Finding the right program as an impact founder shouldn’t take a week of open tabs. The opportunities exist: accelerators, grants, competitions, fellowships and challenges for founders working on climate, health, inclusion, food, water, education and more. They are just scattered across hundreds of organizer websites, newsletters and social posts.
So we built the list we kept wishing existed. Impact Programs is a free, public directory of open programs for impact founders, and every listing is checked against the organizer’s own page before it goes live. You can find it at babele.co/impact-programs.
Why another list?
Because most of the lists out there have the same three problems. They are full of calls that closed months ago. Their links point to pages that no longer exist. And their deadlines are copied from somewhere else, often without the year, so you only find out a program is from last season after you have started the application.
For a founder with limited time, a stale list is worse than no list. It costs hours and it erodes trust in every other opportunity on the page. We wanted something you can rely on at a glance: if it is listed, it is open, and the date you see is the date the organizer published.
How every listing is checked
Each program goes through the same steps before it appears in the directory:
- Found. Our research routine looks for new calls every day across organizer websites and public lists of open calls. Lists and news articles are treated as leads only, never as proof.
- Verified at the source. We open the organizer’s own website and confirm that the program exists, that applications are open, that the link works, and what the deadline is, including the year.
- Checked a second time. A separate review that did not find the program re-opens the organizer’s page and confirms the same facts, plus a stated impact focus. Only programs that pass both checks are published.
- Kept current. Programs closing soon are rechecked regularly. When a deadline passes, the program comes off the list. When a link breaks, it comes off too.
If the organizer only states a month, you will see “Closes Feb 2027”. If a program is open but the organizer has not announced a deadline yet, you will see “Deadline not yet announced”. We would rather tell you what we know than guess.
What you can do with it
- Filter by impact area: climate and energy, circular economy, food and agriculture, water and oceans, health, education, financial inclusion, gender equality, social inclusion and jobs, cities and mobility, biodiversity.
- Filter by what matters to you: stage, region, format (remote, in person or hybrid), deadline window, and equity-free funding.
- See it on a map or as a list, sorted by the next deadline.
- Go straight to the source: every card has a “Check this opportunity” button that opens the organizer’s own page.
There is no sign-up, no paywall and no tracking of who applies where. It is simply a public resource.
Why Babele is doing this
Since 2014 we have built the software that accelerators, universities, corporates and public programs use to run their calls, select their cohorts and support their founders. We see both sides of the door every day: programs looking for the right ventures, and good founders who never hear about the right program in time.
A directory of verified opportunities is a small way to close that gap. It also fits how we think about ecosystems: the application is where an ecosystem starts, and every founder who finds a program that fits them is a win for everyone in it.
One clarification: listing a program does not mean Babele runs it, partners with it or endorses it. Unless a card says “Apply on Babele”, the program is run entirely by its organizer, and the organizer’s page is always the final word. Details change, so always check with the organizer before you apply.
Help us make it better
The directory grows every week, but we will always miss something. If you run a program for impact founders, or you know one that should be on the map, tell us at contact@babele.co with a link to the organizer’s page. If it is open and passes our checks, we will add it.
And if you are an organization running your own open call, competition or accelerator, you can manage applications, multi-reviewer scoring and your deal flow on Babele free, forever.
Start exploring
Bookmark it, share it with a founder who needs it, and check back often: new programs are added as soon as they pass our checks.