Request for Proposals: Launchpad Funds

Coefficient Giving is accepting expressions of interest (EOIs) for Launchpad Funds: new or scalable funds tackling important, underfunded problems in global health and wellbeing. We are seeking EOIs in two tracks: (1) pre-seed funding of $200k–$10m over up to 24 months, and (2) seed and scaling funding of $10m–$50m+ over up to 36 months. In both tracks, we’ll weigh how our funding would be used directly as well as the fund’s potential to attract and cost-effectively deploy $100m+ from other funders over the next several years. We expect to make at least 10 pre-seed grants and at least 3 seed and scaling grants, with the possibility of making significantly more in each track if there are promising opportunities. 

Background

Coefficient Giving is increasing its giving, primarily to prepare for the billions of dollars in new philanthropic capital that may become available in the coming years. Our increased giving in global health and wellbeing is a temporary surge, with two objectives: to smooth funding and pull forward initiatives we expect to be cost-effective, and to help create an ecosystem of regrantors and implementers with the capacity to allocate this new money as cost-effectively as possible. Additional context on our scaling is provided in this blog post. 

With new potential capital on the way, we want to increase the supply of actionable and fundable plans to address some of the world’s hardest problems. We’re looking for specific, credible strategies to convert funding into measurable progress. Our ideal funds are:

Through this request for EOIs, we aim to seed or scale Launchpad Funds that can grow to $100m+ over the next few years. We don’t seek scale for its own sake; it is a proxy for the ambition of the fund, and a signal that the problem is large and tractable enough to justify deploying significantly more capital over time.   

Who we will fund

We will make grants to new or scalable funds. The core purpose of a Launchpad Fund is to serve as a regrantor, supporting initiatives and projects led by implementing organizations in pursuit of the fund’s goals. In some cases, an implementing organization may be well-positioned to take ownership of an entire problem itself (filling the “general manager” role). We are open to proposals from implementing organizations, provided they are willing to take responsibility for the entire problem, rather than carving out a niche. 

We will accept applications from:

What we will fund

We anticipate providing two types of funding, which we will evaluate through separate application tracks: a pre-seed funding track and a seed and scaling funding track. 

• Pre-seed funding: $200k–$10m over up to 24 months. 

• At lower levels within this range, we expect funding to support an individual applicant in developing the idea and strategy for a fund. 

1. 1. • At higher levels, we expect funding to also support building a team.

• At the highest levels, we expect our funding to also go toward initial, exploratory grantmaking. 

1. • Pre-seed funding is not a commitment to provide follow-on seed and scaling funding. The goal of the pre-seed phase is to learn about and de-risk the scale-up of a full fund. While we expect to support a number of funds coming out of the pre-seed phase, we also expect many fund managers to discover challenges with their original proposals; in some cases, it will make more sense to wind down than to continue. 
   • We recognize that the best proposers of fund ideas may not be the best managers of a fund. We welcome proposals from both idea generators who do not want to run a fund themselves and prospective general managers. For idea generators, the pre-seed funding period can be used to scout out a general manager for the fund concept.  

• Seed and scaling funding: $10m–$50m+ over up to 36 months. 

1. • We expect to support established ideas that have either not yet secured anchor support or could significantly scale beyond their existing level of funding.  
   • This funding can cover operating expenses, but we expect most of it to be used for activities that make progress on the fund’s goals — whether through regranting or direct implementation.  
   • For exceptional proposals, we may consider funding levels beyond $50m. We anticipate higher funding levels will involve more thought partnership from our team. 
   • While we don’t expect to make grants longer than 36 months, funded proposals may later be considered for additional funding beyond the initial period. 

The scale of ambition

Since our purpose is to develop funds that are large enough to absorb future philanthropic funding, the best proposals in each track will have the potential to cost-effectively allocate $100m+ (and preferably $300m+) over the next 3–5 years. To illustrate the scale of ambition we are after, at Coefficient Giving’s current 1,000x bar, we would expect a $100m fund to:

We recognize that the goals of a fund can be defined at varying levels of granularity, and we do not expect proposals to arrive with a single, fully developed target. But we think it is important for funds to be oriented toward specific goals, and for those goals to be articulated by the time we make a funding decision. For thematic funds, a clearly defined focus area combined with a qualitative goal may take the place of a precise, quantitative target. For all proposals, we will look for a clear sense of what the fund is trying to achieve. 

