Social Justice Partners Los Angeles (SJPLA), serving as our external evaluation partner. SJP is a membership organization that connects community leaders to nonprofits to tackle Los Angeles’ toughest challenges. All proposals are reviewed, scored, and evaluated by members of SJPLA.

Social Justice Partners Los Angeles

The Goldhirsh Foundation, founder and organizer of the LA2050 Grants Challenge, providing $1 million in grant funds to organizations working on the top-voted issue areas.

Goldhirsh Foundation

ABOUT

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IDEAS

NOT USING 2025

We are grateful to the following organizations for helping spread the word about this year’s Grants Challenge:

LA2050 Grants Challenge

LA2050 is a community-guided initiative, operated by the Goldhirsh Foundation, driving and tracking progress toward a shared vision for the future of LA.

Our most significant program is the LA2050 Grants Challenge – an annual call for ideas to make LA the best place to connect, learn, live, play, and create.

The Grants Challenge is unique in that it turns the power of grantmaking over to Angelenos through public voting. Each year, the public helps determine the issue areas that receive the Goldhirsh Foundation’s annual $1 million in grants – from homelessness and income inequality to park access – with more than a million votes cast to date in support of a brighter future for LA.

Since 2013, this model has directed more than $23 million to local social impact organizations, including $12 million from the Goldhirsh Foundation and more than $11 million in additional support from Funding Partners that expands the Grants Challenge’s reach and impact.

In 2025, we launched our 12th Grants Challenge – guided by the theme "LA, Together" – a call to build a brighter future through collective action. Angelenos cast nearly 140,000 votes to shape our funding priorities, and local organizations responded with a record 1,182 transformative ideas. The result: nearly $3 million awared to 55 inspiring Los Angeles nonprofits, thanks to the support of a dozen local Funding Partners.

About the LA2050 Grants Challenge

Key Dates

Application Pt. 1: Organization screening

January 26 - April 22

March 18 - April 22

April 29

April 29 - June 5

June 8 - September 25

October, 2026

Together with the LA2050 community, we developed five goals for Los Angeles in the year 2050 – to make Los Angeles the best place to connect, create, learn, live, and play.

The goals were shaped through the engagement of tens of thousands of Angelenos and input from experts, advisors, and partners. Each of the goals is supported by a set of metrics that, taken together, define what it will mean for us to achieve success.

LA2050 Goals

All submissions, whether or not they are selected for a grant, will be featured on our 

. The Ideas Hub is a searchable database of the 3,100+ proposals for a better LA, crowdsourced over the previous 10 cycles of the LA2050 Grants Challenge.

Our top 10 issues, as selected by Angelenos.

The LA2050 Grants Challenge is an open call for ideas to make Los Angeles County the best place to connect, create, learn, live, and play. It is unique in that it puts the power of grantmaking in the hands of Angelenos through public voting, with more than one million votes cast to date in support of a brighter future for LA. Since 2013, this model has directed more than $23 million to local social impact organizations, including $12 million from the Goldhirsh Foundation and over $11 million in additional support from Funding Partners, expanding the Grants Challenge’s reach and impact.

The 2026 Grants Challenge will unfold in several stages, beginning with Part 1: Organization Screening, which focuses on learning about organizations seeking grants. Next, Angelenos will vote on the issues that matter most to them and determine the areas eligible for funding. Organizations selected through Part 1 will then be invited to submit Part 2: a Funding Proposal for a specific program, project, or initiative aligned with the top-voted issues. In collaboration with our external evaluators, the Goldhirsh Foundation and Funding Partners will review proposals and announce awards in October 2026.


What Do You Say, LA?

Defy Ventures

PLUS ME Project

Pasadena Educational Foundation

Altadena Community Garden

College Access Plan

EmpowHer Institute

All Peoples Community Center

Measure of Hearts Foundation

Safe Parking LA

Linc Housing

Economic Security Project Inc.

Red Hen Press

National Hispanic Media Coalition

Project Invent

The Makers Hub

Neighborhood Music School

Museum of Latin American Art

Color Compton

The Hidden Genius Project

STEM From Dance

Watts of Power Foundation

A Place Called Home

Chicas Verdes Corp

Mentor For Change

Lunch Bunch Community Foundation

Ryman Arts

The Village Family Services

LA Compost

AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles

Better Youth

Confluence Rising (formerly CCEJ)

The Los Angeles City College Foundation

Coalition for Engaged Education

Pathway to Kinship

Los Angeles Reporting Collective

CSUDH Black Resource Center

Compton Advocates Coalition

Veterans Supplemental Support Network

Redeemer Community Partnership

Garden School Foundation

Adventures to Dreams Enrichment

College Match

Motivating Our Students Through Experience

Selected by our generous Funding Partners

The Goldhirsh Foundation will award a total of $1 million to local social impact organizations via the LA2050 Grants Challenge – broken down into 10 first-place prizes of $75,000 and five second-place prizes of $50,000.

We also invite other philanthropic organizations to collaborate and sponsor their own awards.

Funding Partner Awards

(10) First Prize

(5) Second Prize

Prizes

These participants have been awarded $50,000, access to human capital, and support from LA2050.

Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates Of Southern California (KIWA)

Alliance for a Just and Thriving Restaurant Industry

Eastmont Community Center

Feeding East Los Angeles: Part Two 

Diverse Educators Transforming Education

From Food Deserts to Food Education

Street Company

Grounds for Change: Employing the Unhoused

These participants have been awarded grants of $75,000, access to human capital, and support from LA2050.

Start the 2026 App Today!

Funding & Prize Partner

Evaluation Partner