Amazon:2025 AWS Imagine Grant UK & Ireland

Overview

About the Program

The 2025 AWS Imagine Grant program supports nonprofit organisations with cloud technology projects that fit into two distinct categories, detailed below. Organisations may submit an application for only one of the award categories.

The application cycle will occur in two rounds. Round one applications are open to any eligible nonprofit that completes the required information within the deadline. Round two applications will be by invitation only based on the evaluation of Round one applications. Organisations that are invited to Round two will be provided instructions to submit full proposals for the Go Further, Faster or the Pathfinder – Generative AI award categories. Round two instructions will be provided to qualified applicants at the time of notification. Note: The Pathfinder – Generative AI award category is only available for UK based organisations at this time.

2025 Calls for Proposals

They are seeking proposals from nonprofit organizations for pilot projects, proofs of concept, and/or new or existing programs that utilise cloud technology.

The AWS IMAGINE UK & Ireland Grant is limited to United Kingdom and Ireland nonprofit organisations with active registered charity number status.

AWS welcomes all causes and mission areas to apply. At this time, however, educational institutions are excluded as they are outside of the AWS Imagine Grant covered funding areas.

Each organisation must determine during round one which award category best fits their proposed project. For a list of FAQs regarding eligibility, please consult the AWS Imagine Grant UK & Ireland website. 

The 2025 AWS Imagine Grant UK & Ireland categories and award details are as follows:

Go Further Faster:

Available for both UK & Ireland based organisations

The Go Further, Faster award will provide support for think big, highly innovative projects that leverage the cloud. These projects will have the potential to produce scaled, repeatable solutions and may impact an entire industry or field. They will be force multipliers for organisations and will include the application of and/or seek integrations with advanced cloud services, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), high performance computing, internet of things (IoT), and more. 

Organisations who have already taken the initial steps in their cloud journeys and are looking to demonstrate a magnitude of return on their investment in mission and operational effectiveness should apply for this category. Go Further, Faster applicants will be looking to integrate advanced services into already strong data and security practices and seek specialists, AWS training, and implementation support to ensure they are able to scale to meet their urgent goals. 

Go Further, Faster awards may fund the following types of projects: 

• Initiatives that use artificial intelligence or machine learning tools on AWS (e.g., Helping prevent sudden cardiac arrest in young athletes with AI; Using Generative AI on AWS to Advance Global Literacy 
• Projects leveraging High Performance Computing (HPC) for mission areas such as genomics, conservation, health research, weather prediction, seismic imaging, and many other emerging applications 
• Data lake/warehouse and big data projects (e.g., Stop Soldier Suicide partners with Pariveda, AWS on mission to reduce suicide rates among US service members and veterans; UK Biobank enables medical research worldwide through vast database powered by AWS) 
• Organisations seeking to create an industry- or sector-wide solution or resource (e.g., Leveraging Generative AI to tackle global poverty)

See Guidelines (link below) for links to the examples listed above.

Go Further, Faster award packages may include*:

• Up to $50,000 USD of unrestricted financial support 
• Up to $16,000 USD in AWS Promotional Credit 
• Project implementation guidance from AWS technical specialist(s) 
• Access to AWS training and support 
• An opportunity for AWS marketing promotion 

*AWS reserves the right to determine actual awarded amounts at its sole discretion.

Pathfinder – Generative AI: 

Available for UK based organisations only 

The Pathfinder award provides support for highly innovative, mission-critical projects that leverage generative AI. A Pathfinder project will have the potential to produce a scaled, repeatable solution that directly accelerates mission achievement and may impact an entire industry or field. Projects in the Pathfinder category may include service types mentioned in the Go Further, Faster and Momentum to Modernise categories, but must include the use of generative AI as a required additional workload. Pathfinder projects must be building on existing data strategy and foundation, and the generative AI use case is already defined with implementation in the planning phase. 

Organisations who have laid the foundation for cloud technology and have an existing data strategy are encouraged to apply. Successful integration of generative AI requires a strong data foundation upon which to harness the power and promise of this emerging technology. Pathfinder applicants will leverage generative AI as a strategic functional value-add to their solution. Pathfinder applicants will be looking to supercharge their existing solution and seek catalytic funding, AWS training, and implementation support from the AWS Generative AI Innovation Center to ensure the deployment of this emerging technology meets the highest bar in quality and standard

Example Projects

• RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is using AWS Generative AI to create on-demand crisis hotlines and additional support mediums. 
• The Lieber Institute for Brain Development is using generative AI to design new medications for complex disorders such as schizophrenia. T

The Pathfinder award may fund projects that integrate one or more generative AI services, such as: 

• Amazon Bedrock 
• Generative AI with Amazon SageMaker 
• AWS CodeWhisperer 
• AWS HealthScribe 

Please note, the above list is intended to serve as a reference only and is not an exhaustive list of generative AI services available at AWS. Please visit the AWS generative AI page for a comprehensive list. If your project has a generative AI component but does not meet one or more of the criteria for the Pathfinder award, please consider applying to the Go Further, Faster award. 

Pathfinder awards packages may include:* 

• Up to $100,000 USD of unrestricted financial support 
• Up to $50,000 USD in AWS Promotional Credit 
• Project implementation support from the AWS Generative AI Innovation Center 
• Access to AWS training and support 
• An opportunity for AWS marketing promotion 

*AWS reserves the right to determine actual awarded amounts at its sole discretion

Evaluation Criteria

AWS will judge proposals based on factors that include:

• Innovative and unique nature of the project;
• Impact on mission achievement;
• Clearly defined outcomes and milestones;
• Detailing and applicability of AWS Services within the project scope;
• Viability of proposed sustainability plan;
• Comprehensiveness of organisation’s proposal and information requested;
• Submission of proposal in correct format and within the deadline.

Expectations from Award Winners

Organisations may have the opportunity to work with the AWS marketing team to create a project impact story that may be used to generate visibility for their organization in the general public. Award Winners must be willing and able to provide project details to AWS for the purpose of creating a case study, reference, podcast episode, or testimonial, based on their program involvement.