Inside Philanthropy

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The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

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OVERVIEW: The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative focuses its grantmaking and investments on K-12 education, science, biomedicine and artificial intelligence. It also supports housing, opportunity and community development in California, particularly in the Bay Area.

IP TAKE: Since its original mission to ““build a more inclusive, just, and healthy future for everyone,” the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has  radically shifted both its focus and approach to grantmaking. It now distinguishes itself among other major philanthropic vehicles by underpinning much of its work with technology and generative AI. In addition to grants and investments, CZI maintains its own “technology teams” that collaborate with grantees and partners to engineer solutions to pressing problems in science, health, education and more. If this organization seems daunting and inaccessible at first, zero in on one of its three main initiatives (Science, Education and Community) and check back periodically for new opportunities. However, CZI has recently reversed its diversity, equity and inclusion policy and no longer specifically supports organizations or programs related to “social advocacy,” so adjust proposals accordingly. Once a premier K-12 funder, CZI has also recently pulled funding from previous K-12 commitments, as well as funding for climate change and social justice. As IP founder David Callahan notes, the direction CZI will take in the near future remains to be seen. Expect changes, and check back often. It’s unclear if CZI’s staff even has a deep idea of how funding will develop over time.

While a significant portion of CZI’s grants support existing relationships, signature programs and multi-year projects, it does post RFAs for new subprograms, particularly within its science portfolio. CZI also accepts grant applications on an annual basis from San Mateo County organizations through its Community Fund.

PROFILE: The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) was established in 2015 by Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, a former teacher and pediatrician. CZI is comprised of four connected entities: the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative LLC, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Foundation, the Chan Zuckerberg Donor-Advised Fund at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Advocacy. These four organizations share the broadly stated mission of supporting the “science and technology to make it possible to cure, prevent and manage all disease in this century.” CZI funds grants and ventures in the areas of science and education nationally, and it supports community initiatives in San Mateo County of California.

Grants for K-12 Education

Once a premier K-12 funder, CZI had shifted focus radically in 2025 since clawing back on its DEI-backed education program. Now grants and investments for education partners “deeply with educators, researchers and youth to build tools and supports to unlock the full potential of every student, no matter who they are or where they live. Our work brings tech-building and grantmaking together to address everyday challenges teachers and students face in the classroom.” While the organization is known for its adherence to the whole child approach, which addresses functioning across multiple contexts to provide “every student [with] exactly what they need to thrive inside the classroom and beyond,” it is unclear how approaches to education funding will continue to develop in light of the foundation’s disengagement from a focus on equity. IP founder David Callahan notes that while “education remains a focus of CZI, that work centers mainly on technological innovation following a retreat over several years from its previously expansive agenda. Last month, the Primary School announced it would close its doors next year, after Zuckerberg and Chan pulled their financial support.” CZI names two major areas of focus for its education giving:

  • Working from whole child approach, CZI supports education research into “classroom practices” through funding that catalyzes “new tools, practices and measures designed to foster whole child outcomes,” as well as leveraging “research to design technology that helps teachers connect with students and tailor learning experiences to individual student needs.”
  • CZI actively partners with organizations in educational technology to “build tools that help teachers center students’ well-being in support of academic achievement and success.” With its own technology team, CZI partners with Gradient Learning to support the development of whole child platforms like Summit Learning and Along, both of which help teachers design and deliver student-centered learning for individualized needs. CZI’s AI Developer Tools for Education uses AI to “empower edtech teams to create transformative and pedagogically rigorous solutions that address the unique challenges faced by educators and schools.”
  • For examples of CZIs grants and ventures in K-12 education, see the organization’s searchable grants database or its newsroom. Grantseekers and others may also sign up for CZIs education newsletter here.

Grants for Science Research, Technology, Diseases, and Neuroscience Research

CZI’s science program is heavily, but not exclusively, focused on biomedicine and AI, and it works to pursue four scientific grand challenges meant “to produce breakthroughs and accelerate science to significantly decrease the burden of human disease.” This program’s funding approach changed in April 2025 to more deeply focus on the implementation of AI in science research. CZI’s science program pursues its work through three separate approaches, which it distinguishes as building tools, funding research, and creating new institutes to support research that “can’t be done in conventional environments.”

