Westly Prize Grant

The Westly Prize, awarded by the Westly Foundation, supports young social innovators in California with innovative solutions to community challenges. Since 2012, the prize has provided up to $145,000 in unrestricted funding to finalists, encouraging creativity in categories such as AI, education, and health. The program seeks applicants under 28 years old who demonstrate strong leadership and impactful solutions, fostering a culture of growth and innovation.

Since 2012, we’ve awarded cash prizes to Westly Prize finalists once a year to early-stage, young social innovators in California with novel solutions to community challenges.
Innovations in any of the following categories are eligible for consideration:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Arts
• Civic Engagement
• Education
• Energy
• Environment
• Food Production/Distribution
• Health
• Safety
• Technology/Tech for Good
• Transportation
• Youth Development
• Criteria

We welcome applications from young innovators from California who want to make the world a better place. We evaluate candidates on these criteria:
Quality of the Innovation: The community challenge is significant, and the innovator(s) has/have a working prototype of the solution that exhibits creativity, originality, and has been tested with some success.Impact: Applicant has developed a new and compelling solution to a social challenge anywhere in the world, and has developed an innovation that shows potential to scale.Capacity & Sustainability: Applicant demonstrates sufficient organizational infrastructure to move forward or the ability to build that capacity, and is committed to the ongoing sustainability and scaling of their innovative venture.Leadership: Applicant is a leader and creative problem-solver with a willingness to try, fail, adapt, and persist.
Funding
Prizes totaling up to $145,000 will be awarded to winning changemakers and social innovators. Three top prizes of $40,000 in unrestricted funding will be given.

Eligibility

Additional Guidelines:An individual founder or at least half of the founding team must be resident(s) of or live in California at the time of the application and throughout the selection process.
Out-of-state residents enrolled in a California school are eligible. California residents attending school in a different state are also eligible.
An individual founder must be under the age of 28 years during the calendar year in which they apply. If a team of co-founders applies, at least half of the founding team must be under age 28 in the year they apply.
A team of co-founders may not exceed four founding members in applying.
An innovation must be the idea of the applying individual or individuals listed as co-founders in the application.Only one individual or one team may be nominated or apply for the same innovation.
Prize awards are unrestricted and will be paid in U.S. dollars to the successful individuals (which may affect the taxes of these individuals) or as a donation to a charitable organization of the winners choosing.
Prize awards are given in recognition of the social impact of the innovations.

Ineligibility

An individual who leads the effort to build out the innovation, but did not come up with the innovation directly, is not eligible to apply.