Impact Grant 2026-2027
Questions & answers
Everything worth knowing before you begin: who can apply, what the form asks for, how the money is awarded, and what happens after you submit.
About the grant
6The Impact Grant is the Prince Casper Foundation's annual funding programme for educators working in underserved communities across Nigeria. It exists so that a lack of resources is not what stops good work from going ahead.
For the 2026-2027 cycle, ₦6,000,000 will be awarded to 26 successful applicants.
₦6,000,000 in total, across 26 awards in three funding tiers:
- Trailblazer: ₦500,000 each, 7 available. Flagship funding for transformational, large-scale projects.
- Catalyst: ₦200,000 each, 6 available. Growth funding that turns proven ideas into scalable solutions.
- Launchpad: ₦100,000 each, 13 available. Seed funding that turns ground-level concepts into reality.
No. You do not select a tier, and there is nowhere on the form to ask for one.
The selection committee determines the tier and the award amount for each successful applicant, based on the scope, cost, need and relevance of the project you describe. Tell us honestly what your project costs and what it will achieve; the committee decides where it fits.
There are four. You choose exactly two: the ones you would most like to be considered under.
- Learning Resources & Infrastructure (Learning Access): Classrooms, sanitation, water, furniture, textbooks, stationery and literacy kits.
- Digital Learning & Innovation (Digital Innovation): Computers, power, connectivity and digital curricula that build tech literacy.
- Educator Excellence & Professional Development (Educator Excellence): Professional training, pedagogy, digital skills and school leadership.
- Inclusive Education & Community Empowerment (Inclusive Empowerment): Special needs support, psychosocial care, community welfare and vocational skills.
Choosing two does not narrow your chances. It tells the committee how you see your own work.
Projects that improve teaching, learning or educational outcomes for children and young people in Nigerian primary or secondary education, in rural, underserved or educationally disadvantaged communities.
The four focus areas above describe the range. In practice that has covered classroom repairs and furniture, water and sanitation, textbooks and literacy kits, computers and connectivity, teacher training, and support for learners with additional needs.
Anything outside the focus areas, and anything that is not a defined project with a budget and a timeline. Personal expenses, salary top-ups unrelated to a project, debt repayment and general running costs are not what this grant is for.
If you are unsure whether your idea fits, read the full guidelines or write to us before you spend time on the form.
Who can apply
8The grant is open to educators working in Nigerian primary or secondary education, in rural, underserved or educationally disadvantaged communities, who have a genuine financial need.
The first page of the form asks five questions that mirror exactly that. They are recorded with your application and used during screening.
No. The form recognises classroom teachers, subject teachers, head teachers and heads of school, school administrators, education programme and NGO staff, and volunteers. If your role is not listed you can enter your own.
What matters is that you work directly with, or contribute to, the learning and development of children and young people in primary or secondary education.
Yes. Schools in towns and cities can also be underserved. Answer Yes to the question about serving an underserved community and explain the circumstances in the Community and need section. The committee reads that explanation.
Nothing stops you. The form lets you continue and submit.
Be aware, though, that applications which do not meet the published eligibility criteria are not taken forward at screening. If you answer No to a core question, it is worth reading the guidelines first to check whether this is the right grant for you.
Yes. You must be 18 or older. The form checks your date of birth.
One application per person. The portal keeps a single application against your account, so signing in again returns you to the one you already started rather than opening a second.
A project may of course involve colleagues, but one named applicant submits it and is accountable for it.
Yes, and previous funding does not disqualify you. The form asks about funding you have received before, from us or anyone else, and whether you completed the reporting for it. Answer honestly, because complete reporting on a past grant counts in your favour.
No, it does not give you an advantage or a disadvantage. The form asks whether you are a fellow and, if so, which cohort, so that the committee has the full picture.
Applying
10Applications opened on 21 September 2026 and close on 6 November 2026 at 23:59 West Africa Time.
The form stops accepting submissions at that moment. There is no grace period, so do not leave it to the final evening.
Yes. You sign in before you can start, which is what keeps your application private to you and lets you leave and come back. Your email address is filled in from the account you sign in with.
Use the same email address every time. Your application is saved against the account you signed in with, not against the device or the browser, so it is the address that brings you back to your work. If you start on your phone with one address and return on a laptop with a different one, you will be given a new, empty application and your answers will look as though they have gone. They have not. Sign out, sign back in with the address you started with, and everything will be there.
If you are not sure which address you used, check your inbox for mail from the Foundation, or write to grants@princecasper.org and we will look it up for you.
No. The form saves as you type, so there is no Save button to forget. You can close the page at any point and pick up where you left off, on the same device or another one, as long as you sign in with the same email address.
Yes. The whole form works on a phone, including the file uploads.
Fourteen sections: eligibility, personal information, school and role, community and need, your track record, your proposed project, focus areas, budget, implementation timeline, funding and application history, referee, permissions and conflict of interest, documents, and the declaration.
Most of it is short. The writing is concentrated in the need, track record and project sections.
Every required question is marked with a red asterisk. Questions without one are labelled Optional.
You cannot move past a page until its required questions are answered, and when you submit, the form checks all fourteen sections and takes you back to the first one that is incomplete. You cannot submit a half-finished application by accident.
Yes, once a section is complete you can jump back to it from the progress rail. Moving forward past an incomplete section is what the form prevents.
Yes, and several questions have a minimum as well as a maximum. An answer that is too short is as much of a problem for the committee as one that is too long.
Each box shows its own limit and counts as you type. The longest answers asked for are your past initiatives and your project description, at 200 to 350 words each.