Attributes of promising funds

Coefficient Giving aims to direct funding where it can have the greatest impact: the cost-effectiveness of the work proposed by a fund will be the top consideration in our selection of proposals. In practice, the most cost-effective proposals tend to score well on our ITN framework:

• Importance: How large and severe is the problem addressed by the fund? How much of the problem could this fund plausibly resolve?  
• Tractability: Is there a credible plan to achieve the fund’s outcome? Is there evidence supporting the programs and interventions likely to be funded? 
• Neglectedness: Is the area underfunded relative to its importance? Does the fund have a distinctive advantage in making progress in the proposed area?

Funds we support that fit the Launchpad model — outcome-oriented and strong on our ITN framework — include:

• Our Lead Exposure Action Fund, which aims to accelerate reductions in lead exposure. 
• Our Strep A Vaccine Fund, which aims to accelerate the development of a Strep A vaccine. 
• Renaissance Philanthropy’s Talent Mobility Fund, which helps talent move to opportunities by expanding the use of existing immigration pathways. 

Each of these identified an issue that carries high health or economic costs, but receives relatively little philanthropic funding. Each also found bottlenecks holding back progress — scientific, operational, or political — and ways to cost-effectively address them.  

Areas we think are promising

Part of the goal of this RFP is to surface ideas our team may not have come across before. That being said, we have included a list of high-level cause areas where we think a new fund could be exciting. This list is meant to be illustrative: we have not investigated every area on it in depth and are very open to proposals for funds in areas outside this list. 

More generally, promising funds could be oriented around:

• Diseases with especially large burdens in specific regions — for instance, malaria in Nigeria.
• Areas that are structurally neglected because they fall through the cracks of existing funder programs — for instance, reducing environmental risk factors (like air quality) that cut across disease-specific funding. 
• Exceptional people with deep expertise working on important but niche problems. 
• Accelerating the deployment and uptake of known technologies with a strong evidence base.  

Application process 

The two RFP tracks will be evaluated separately: 

1. Pre-seed funding: Submit a short EOI here. We ask for: 
   • A resume or LinkedIn link.
   • 1,000 words on your initial proposal for a fund, covering the specific outcome or topic the fund would own, how the concept looks on our ITN framework, why you think this could be a $100m+ idea, and key uncertainties you’d resolve through scoping.
   • 300 words on why you are well-positioned to scope out this fund. 
   • A rough budget range, along with a short sketch of how funding would be used. 

We expect the EOI to take about 1–2 hours. We ask that EOIs be submitted by October 2, 2026. Applicants we advance will be asked for a longer proposal on initial fund strategy. We may also ask for initial cost-effectiveness estimates or other materials where appropriate, and we expect to discuss proposals with applicants and may ask them to iterate. We will make funding decisions on a rolling basis, with a target end date for final decisions of December 15, 2026.  

2. Seed and scaling funding: Submit a short EOI here. We ask for: 

We expect the EOI to take about 1–2 hours. We ask that EOIs be submitted by October 2, 2026. Applicants we advance will be asked for additional materials; our requests will be tailored to specific proposals, recognizing that funds in this track may be at different stages of development. We anticipate several rounds of conversation and iteration with our team, as we expect greater thought partnership at higher funding levels. We will make decisions on a rolling basis, with a target end date for final decisions of May 1, 2027. We may also make smaller grants to promising applicants earlier in the process to help them get started, while we continue evaluating them for larger amounts.      

Across both tracks, we will evaluate proposals on the basis of:

• The problem. How does the proposed goal look against our ITN framework?
• Cost-effectiveness. Can the fund achieve substantial impact per dollar?   
• Personnel. Does the individual or team behind the proposal have the track record, judgment, and network required to achieve the targeted outcome?
• Strategy. How plausible is the proposed strategy for addressing the problem?
• Growth pathway. Is there a plausible route from our funding to a $100m+ Launchpad Fund?

Other considerations

We expect most applicants to be individuals or nonprofits. If you are interested in applying but your team has a different structure, please reach out at the email below. 

We may share your application materials with other funders who might be interested. If you would prefer we check with you before doing so, you can indicate this in your EOI. 

This is the first call for proposals of this kind, and we may not be able to move quickly on every proposal that interests us. In some cases, we may put a proposal on hold and let you know we hope to revisit it later.

Given the volume of submissions we anticipate, we will not be able to provide individualized feedback.

Contact: For any questions about this RFP, please contact launchpad@coefficientgiving.org.