A problem worth solving
A persistent challenge connected to how people live, participate, adapt, or flourish.
For founders, innovators, and people with ideas
WHAT WE FUND,
AND HOW TO APPLY.
World Seed Fund begins with the person—not the pedigree, geography, title, or proximity to established institutions. There is no deadline, no required format, and no entity required to introduce an idea.
What we look for
POTENTIAL WITH
A PATH FORWARD.
Ideas may begin with an individual, team, enterprise, cooperative, laboratory, classroom, community, or long-held system of knowledge.
Human insight
An idea grounded in imagination, scientific knowledge, local experience, cultural knowledge, or lived understanding.
A credible next step
A clear way to explore, test, strengthen, or implement the idea in context.
Value for people and place
A meaningful contribution to the community or system the idea is designed to serve.
Eligibility
WHO CAN
APPLY.
If you can describe a real problem, your insight into it, and a next step, you are eligible. Everything below exists to make that concrete.
Who can introduce an idea
There is no institutional gate. We read introductions from people, not from letterheads.
- An individual, a pair, or an informal team
- A registered company, cooperative, non-profit, or association
- A laboratory, university group, classroom, or student team
- A community group, elder council, or holder of traditional knowledge
Where you can be
Anywhere. Distance from capital, institutions, or investors is the problem we exist to close, not a reason to decline.
- Any country or territory
- Rural, remote, peri-urban, or urban settings
- Diaspora teams working with a place they know
- Introductions in any language — English speeds up our reading
What we require
Three things only. Everything else is negotiable.
- A real problem experienced by identifiable people
- Your own insight into why it persists
- A next step small enough to start and specific enough to judge
What we do not require
The usual signals of readiness are not entry conditions here.
- No incorporation, registration, or legal entity to introduce an idea
- No prior funding, revenue, traction, or pitch deck
- No degree, patent, publication, or institutional affiliation
- No introduction from someone we already know
Stages supported
FROM QUESTION
TO ADOPTION.
Support is available at any of five stages. An untested observation belongs at Discover; a piloted product belongs at Prove or Connect. Support is matched to the stage — funding, research capacity, testing, equipment, introductions, or policy guidance.
Discover
An idea, an observation, or a question that has not been tested yet. Support goes to understanding the problem properly — field study, listening, measurement, prior art.
Mobilize
A defined idea that needs its first working conditions: a small budget, a partner, materials, permissions, or the right expert in the room.
Prove
A first version exists. Support goes to a real pilot with real users, honest measurement, and a written account of what failed.
Connect
Evidence exists and the idea needs the institutions that carry it — operators, clinics, ministries, schools, utilities, cooperatives, researchers.
Advance
Local success is confirmed. Support goes to responsible adoption elsewhere, only where evidence and context hold.
What to include
INTRODUCE
THE POSSIBILITY.
The strongest introduction is not a polished pitch. Answer these six prompts in your own words — a page is plenty. Attachments are welcome but never required.
The challenge
The problem in one paragraph: who lives with it, where, and what it costs them today. Name the place.
The idea
What you have imagined, discovered, built, or learned — described plainly enough for a non-specialist to picture it.
The evidence
Anything you already know: a trial, a measurement, a season of use, a conversation with the people served. Small and honest beats large and projected.
The next step
One step you would take in the next few months, what it would cost roughly, and how you would know whether it worked.
The pathway
The knowledge, capability, relationship, permission, or opportunity that would unlock the step.
About you
Who you are, how you came to this problem, and who else is with you. A few sentences is enough.
Common questions
BEFORE YOU
WRITE TO US.
Answers to what founders ask most often about eligibility, stages, timing, and what support actually looks like.
Who can apply to World Seed Fund?
Anyone with a specific idea and a genuine connection to the problem it addresses — individuals, informal teams, companies, cooperatives, laboratories, classrooms, and community groups. No legal entity, prior funding, or institutional affiliation is required to introduce an idea.
Is there an application deadline or funding round?
No. There is no window and no cycle. Introductions are read as they arrive, and you can introduce an idea at any time through the contact page.
What stage does an idea need to be at?
Any of five: Discover, Mobilize, Prove, Connect, or Advance. An untested observation is welcome at Discover; a piloted product is welcome at Prove or Connect. What matters is that the next step is specific.
What do you fund?
Ideas within nine focus areas grouped into four categories: natural resources and sustainability, health and human wellbeing, knowledge and culture, and infrastructure and mobility. Each area page lists its own qualifying criteria.
Do I need a business plan or pitch deck?
No. A clear written account of the problem, the idea, the evidence, and the next step is more useful to us than a deck. Answer the six prompts in the submission section in your own words.
Does support always mean money?
No. Support is matched to what the idea actually needs — that may be funding, but it is often research capacity, testing, equipment, introductions to operators or institutions, policy guidance, or a route to responsible adoption.
Do you take equity or ownership of the idea?
Introducing an idea does not transfer any rights. Any arrangement is discussed openly with you, in writing, before it is made, and is shaped around the idea's context rather than a standard template.
How long does a response take, and what happens next?
Every introduction is read by a person. If it fits, we come back with questions rather than a verdict, then work with you to define the first step and the people or institutions who should be involved.
What is usually outside scope?
Ideas with no identifiable people behind the problem, requests for general operating support unconnected to a specific step, purely speculative financial products, and proposals we cannot judge because they describe an outcome without describing a method.
Human potential is everywhere. Opportunity should be too.