No. Submission is final and the form locks.
If you spot a genuine error afterwards, email grants@princecasper.org quoting your application number and explain what is wrong. We cannot promise a change, but we would rather know.
It looks like PCF-2027-001 and is issued at the moment you submit, not before. Quote it in any correspondence with us.
Documents and uploads
5Two, both as PDF files:
- A Letter of Intent of 500 to 750 words, explaining the need you are addressing, your approach, and the impact you expect.
- A Curriculum Vitae covering your education, experience, initiatives and achievements, and including a recent professional photograph.
You cannot submit without both.
Firstname_Lastname_LOI.pdf and Firstname_Lastname_CV.pdf. The upload box shows you the exact name to use once you have entered your name.
Yes, and photographs are worth the effort, because a need is far easier to understand when the committee can see it. Up to five images in JPG or PNG.
You can also attach other supporting material: quotations, evidence of previous projects, certificates, letters of support. Both of these are optional.
Only you, the committee members assigned to your application, and Foundation administrators. Uploads are held in private storage and are not reachable from a public web address. A link to one is created only at the moment an authorised person opens it, and it expires shortly afterwards.
Check that the file is a PDF for the Letter of Intent and CV, and that your connection is stable. Very large files take longer on a mobile connection; if a scan is unusually large, reduce it before uploading.
If it keeps failing, email grants@princecasper.org well before the deadline rather than on the last day.
Budget and timeline
5You list your project line by line: the item, what it is, the quantity, the unit cost, and why it is needed.
The totals are calculated for you and cannot be typed over. This is deliberate: in past cycles, hand-typed totals frequently did not match the items listed, which made those budgets impossible to assess.
The total project cost is the sum of your budget lines. If you have already secured funds from elsewhere, you enter that amount, and the amount requested from us is the difference. Both figures are calculated for you.
Because a partial award is often possible where a full one is not. Telling us the smallest amount that would still let you do something worthwhile, and describing what a reduced version of the project would look like, means the committee can fund you at a lower tier instead of not at all.
Applicants who answer this thoughtfully give themselves more ways to succeed.
No. The committee assesses what the activity you describe should actually cost. A budget that does not match the project is the fastest way to lose credibility, and tier is assigned on scope, cost, need and relevance, not on the number you ask for.
At least three activities, each with a start month, an end month, and the deliverable that will be complete by then.
Plan for your project to begin no earlier than January 2027. Disbursement and project start dates are announced once the selection is complete.
Referee, permissions and conflicts
3Yes, one. Someone who can speak to your work: a school head or administrator, a colleague, a community leader, a professional mentor or a previous supervisor.
You must confirm that you have their permission before you name them, and you provide their phone number and email address. Referees are contacted during the reference stage, so tell them to expect us.
If your project involves school premises, pupils or school time, you will need the appropriate permission. The form asks whether you have it, whether it will be required, or whether it does not apply, and if it is not yet in place, how you plan to obtain it.
Not having it yet does not disqualify you. Not being honest about it would.
Any connection to the Prince Casper Foundation, its staff, its board or its selection committee that a reasonable person would want to know about. Declare it and describe it.
Declaring a conflict does not disqualify you; it is handled by the person concerned stepping back from your application. Failing to declare one is a serious matter.
After you submit
7You will see your application number on screen straight away, and you will receive a confirmation email containing a copy of your answers.
It is sent from no-reply@apply.princecasper.org. Add that address to your contacts so the message is not filtered, and check your spam folder if it does not arrive. Replies to it are not read. Please write to grants@princecasper.org instead.
Eligibility screening runs from 9 to 20 November 2026. The remaining stages (review and scoring, interviews and reference checks, decisions, and disbursement) are announced as the cycle progresses.
You can see the current timetable at any time on your application page, and we email you at each stage.
Each application is scored independently by more than one committee member against six published criteria: demonstration of need, relevance and alignment, impact potential and sustainability, feasibility and implementation plan, applicant capacity and track record, and budget clarity and accountability.
Reviewers cannot see one another's scores while they work. Where two scores diverge significantly, a third reviewer is brought in.
Shortlisted applicants are. The interview is also where the committee assesses capacity and track record, and it is when references are checked.
Yes. Every applicant is told the outcome.
We cannot give individual feedback on every application, because the volume makes it impossible. Write to grants@princecasper.org if you intend to apply in a future cycle and we will help where we can.
You agree to follow the Foundation's guidelines and funding conditions, and to meet its monitoring and reporting requirements. In practice that means using the funds for the project you described and reporting on what happened.
Reporting matters beyond your own grant: it is how the Foundation shows what the programme achieves, and completed reporting counts when you apply again.
Privacy and help
4You, the committee members assigned to it, and Foundation administrators. Other applicants cannot see it, and it is not visible to the public.
It is collected, stored and processed for the purpose of reviewing and administering your application, in accordance with the Nigeria Data Protection Act. It is not shared with third parties without your consent, except where required by law or necessary to administer the grant programme.
You consent to this in the declaration at the end of the form, where the full wording is set out.
Never. There is no application fee, no processing fee and no payment of any kind at any stage. Nobody acting for the Foundation will ask you for money, for your bank password, or for a card number.
If anyone does, it is not us. Report it to grants@princecasper.org.
Email grants@princecasper.org. Include your application number if you have one.
You can also read the full grant guidelines, and follow the Foundation on LinkedIn and Instagram at @princecasperfoundation for updates during the cycle.
Still not sure about something?
Write to us. We would much rather answer a question now than see a good project let down by a form.