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DayLight Foundation is a private charity whose mission is to help ameliorate some of today’s pressing social issues and inequities. We do this through two related programs.
The Daylight Awards Program shines light on innovative ideas that identify issues and possible solutions.
The Seed2Grow Program provides seed funding to support, share and disseminate solutions that are demonstrably practical and replicable.
The Daylight Awards program recognizes individuals who help to understand pressing issues in areas of social, health, and economic inequities. By shining light on these issues people can become more aware of these issues, understand their causes and effects, and identify possible ways to make things better.
Our approach is to solicit short “thought papers” about these issues. We highlight a few priority areas when we open each periodic award cycle, though we do not exclude others. A few examples are provided below. Each thought paper that is submitted will describe an issue and its impact, and suggest potential solutions that are practical and viable and that many people can understand. Our review committee then selects the most significant thought papers for DayLight Awards. Those who submit thought papers can be just about anyone – someone working in the subject area, or a university professor, or a student, or a concerned citizen – anyone who can help a Board audience to understand the issue and a potential way to bring around change at any level.
Thought papers that receive DayLight Awards will be broadly disseminated to the public and to targeted audiences via social media and traditional media channels, as our dissemination engine is a key component of the DayLight Awards strategy. Awardees will be honored in our communications across these platforms and channels, and will also receive a frameable certificate and a modest monetary award.
How to Access DayLight Awards
Award cycles are announced periodically on this website along with priority topics, criteria, submission dates, and other information. Anyone can subscribe to our DayLight Awards mailing list (subscribe here) to receive notifications and information as award cycles approach.
Seed2Grow
Community-level programs are a prolific source of solutions that can be adapted and replicated. However, they are often known only to those who are directly involved. We seek to identify and throw daylight on successful programs that have great potential for “multiplier effects.”
A Seed2Grow recipient organization receives a small grant to support their program, along with some assistance to enhance their programs, and to develop replicable models that are easily transferrable to other programs. As part of the Seed2Grow program we will use evidence-based approaches to validate and adapt and share those models and techniques and lessons in other areas where there are similar needs.
Potential Seed2Grow recipients can be identified to us by representatives of their organizations or by referrals from third parties. An interested organization will follow a simple application process, during which we may provide feedback along the way. Final applications will be reviewed by a selection committee and a limited number of successful applicants will be chosen in each application cycle. They will receive a small grant and other support to strengthen their program and expand the benefits it produces within its own service footprint, while we also spread the models to other communities and organizations elsewhere with similar issues and resources. We may also work with grantees during or after the end of their Seed2Grow grant, to seek and obtain additional funding from donors, including many with whom we have worked extensively.
How to Access Seed2Grow grants
Several small grants will be awarded each year to promising small organizations that are implementing activities that (a) alleviate hardship, suffering or inequities; and (b) demonstrate actual or potential sustainability and replicability. Priority topics will be updated and announced each year. Examples may range from housing problems; microenterprise or microlending models; or any other area where interventions show evidence of effectiveness, sustainability and replicability.
Grant cycles are announced periodically on this website along with priority topics, criteria, submission dates, and other information. Anyone can subscribe to our Seed2Grow mailing list (subscribe here) to receive notifications and information as award cycles approach.
Health is essential for the economic and social development of families and communities. Many low-cost interventions can be more effective than costly technologies. We seek to identify highly cost-effective programs that can be proven to maximize health impact.
We believe in the power of education, and through decades of study we have seen that one of the key variables that affects the life chances of a family is education. Data supports the lifelong return on investment from even one additional year of education. We also know that literacy, and particularly female literacy, may be the single greatest predictor of improvement in health and life chances for the individual and their next generation.
The principles of social justice encompass human rights as a basic principle of protecting and respecting the rights for all, regardless of their race, religion, sexual orientation, or legal status. Bigotry and discrimination are anathema to the betterment of humanity. We seek applicants that can shine daylight on how to improve access for all to basics such as food, education, housing, and gainful employment.
We support long-term sustainability or initiatives that foster economic growth, particularly those that focus on the most vulnerable groups. We will pay special attention to projects that encourage entrepreneurship by women in a state of vulnerability, especially those that are part of or linked to a foundation for the care of vulnerable women.
The homeless are one of the most vulnerable groups, since they do not have quality care, especially in developing countries. We seek to support initiatives that allow access to a better quality of life for this group, and that can be replicated in other sites. Proposals may include: community housing services, access to food and clothing, training programs, access to the workplace, and related support.
The proliferation of microenterprise programs has brought economic stability to millions of families around the world, improving health and education in a combination that produce a lifelong stream of benefits. There is ongoing need to expand equitable access to programs such as these and to develop and share many other types of programs that promote sustainable economic development.
The homeless are one of the most vulnerable groups, since they do not have quality care, especially in developing countries. We seek to support initiatives that allow access to a better quality of life for this group, and that can be replicated in other sites. Proposals may include: community housing services, access to food and clothing, training programs, access to the workplace, and related support.
The proliferation of microenterprise programs has brought economic stability to millions of families around the world, improving health and education in a combination that produce a lifelong stream of benefits. There is ongoing need to expand equitable access to programs such as these and to develop and share many other types of programs that promote sustainable economic development.
Several small grants will be awarded each year to promising small organizations that are implementing activities that (a) alleviate hardship, suffering or inequities; and (b) demonstrate actual or potential sustainability and replicability. Priority topics will be updated and announced each year. Examples may range from housing problems; microenterprise or microlending models; or any other area where interventions show evidence of effectiveness, sustainability and replicability.