  • CZI’s in-house Science Technology Team, “develops and supports open-source software critical to accelerating biomedicine with the goal of democratizing emerging methods, tools, and datasets to increase their reach and utility.” Major projects include:
    • CZID, a platform that facilitates the identification of new infectious diseases;
    • Virtual Cells, which uses AI to “build virtual cells that scientists can use to understand how cells work”;
    • CZ CELLxGENE, which enables the analysis and sharing of information about cells in the pursuit of new disease treatments; and
    • NAPARI HUB, which “helps researchers find high-quality image analysis methods that solve their unique data analysis needs.”
  • CZI’s science program also aims to do “great science that cannot be done in conventional environments.” This approach involves the development of “new types of research institutes where a diversity of disciplines and scientists come together to build tools” to solve “grand scientific challenges.” Major sites of support and involvement relating to biomedicine include:
    • The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Network, which so far operates in San Francisco, Chicago and New York and “brings together researchers from across disciplines to pursue audacious, important scientific challenges” and
    • The Chan Zuckerberg Imaging Institute, which is located in the Bay Area and pursues the development of “revolutionary new imaging hardware and software tools to build breakthrough multimodal biological imaging systems.”
  • For additional information about grantees, projects and partners, see CZI’s searchable grants database or its newsroom, as well as via Medium for updates on CZI grantees.. Sign up for CZI’s science newsletter mailing list here. Learn more about CZI’s grants and ventures.
  • CZI provides ongoing support to the Kemper Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence at Harvard University, whose mission is to “innovate and advance the field of intelligence research and devise solutions to complex problems for the benefit of humanity.” In addition to research and computing, the institute “offers a range of fellowship and educational programs, catering to students at various levels of study, including graduate, post-baccalaureate, and undergraduate.”

Grants for Community Development

CZI’s community funding initiative makes grants and investments for San Mateo County. The program mainly supports initiatives for the Bay Area, but some grants go to organizations working state-wide and nationally in these thematic areas. This focus area was dramatically restructured and reduced in late February 2025, when CZI dismissed much of the team working on housing affordability, economic inclusion, and other forms of “social advocacy funding,” including work and grants focused on immigration reform and racial equity.

  • The CZI Community Fund limits its giving to San Mateo County. It formerly supported a broad range of organizations and programs in the area; however, it is unclear what this program will look like going forward.
  • CZI offers its Community Space, located in Redwood City, as a “free meeting and event space for organizations to convene, collaborate, and host events and programs that support the local community.” Importantly, the space is not available for political or advocacy events, or those that do not align with CZI’s current mission or values. See details about available rooms and how to book a room here.
  • See CZI’s grants database or newsroom pages for information about past grants.

Important Grant Details:

Grant amounts can range from $40,000 to $14 million, with a few partner organizations and CZI-affiliated projects receiving as much as $100 million. The majority of CZI grants fall in the $20,000 to $500,000 range.

  • CZI’s education and science programs support and partner with large, well-established organizations. Smaller outfits have a better opportunity with CZI’s community initiative and giving programs in the Bay Area.
  • CZI is an active participant and collaborator in research related to areas of interest. Technology and AI feature prominently in this funder’s work, both as solutions to persistent problems and as tools for research, measurement and information sharing.
  • This funder makes both grants and investments, partnering with both nonprofits and for-profit enterprises across its areas of engagement. CZI’s website features a searchable database of past grants, as well as pages that name its venture investments and its strategic program investments.
  • CZI mainly works through existing relationships, but it frequently posts RFA’s on its program pages for specific opportunities. Grantseekers interested in the education and science programs should sign up for the newsletter specific to those initiatives.
  • Grantseekers with questions about CZI’s science grants can contact the organization through email at sciencegrants@chanzuckerberg.com. The organization’s telephone number is listed as (650) 804-7100, but networking with staff on LinkedIn might be a more effective means of contact.

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