Deadline: 28-Feb-25
Applications open for AARP Purpose Prize (United States)
Focus Areas
- Public health (protecting and improving the health of people and their communities by addressing healthy lifestyles, nutrition, disease prevention, mental health, addiction, maternal health, etc.)
- Caregiving and caregiver resources (support for vulnerable populations and the people who care for them)
- Hunger (food insecurity, waste, distribution, etc.)
- Financial health (financial stability, resilience, economic opportunity, etc.)
- Rethinking the workplace (jobs, work environments, alternative approaches)
- Affordable housing (safe, well-managed, and affordable housing and services)
- Homelessness (addressing the needs of the homeless population)
- Civic engagement and community development (helping people be active participants in building and strengthening their communities)
- Social connections (reducing isolation among vulnerable community members)
- Arts and culture (using art and culture as tools to engage communities in positive change)
- Intergenerational work (opportunities for different generations to come together to share their experience, knowledge, and skills)
- Education (school- or community-based programs that help children attain educational goals)
- Youth development (programs that are not school-based that serve the needs of vulnerable children and teens)
- Diversity, equity and inclusion (improving the representation, fair treatment and experiences of underserved populations)
- Peace and security rights (establishing or preserving justice and equality by peaceful means)
- Veterans (providing services for veterans, advocating for veterans’ rights, empowering veterans)
- Environmental issues (combatting the challenges facing the planet)
- Animal protection (ensuring animal welfare, promoting animal companionship with vulnerable populations)
Prize Information
- Each winner’s Founded Non-Profit or Founded Project, as applicable, will receive $75,000 in celebration of the winner’s achievement and in furtherance of the Founded Non-Profit’s or Founded Project’s mission. Prizes to each winner’s Founded Project will be made to its Fiscal Sponsor for the benefit of the Founded Project. The individual winners will receive: (1) The opportunity to participate in a 1-year AARP Purpose Prize peer cohort; (2) Attendance at the AARP Purpose Prize Award Event (virtual or in-person); (3) Access to internal AARP and external resources to support their work.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants must be legal residents of the fifty (50) United States or the District of Columbia, who are at least fifty (50) years old as of February 28, 2025, and who founded the Founded Nonprofit or the Founded Project for which they are applying at the age of forty (40) or older and still have an active role in the organization or with the project.
- Applicants must have founded (a) a Founded Nonprofit , with its principal place of business located in the United States that is in good standing in its state of formation and exempt from federal income tax under section 501(a) the Internal Revenue Code at the time of applicant’s submission and throughout the Purpose Prize Contest selection process or (b) a Founded Project with its principal place of business located in the United States, and with a Fiscal Sponsor with its principal place of business located in the United States that is in good standing in its state of formation and exempt from federal income tax under section 501(a) the Internal Revenue Code at the time of applicant’s submission and throughout the Purpose Prize Contest selection process.
- Founders of affiliates or chapters of existing non-profit organizations are not eligible to apply. Officers, directors, and employees of Sponsor, its subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising/promotion agencies, and/or their affiliates, assigns, agents, vendors or representatives (hereinafter referred to collectively as “Sponsor & Others”), and all other persons or entities associated with the development, administration, judging, promotion, execution of this Purpose Prize Contest are not eligible to apply.
- AARP-appointed volunteers (e.g. AARP State Presidents and Regional Volunteer Directors) and staff and their immediate family members are not allowed to apply. Former AARP-appointed volunteers and staff and their immediate family members may apply only after a seven (7) year grace period. Additionally, past Purpose Prize and AARP Purpose Prize winners, past fellows from the previous two (2) years of AARP Purpose Prize classes, current AARP or AARP Foundation grantees, elected officials, individuals whose Founded Non-Profit/Project is exclusively religious or sectarian, individuals that work for organizations that share a board member with AARP and members of the same household and immediate families (e.g. parents, children, spouse, siblings) are not eligible. The Purpose Prize Contest is subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and is void where prohibited.
Application Requirements
- Each application must include the following documents:
- A resume
- Three reference letters (In the case of co-founders, these letters should reference both co-founders.)
- A copy of applicant’s Founded Non-Profit’s (or, in the case of a Founded Project, its Fiscal Sponsor’s) IRS determination letter or most recent IRS Form 990
- Applicant’s Founded Non-Profit’s or Founded Project’s annual budget, including income and expenses
- In the case of a Founded Project, a copy of the fiscal sponsorship agreement with its Fiscal Sponsor
For more information, visit AARP.