Public Benefit Innovation Funds: $5 million in non-dilutive investment to advance AI-enabled solutions

About the Funding

The Public Benefit Innovation Fund (PBIF) is awarding $5 million in non-dilutive investment to advance AI-enabled solutions that assist governments in responding to recent federal policy changes and budget restrictions in safety net programs. Awards will be two-year grants ranging from $500,000 to $2 million, supporting 5-10 initiatives that will be piloted or deployed with production data within 12 months.

Priority Areas

• Programs Where There is a meaningful participation gap
• That gap is driven by administrative burdens
• There is robust evidence that accessing those benefits leads to improved economic mobility outcomes.
• Solutions That Focus On Income and employment verification to streamline eligibility, ensure compliance and reduce manual review burdens
• SNAP error rate reduction, including tools that reduce improper denials or overpayments
• Clear and accessible beneficiary communication, helping users understand requirements, complete applications, and navigate changes confidently
• Application, verification, and appeal backlog reduction, improving both client experience and staff capacity

Who Can Apply

• Early-stage teams, established orgs, non-profit, for-profit, and government agencies that are able to build and deploy/pilot an AI solution in the 12 month time frame.
• Strong Proposals Will Demonstrate A deep understanding of the problem space, grounded in staff and beneficiary experience and supported by qualitative and/or quantitative data
• A clear implementation path: For government-focused solutions: at least one identified government partner (e.g., letter of support or similar commitment) and a strategy for making the solution accessible for other governments
• For beneficiary-facing tools: a viable plan for outreach, adoption, and trust-building
• Technical feasibility, including: A functional proof of concept and mapped infrastructure
• Data use agreements (executed or in progress), or a clear plan and timeline for securing them
• A documented evaluation strategy with meaningful success benchmarks
• Milestones that can be reached by July 2026
• A credible path to financial sustainability and long-term scale
• A technically ambitious but realistic approach

Evaluation Criteria

• Does the project address a clearly defined and evidence-based barrier to accessing safety net programs—such as a service gap, operational challenge, or user experience issue?
• If successful: Will the solution deliver meaningful and measurable improvement for beneficiaries and the staff who serve them?
• Is there a clear plan to track, measure, and report on impact?
• Responsible AI: Does the solution prioritize data privacy, transparency, and fairness in its design and implementation? Are potential risks—such as bias, misuse, or unintended consequences—identified and appropriately mitigated?
• Technical & Practical Feasibility: Is the proposed solution technically sound and achievable within the project timeline, budget and plan? Can the solution integrate with existing government systems?
• Are government partners and/or beneficiaries engaged in the solution development and design?
• Strategic Alignment: Does the opportunity represent an area or thesis that, without catalytic funding or space to take risk, would either not manifest, or take much longer to do so?
• Shared Learning and Scale: Does the project include a clear and intentional plan for sharing findings, lessons learned, and—where appropriate—tools, data, or code with the broader public benefits community and other relevant stakeholders? Is there a reasonable path to scalability, if the solution is successful?