1. Foster community – enable connections that offer support and allow people to thrive;
2. Promote resilience in a time of crisis – safeguard against disaster and reduce human suffering;
3. Create career pathways into tech – close the economic opportunity gap and reduce unemployment.

TRENDING OPPORTUNITIES: The IBM Masters Fellowship Awards 2024

ELIGIBILITY CONDITIONS

• Open to nonprofit organizations that would like to use Zendesk software to directly serve beneficiary communities.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Applications will be evaluated by the Zendesk Social Impact review committee against the following criteria:

• Programmatic Fit:

Applicants must demonstrate how new technology and grant funding will support beneficiary communities and program goals. Applicants must also demonstrate a fit with the Zendesk Foundation focus areas of fostering community, promoting resilience, and creating career pathways in tech.

• Impact: 

Strong applications will focus on the desired outcomes of the project and should describe any potential long-term benefits to the program. Applicants should focus on how projects will ultimately generate positive results for beneficiary communities and program participants.

• Scale: 

Applicants should display an understanding of how technology and grant investments will support program growth. Applicants should discuss any potential challenges and planned activities to address them including requesting support from Zendesk Foundation to achieve these goals.

• Tech Readiness:

Applicants should demonstrate their organization’s ability to invest time in ensuring new software is implemented and effectively used by relevant project stakeholders. Zendesk will provide expert support as needed but applicants should describe what team members will be responsible for managing the platform, how staff buy-in will be encouraged, or overall plans on how to ensure the usage of the software for maximum project impact.

MERITS

1. The Impact Awards will provide multiple awards between $10K to $50K per organization for a total of up to $380,000 in available funding.
2. Zendesk Tech for Good will provide free product and software donations of up to $380,000 in value and Pro Bono support as needed.