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Imaginable Futures Foundation

Annual Giving
$22.2M
Grant Range
$10K - $1.6M
Decision Time
2w

Imaginable Futures Foundation

Quick Stats

  • Annual Giving: $22,173,121 (2023)
  • Success Rate: Not publicly disclosed
  • Decision Time: Approximately 2 weeks for initial review (based on emergency relief program case study)
  • Grant Range: $10,000 - $1,600,000
  • Median Grant: $225,000
  • Geographic Focus: United States, Brazil, Kenya only
  • Total Grants in 2023: 77 awards

Contact Details

  • Website: https://imaginablefutures.com
  • Email: Not publicly listed
  • Phone: Not publicly listed
  • Address: Redwood City, CA
  • Note: The organization does not accept unsolicited applications or inquiries

Overview

Imaginable Futures Foundation (EIN: 87-3273549) is a global philanthropic investment firm founded and funded by philanthropists Pierre and Pam Omidyar. Spun out from Omidyar Network's Education Initiative in 2020, the organization launched with a portfolio of more than 100 for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations and $200 million of capital invested. Imaginable Futures has since evolved, investing over $330 million in more than 265 partners across Africa, Latin America, and the United States. Their mission is to support organizations and collaborative efforts to build equity in education, enabling all learners to thrive. In 2025, the organization underwent a strategic shift, sunsetting new for-profit investments and work in South Africa to focus on field strengthening through collaborative grantmaking in Brazil, Kenya, and the United States. The organization operates with a hybrid structure that combines impact investing with foundation grant-making, emphasizing multi-year engagements, general operating support, and systems-level change.

Funding Priorities

Grant Programs

Imaginable Futures operates through an invitation-only model without publicly advertised grant programs. Their funding focuses on:

  • Early Childhood Education (Birth-Age 5): Supporting advocates, grassroots networks, coalition builders, and media working to shift policy and public narratives around early care and learning - $10,000 - $1,600,000
  • Parenting Students in Postsecondary Education: Federal, state, and institutional policy advocacy, research, and narrative change efforts connecting education with child care and economic opportunity
  • Field Strengthening: Collaborative funding initiatives with peer funders focused on systems-level change

All funding is provided on a rolling basis through proactive identification of partners.

Priority Areas

United States Focus:

  • Harnessing the power of parents and providers to change policy and increase access to better early care and learning options for all families
  • Supporting parenting students as talented learners and agents of change
  • Policy advocacy at federal, state, and institutional levels
  • Research and narrative change initiatives
  • Co-designed solutions with parents and families

Cross-Regional Priorities:

  • Elevating proximate leaders who reflect the identities of their communities
  • Embracing cultural and local nuance in educational approaches
  • Building enduring infrastructure for sustained structural commitment to equity
  • Centering racial, gender, and economic equity in all work
  • Supporting historically underserved populations, particularly Black, Brown, and Indigenous learners

Key Portfolio Partners Include:

  • All Our Kin (early childhood education network)
  • Wonderschool (early learning platform)
  • SPARK Schools (South Africa - existing portfolio only)
  • Khan Academy Kids (whole child approach in early learning)
  • NewSchools Venture Fund
  • Mawazo (Kenya - elevating women in African research)

What They Don't Fund

  • Organizations outside Brazil, Kenya, and the United States (geographic restriction)
  • New for-profit investments (as of 2025 strategic shift)
  • New work in South Africa (sunsetted in 2025; existing portfolio commitments will be honored)
  • Unsolicited applications from any organization
  • Organizations not aligned with their equity-focused mission

Governance and Leadership

Board and Founders:

  • Pam Omidyar - Co-Founder, Imaginable Futures and Co-Founder, The Omidyar Group; serves as Director
  • Pierre Omidyar - Co-Founder and Funder (with Pam Omidyar)

Executive Leadership:

  • Amy Klement - Managing Partner and President; leads the team and strategy and is responsible to the board for running the organization. Previously Partner at Omidyar Network where she led the Education initiative since 2013. Former PayPal Vice President of Product and early employee (1999). Board member/observer for Teach For All, Andela, NewGlobe, Imagine Worldwide, and formerly Kiva, Living Goods, and Social Finance US.
  • Kristina G. McNeff - Secretary

Key Leadership Quotes:

Amy Klement on their mission: "We exist to unleash human potential through learning, so that all people can thrive in our very interdependent and ever changing world," emphasizing that they take "a very intentional view towards equity in our work."

On shifting power dynamics in philanthropy: "For philanthropy to be truly effective in driving sustainable change, we need to rethink traditional models that are too often top-down and risk perpetuating the same systems of oppression they seek to transform."

On systems and inequity: "It was very clear that in each of our main regions of focus the systems there were perfectly designed to produce the inequitable results we saw."

On community-based philanthropy: "We've been doing a lot more community-based philanthropy, to really learn from and support community-based change," describing it as "a really different angle" and "a big funding gap in the space."

Application Process & Timeline

How to Apply

This funder does not have a public application process. Imaginable Futures explicitly states: "At this time, we are unable to accept unsolicited applications."

Partnerships are formed through an invitation-only model. The organization identifies partners on a rolling basis through research, listening, and learning alongside partners and collaborators. Their investment process is described as agile and aligned with the needs and best interests of the organizations they support.

