Cities Deliver: AI Solutions for Public Services

The Rockefeller Foundation, in partnership with the OpenAI Foundation, has announced the Cities Deliver: AI Solutions for Public Services call for proposals. This initiative commits $50 million globally to support projects that harness artificial intelligence to improve public service delivery, specifically addressing the needs of low-income, vulnerable, and underserved urban communities.

Grants range from $500,000 to $2,000,000 depending on the selected funding track, covering a project duration of 24 months. The full application submission deadline is November 29, 2026, following an earlier deadline for applicant questions on October 31, 2026.

What is funded

The call supports the development, testing, and scaling of artificial intelligence interventions across four primary urban focus areas: Public Health, Economic Mobility, Environmental Resilience, and Civic Engagement. Within these domains, funded activities can include frontline healthcare delivery, disease surveillance, benefits enrollment, career navigation, emergency response forecasting, and digital municipal services. Projects involving voting or elections are explicitly excluded.

Support is allocated across two funding tracks tailored to project maturity. The Seed track provides between $500,000 and under $1 million for early concepts ready for a first municipal pilot, funding prototype building, testing, and refinement. The Scale track awards between $1 million and $2 million to solutions that have already completed an initial city pilot, supporting expansion to broader populations or new municipal jurisdictions.

Who can apply

Eligible lead applicants include non-profit organizations, university research labs, fiscally sponsored organizations, and public benefit corporations. For-profit entities may qualify in restricted cases where the initiative has an exclusively charitable purpose and provides no more than an incidental private benefit. City governments cannot serve as lead applicants directly.

Every applicant organization must secure a formal partnership and commitment to collaborate with a municipal government partner. Existing grantees of The Rockefeller Foundation and RF Catalytic Capital are eligible to apply. Initiatives must demonstrate a clear charitable purpose and deliver measurable benefits to underserved, poor, or distressed urban populations.

Conditions and requirements

All selected projects operate on a 24-month timeline. Financial disbursements are split into two equal tranches: 50% is provided at project launch, and the remaining 50% is contingent on meeting and documenting a required mid-term project milestone. Grantees should plan to achieve their stated objectives within the allocated budget, as the grant does not guarantee follow-on funding.

Practical tip. Prioritize formalizing and documenting your operational relationship with your municipal partner early in the design stage, as the initiative requires solutions that respond directly to local demand. Make sure your milestone tracking plan clearly demonstrates measurable progress, since the final 50% disbursement depends on verifying an interim performance target.

How to apply

Applicants must prepare and submit their proposals through the donor’s online application system before the deadline of November 29, 2026. Prior to submission, applicants should consult the updated Frequently Asked Questions section, which reflects donor responses to inquiries submitted through the October 31, 2026 inquiry window.

Submissions must clearly identify whether the application falls under the Seed or Scale track and outline how the solution targets low-income or vulnerable communities in partnership with the participating city government.

Applications are submitted on the donor’s page: rockefellerfoundation.org.