, structures of reality and origins of life are key to understanding humankind’s purpose and place within the universe.Supported by the John Templeton Foundation, The National Geographic Society seeks innovative photography, short film, writing, data visualization and other storytelling proposals to help people consider some of the greatest questions of our time.These projects should in some way work to explore one of the following questions:

Eligibility

You must be 18 or older to apply for a National Geographic Society grant.
Project start dates should be a minimum of six months after the submission deadline to ensure any awarded funds are received in time.
If you are working on a project outside your home country or community, you must include at least one local collaborator on your team who is significantly involved in the project.
You may submit a proposal as the project leader for only one project at a time.
You must submit a final report and media from any previous National Geographic Society grants for which you were the leader before applying to lead a new project.
The individual responsible for carrying out the project should write the application and be listed as the project leader.The National Geographic Society warmly welcomes and encourages applicants from historically and currently underrepresented and underserved populations to apply. National Geographic is committed to funding a diverse and globally representative cohort of Explorers. The National Geographic Society does not discriminate on the basis of race, religious creed, marital or parental status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, ancestry, age, or disability.