Khyentse Foundation offers many opportunities for individuals and organizations to apply for grants and scholarships to support their dharma studies, practice, and activities. In the nonsectarian spirit of the Khyentse lineage, we accept applications from Buddhist teachers, students, scholars, translators, practitioners, and retreatants, following all traditions, and from all parts of the world. Each application is reviewed by an international committee appointed by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.
If this is the first time you are using Submittable to apply for a grant or scholarship, you will need to create a Submittable account. Before you set up your account, please consider the following:
- Use the best email address for yourself or your project. The email address you use for your Submittable account will be the only address we use to communicate with you about your application. Once you sign up, you will not be able to change your email address.
- To ensure you receive expected emails, consider adding Submittable to your safelist with your email service provider (https://submittable.help/en/articles/3221476-how-can-i-safelist-notification-emails-from-submittable).
We look forward to reading your application! To get started, click Apply.
Khyentse Foundation Ashoka Grants are open to the public and aim to identify and support organizations and individuals that are working to increase dharma activity around the world. Ashoka Grants are for programs and projects that fall outside the criteria for Buddhist Studies Scholarships, Individual Practice Grants, or other awards.
KF Ashoka Grants generally range from US$1,000 to $5,000. The committees will review applications with larger budgets, but programs requesting over $5,000 are less likely to be funded. Khyentse Foundation views the Ashoka Grant as a kind of stimulus or as seed money and the grant is intended to help promising programs get started or allow more established programs to expand and flourish.
Ashoka Grants are usually for one year, but multiple years of funding may be possible in some cases. Khyentse Foundation rarely supports programs for long periods of time and we strongly encourage organizations to find ways to become self-sustaining. Whether your application is successful or not, we recommend you continue to look for other sources of funding.
Applicants will be notified of decisions approximately four months after the deadline.
Qualifications
The Ashoka Grant Committees review applications from organizations and individuals who are actively engaged in projects related to Buddhism.
Your application will not be considered if:
- Your application is written by AI. If we suspect your answers are written by any AI program such as OpenAI or ChatGPT, your application will be rejected. A sincere application means more than a well-written one.
- You are requesting funds for a building and construction project.
- Your application does not adequately explain the budget and scope of the project.
- Your application is not related to Buddhism or Buddhist activity. Your application must have Buddhism at its core.
- Your application is for a film project; we are not accepting proposals for film projects at this time.
- You have already applied for an Ashoka grant in this round.
- Your application is in a language other than English. At this time, we can only accept applications in English.
Full funding of proposals is not always possible and partial funding may be offered to some applicants. KF is able to offer grants because of the generosity of our donors so please keep this in mind and request only what is needed for your dharma activity.