AI Accountability Grants

• Eligibility Criteria
  For the AI Accountability Grants:
  – They welcome applications from organisations and coalitions from across Europe that want to ensure that Artificial Intelligence is used fairly and does not lead to discrimination and violations of rights;
  – They particularly encourage applications from organisations and coalitions with prior experience in securing accountability in adjacent social justice fields;
  – Organisations must be registered and carry out their work in one or more of the following geographies: EU, EEA, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Switzerland and the UK;
  – If you want to apply in partnership with other organisations, please choose one lead applicant who represents the coalition in this process;
• Organisations must have non-profit status;
• These grants are not open to organisations who are current grantees and have an active funding agreement that runs beyond March 2025.
• Type of Funding: Programmatic
• Target Region: Europe
• Application Language: English

The European AI & Society Fund is pleased to invite applications for their AI Accountability Grants: up to €200,000 in funding for bold, adventurous projects that explore how to hold those responsible to account for harms caused by the use of AI in Europe.

The AI Accountability grants are part of their Making Regulation Work programme. They will support bold and experimental projects that seek to identify clear opportunities to address the negative impacts of AI systems on people and society in Europe.

Supported work

The focus of the AI Accountability Grants is to support work that will contribute to addressing how AI affects people and society.

The Fund does not prescribe which approaches, tactics and regulations to use. They have also not specified geographies or issue areas to prioritise – they want to hear from organisations and coalitions in the field where there are opportunities to make change happen.

Examples of work that could be funded:

• Conducting research to identify provisions in labour and human rights laws that may provide a path to justice for communities harmed by algorithmic decisions in the workplace or when accessing welfare benefits.
• Using transparency mechanisms to find evidence of AI harms that can be used in future campaigns, complaints, and legal cases.
• Preparation of complaints on high-risk systems, to be submitted under the AI Act once it is in force.
• Drafting and submitting complaints under EU regulations, such as the GDPR, that challenge the unlawful use of personal data for training AI systems, for example in healthcare.
• Developing experimental litigation strategies to limit the harmful environmental impact of data centres, including pre-litigation research, evidence gathering and legal fees.
• Strategies to challenge corporate power through antitrust mechanisms, such as investigations by competition authorities or actions under the Digital Markets Act. This could involve research to provide evidence to regulators and cooperation with consumer bodies.
• Developing strategies to increase protections and close gaps where analysis shows that legal protections are missing, such as in policing and migration
• Building coalitions and bridges to communities affected by AI harms and co-designing accountability strategies.
• Creating connections to specialists (such as consumer movements, or technical, legal, standards or access to information fields) to develop accountability strategies.
• Please note this list is illustrative only and they encourage applicants to propose their own approaches.

Funding Information

• Applicants can apply for a grant between €10,000 and €200,000, and the total funding allocated through this call is €2 million.
• The duration is flexible, but activities must be completed by December 2026.

See here to learn more and apply.

Access the Fundraising Guide for expert advice on how to improve your fundraising applications and to identify prospective donors.