Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF) 2023 Dominican Republic | S DR860 23 NOFO 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for S DR860 23 NOFO 001

The Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF) 2023 Dominican Republic is a U.S. Department of State grant opportunity administered by the U.S. Mission to the Dominican Republic (U.S. Embassy Santo Domingo). It is designed specifically for alumni of U.S.-sponsored or U.S.-facilitated exchange programs who want to build on the skills, networks, and experience they gained during their exchange and apply them to real needs in their communities. AEIF has been running since 2011 and has supported nearly 500 alumni-led projects worldwide through a competitive process, positioning it as a long-running mechanism for turning exchange experiences into practical community impact.

For the Dominican Republic call, the program focus aligns with U.S. priorities around climate resilience, sustainability, and biodiversity protection, while also emphasizing entrepreneurship and innovation, inclusion and democratic participation, stronger connections between Dominicans and U.S. entrepreneurship and innovation resources, and citizen security. The Embassy is looking for public service projects that are locally grounded, community-facing, and designed to deliver tangible benefits rather than profit. Proposals must be developed and managed by teams of at least two alumni, reinforcing the expectation that projects are collaborative, feasible, and supported by a small leadership team rather than a single individual.

The opportunity encourages projects across several thematic areas. One priority is expanding access to STEAM education (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) and innovation for youth in underserved and/or rural communities, including initiatives that train teachers in effective STEAM instruction for these settings. Another emphasis is empowering women and youth from underserved and/or rural communities through the arts and/or entrepreneurship training, which can include skills development, mentorship, and pathways to economic participation. A major track supports environmental and resilience work, such as efforts to counter climate change impacts, promote transitions to sustainable energy, improve water and food security, strengthen agricultural best practices, protect biodiversity, and improve recycling and municipal waste systems. This environmental category also explicitly includes reducing pollution and limiting sedimentation and runoff of plastics and debris into marine and coastal areas, signaling interest in projects that address land-to-sea pollution pathways.

The call also welcomes innovative, sustainable, community-focused solutions addressing current health challenges and/or citizen security concerns, provided the approaches are practical and can show clear benefits to the community. In addition, a strong cross-cutting priority is inclusion: projects that improve participation and empowerment of youth, women, and underrepresented groups are encouraged, including (but not limited to) people with disabilities, LGBT communities, and migrants. This can involve training and educational programs that build skills and agency among these groups, as well as activities that improve the capacity of local stakeholders such as community organizations, government actors, academia, and the private sector to advance inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility, accountability, and human rights protections in the Dominican Republic.

Several implementation requirements are clearly stated. Projects must provide services to beneficiaries free of charge, meaning the grant is intended for public benefit rather than fee-based programming. In addition, the method used to select beneficiaries must be transparent, and the selection process must be approved by the Embassy Public Affairs Section, which adds an accountability layer and helps ensure fairness and appropriate targeting. The award instrument is a grant, and the opportunity is categorized as discretionary funding.

From an administrative perspective, the funding opportunity is listed as S DR860 23 NOFO 001 under CFDA number 19.022. Eligible applicants are nonprofits that do not have 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, which indicates the program is structured to work with local or non-U.S. nonprofit entities (while excluding universities from this specific eligibility line). The grant ceiling is $35,000 per award, and the program anticipated making around 8 awards. The notice was created March 1, 2023, with an original closing date of March 31, 2023. Overall, the AEIF Dominican Republic call is best understood as a relatively small, competitive grant aimed at alumni-led teams proposing practical, community-serving projects at the intersection of innovation, inclusion, and sustainability, with clear expectations around transparency and free public access to project benefits.

• The Department of State, U.S. Mission to the Dominican Republic in the business and commerce, community development, disaster prevention and relief, education, energy, environment, food and nutrition, health, humanities (see cultural affairs in cfda), natural resources, regional development, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF) 2023 Dominican Republic" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.022.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 01, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 31, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $35,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 8 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education.

Apply for S DR860 23 NOFO 001

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