Believers Fund III

Believers is the Blackbird Foundation's grants programme for people, projects and organisations that are creating the conditions for young people's creativity to flourish. Whether you're running a summer camp, a robotics competition, an after-school arts club, a hardware makerspace, or a travelling STEM roadshow — if your work puts young people in touch with their creative potential, this fund wants to hear from you.

Grants range from $5,000 to $25,000, and the programme takes a broad view of creativity: artists, scientists, debaters, coders, dancers and community builders are all welcome. The Blackbird Foundation has a high appetite for risk and is actively looking for wild, inventive ideas at the intersection of creativity, technology, science, media, storytelling, culture and the arts.

They're specifically seeking projects that are either just starting out (0-1) or scaling up and experimenting (1-10) — not established organisations with proven models. Past recipients include FIRST Australia, Red Dirt Robotics, BioQuisitive, Kids' Own Publishing, and Friends with Grain.

Eligibility:

• Individuals, groups, or organisations based in Australia and/or New Zealand
• Projects must take place in Australia and/or New Zealand
• Projects must be completed within 12 months
• Core focus must be primarily creative outcomes
• Organisations must have less than $1.5M in annual revenue

Expressions of Interest for Believers Fund III open on 30 June 2026. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and close when all funds are disbursed or the FY27 period ends on 30 June 2027 — whichever comes first.

For more information, contact Theia Gabatan at tgabatan@blackbird.vc.