Once strategic and geographic alignment is determined, Imaginable Futures engages by learning more about a potential partner's vision, impact, and operations, then co-creates the partnership.

Getting on Their Radar

Early Childhood Funders Collaborative Membership: Imaginable Futures is a member of the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative, where they engage with other funders and organizations working in the early childhood education space. Organizations active in this collaborative network may have opportunities to connect with Imaginable Futures staff.

Co-Funding Relationships: The organization emphasizes collaborative funding with peer funders. Organizations that are already funded by foundations working in similar spaces (education equity, early childhood, parenting students) may come to their attention through co-funding discussions.

Portfolio Partner Networks: Their existing portfolio of 265+ partners represents a network through which they discover new organizations. Building relationships with current Imaginable Futures partners could provide pathways to visibility.

Geographic and Thematic Alignment: Focus work in their three priority countries (United States, Brazil, Kenya) on their specific areas of interest: early childhood education, parenting students in postsecondary education, policy advocacy, research and narrative change, and grassroots organizing led by proximate leaders.

Decision Timeline

Based on a 2020 emergency relief fund case study in Brazil, Imaginable Futures and their partner foundation reviewed hundreds of proposals in approximately 2 weeks, narrowing to 30 finalists, with a teacher advisory board selecting 11 projects for funding.

Note: This timeline was for a specific RFP-based emergency program and may not represent standard decision timelines for their invitation-only partnership process.

Success Rates

Success rates are not publicly disclosed. Given their invitation-only model, traditional success rate metrics do not apply in the same way as open application processes.

Reapplication Policy

Not applicable due to invitation-only model. Organizations are not able to submit applications or reapplications.

Application Success Factors

Since Imaginable Futures does not accept applications, the following factors reflect what they look for when identifying and evaluating potential partners:

Alignment with Equity Mission: Organizations must demonstrate deep commitment to addressing root causes of educational inequity, with particular focus on racial, gender, and economic equity. Amy Klement has emphasized that "the systems there were perfectly designed to produce the inequitable results we saw," indicating they seek partners working to fundamentally transform systems, not just provide services within broken systems.

Proximate Leadership: Strong preference for leaders who reflect the identities of the communities they serve. As stated in their strategic priorities, "Leaders that reflect the identities of their communities are more than knowledge holders. It's essential to shift power and resources in their direction."

Systems-Level Approach: The organization has evolved from focusing primarily on "social entrepreneurship and innovation as primary levers to a systems approach informed by both global and local insights which seeks to address inequities and foster holistic learning for learners, families and communities." They seek partners working on policy advocacy, research, narrative change, grassroots organizing, and coalition building—not just direct service delivery.

Cultural and Local Nuance: Priority given to organizations that "embrace localization and cultural nuance, reimagining learning outcomes and measurement based on the lived realities of communities, while ensuring that curricula, educational standards and evaluation benchmarks prioritize cultural contexts."

Community-Based and Co-Designed Solutions: Emphasis on solutions co-designed by parents and families, particularly in their U.S. early childhood work. They seek partners who center the voices and wisdom of the communities they serve.

Collaborative Capacity: As of their 2025 strategic shift, they emphasize "collaborative, co-funding opportunities" and work with "peer funders to build fairer, healthier ecosystems for learning." Organizations that can participate in collaborative funding initiatives and multi-stakeholder partnerships are well-positioned.

Geographic Focus: Must operate in the United States, Brazil, or Kenya. Work in other countries is explicitly excluded.

Recent Portfolio Examples:

  • All Our Kin: Multi-million dollar grants for general operating support of early childhood education network
  • Alliance for Early Success: $750,000 for Child Care NEXT project
  • African Population and Health Research Center: $150,000 for research and policy work
  • Organizations supporting student parents, grassroots advocacy networks, and policy change initiatives

Key Takeaways for Grant Writers

  • No unsolicited applications accepted: This is not a funder you can apply to directly. Focus instead on building visibility in the education equity field, particularly in early childhood and parenting student populations.

  • Geographic restriction is absolute: Only work in Brazil, Kenya, or the United States will be considered. Organizations in other countries, including South Africa (where they previously funded), should not attempt to engage.

  • Systems change over direct service: Imaginable Futures has explicitly shifted to prioritize systems-level work including policy advocacy, research, narrative change, and field strengthening over individual innovation or direct service models. For-profit investments have been sunsetted as of 2025.

  • Proximate leadership is essential: Leadership from the communities being served is a core value. Organizations should lead with the lived experience and cultural knowledge of their leadership when building visibility.

  • Multi-year, general operating support model: When they do partner, they structure funding as "multi-year engagements and offer general operating support whenever feasible," indicating preference for established organizations ready for sustained partnership rather than project-specific funding.

  • Collaborative funding approach: The 2025 strategic shift emphasizes "collaborative, co-funding opportunities." Organizations already funded by aligned foundations or participating in funder collaboratives (like Early Childhood Funders Collaborative) may have better pathways to visibility.

  • Equity lens is non-negotiable: As Amy Klement stated, they take "a very intentional view towards equity in our work" that addresses "root causes of educational inequity" and explicitly centers "racial, gender and economic equity." Organizations must demonstrate this is core to their mission, not an add-on.

References

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