We were elated to receive 480 submissions to this year’s LA2050 Grants Challenge across the 12 issue areas chosen through our new public voting process. More than 8,000 Angelenos voted for the issues they cared about most to help us determine our funding priorities. Then, we invited local organizations working to address those top issue areas and apply for funding.

Below, we’re sharing the trends we observed in this year's Grants Challenge submissions.

What issue areas were the most popular?

Applicants were asked to select one primary issue area and any number of secondary issue areas that would be impacted through their work. Of the 12 issue areas, the three which received the most applications were: “K-12 STEAM Education” (91), “Housing and Homelessness” (64), and “Support for Foster and Systems-Impacted Youth” (51). The issue area with the fewest applications was “Public Transit” with just four. The most selected secondary issue area was “Income Inequality.”

What types of organizations applied?

The vast majority – 83 percent – of applications came from non-profit organizations. This is an 11 percent increase in non-profit organization participation compared to last year’s Grants Challenge. Nine percent of proposals came from for-profit organizations and social enterprises, six percent from fiscally-sponsored organizations, and two percent from government entities.

60 percent of this year’s applicants were submitting for the first time, while an impressive 63 organizations had participated in two or more previous Grants Challenges.

Year after year, small but mighty organizations continue to comprise the majority of applicants. A total of 75 percent noted having 25 or fewer employees, with 38 percent having fewer than just five employees.

60 percent of organizations reported having an operating budget of less than $1 million, consistent with last year’s 62 percent. However, the number of organizations with budgets under $100,000 declined significantly, down to 20 percent as compared to last year’s 38 percent.

More than half of executive directors, 57 percent, self-identified as BIPOC. This figure is encouraging but still not representative of the population of Los Angeles County; according to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 75 percent of residents are BIPOC.

What different proposals were submitted?

86 percent of the submissions we received were independent projects without formal, identified collaborators. Of the other 14 percent, about half had between two and five additional collaborators.

69 percent of applicants reported that their proposal would be expanding their existing work – a two percent increase from last year. 24 percent of applicants were focused on innovation, applying to launch a pilot or a new program, project, or initiative.

In terms of geographic reach, almost half of the applicants submitted big plans, anticipating that their work would impact all of Los Angeles County, while a quarter targeted the City of LA and another 10 percent would serve LAUSD. The three geographic areas that applicants planned to serve most were South LA at 39 percent, Central LA at 32 percent, and East LA at 27 percent. (Applicants were permitted to select multiple geographic areas.)

62 percent of applicants reported that their programs would reach populations that spoke languages other than English. Behind English, the second and third most popular languages were Spanish and Chinese, with 28 percent and seven percent respectively.

There was also a particular focus on serving youth, with more than 54 percent of proposals targeting populations under the age of 29. Only 13 percent of applicants planned to impact people over the age of 65.

A huge thank you to all the 2022 Grants Challenge applicants!

This process wouldn’t be possible without you and your hard work and dedication to Los Angeles. Stay tuned for our full submissions report, including this year’s social impact trends, voter and voting data, issue area analysis, and much more.