OpenAI Foundation names 163 nonprofits to share $50 million in unrestricted grants

The OpenAI Foundation announced on October 1 that 163 nonprofits based in 35 states and Washington, D.C., will share $50 million through the second round of its People-First AI Fund. The Foundation said the grants are unrestricted and that the fund is product-agnostic, so grantees choose whether to use any AI tool or platform at all.

The money is going to organizations in three areas: community support services, community arts and cultural organizations, and community journalism and media. The Foundation said it aims to pay out every grant in full before the end of 2026.

Who received grants

The Foundation highlighted a few grantees in each area. In community support services, Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance in California, which provides free civil legal services in Kern County, is piloting AI tools for intake and multilingual resources, and JustFix in New York is exploring tools to help renters understand rent records and navigate eviction. In arts and culture, the Library Foundation of Los Angeles supports the Los Angeles Public Library and its 73 locations, and the Nashville Jazz Workshop plans to make its concert archive searchable.

In journalism, Honolulu Civil Beat uses AI to make public records about the Hawaii Legislature easier to search. The American Journalism Project and the Colorado News Collaborative are also on the list. The Foundation said most of this year's grantees are new to the fund, alongside a small number of returning ones.

The announcement lists the recipients by name and state but does not give individual grant amounts. Scale Justice, a New York grantee, said it received a $450,000 unrestricted grant, Connecting Justice Communities reported on October 6. Dividing $50 million by 163 gives roughly $307,000, but that is only an average, and the amounts vary with each organization's budget.

How the Foundation chose

The Foundation said its open call drew 1,669 applications and that every application was reviewed by an experienced external grantmaker. Selection emphasized community trust, demonstrated impact and a thoughtful approach to exploring AI. Daniel Zingale, who convened the OpenAI Nonprofit Commission, worked with external advisors to develop and run the review.

The call for applications, published June 15, set the terms. Applicants had to be U.S. 501(c)(3) public charities with annual operating budgets between $500,000 and $10 million, with priority for budgets of $1 million to $8 million. Programs housed inside larger institutions or fiscally sponsored by another organization were not eligible. Grants were expected to run up to 10% of an organization's annual budget, with final amounts at the Foundation's discretion. The awards are one-time, and grantees may be asked for "light-touch check-ins."

The call also said community foundations and other regranting organizations could apply, but under separate grant terms, and that they would not be eligible for unrestricted general operating grants. The list includes community foundations such as Kern Community Foundation. The announcement does not say which awards were made under those terms, so "unrestricted" may not describe every grant.

The first round gave $40.5 million in unrestricted grants to 208 nonprofits, according to OpenAI's 2025 announcement of its initial grantees.

The Foundation's own account of results

The grantee descriptions come from the Foundation. It said, for example, that Rural Opportunity Institute in North Carolina used AI for back-office work and helped partner schools double Medicaid revenue and triple the number of students receiving mental health services. The Foundation did not say how those figures were measured, and we have not checked them independently. EdTech Innovation Hub repeated the claim on October 6, attributing it to the Foundation.

What small grantseekers can take from it

In our view, the terms are worth studying even for organizations that did not apply. The call said no prior AI experience was required, that the choice of AI vendor would not affect funding decisions, and that the grants carry no administrative, overhead or indirect cost policy. It offered no free accounts or credits. Those terms are unusual for a funder tied to a technology company, and the Foundation's account of results is the part that remains to be tested.

The budget bands and the 10% ceiling also show how a funder can size awards to an applicant's capacity. Organizations should check budget range, standalone status and grant-size rules before spending time on an application. This year's call closed on July 15 and did not accept late applications; the Foundation invites organizations to sign up on its site for news of future programs.