By Chris Conrad, Director of Research & Programs
Note 1: I used Claude to draft this post from other documents related to this RFP. All content was reviewed by me for accuracy.
Note 2: I’m currently OOO so it will be ~1 week before I respond to comments
Nova Vista Foundation is a family foundation running an open RFP with up to $10 million for policy advocacy, market-shaping, and other high-leverage work on alternative proteins. Grants will be $100,000 to $750,000. Applications close Monday 15 September 2026, and you can apply here.
What We’re Funding
Policy. We expect to support efforts to secure greater public funding for R&D and commercialization We also intend to support advocacy for clear regulatory pathways for novel foods that are fair, safe, and fast. We are especially interested in more policy capacity that can broaden the political coalition supporting alt protein, build durable political power, and support increased FTE in high-innovation Asian economies, Germany, and the Nordics.
Market shaping and demand pull. This includes public procurement, advance market commitments and similar demand-pull instruments, retailer and corporate commitments to protein diversification, and blended finance and innovation prizes aimed at crowding in private capital.
Experimental. Research on how transformative AI changes the picture, open data and shared resources, work responding to changes in the funding ecosystem, and more.
Why These Areas
We think policy and market-shaping are high EV bets due to their leverage. Despite significant public and private investment over the last 10 years, a large gap to the optimal level remains, and most estimates of the funding need for the technology suggest that it will require investment at a scale that VC and private capital does not operate at.
Additionally, our sense is that 1) there are a very small number (low single digit) funders for alt protein policy that work globally, and 2) the total funding for policy work in both $ and total FTE is below the optimal level, particularly outside the US and Europe. Our sense is also that direct scientific R&D is well covered by other funders with greater scientific expertise, larger budgets, and different risk tolerances than us.
Who Should Apply
We mainly fund US 501(c)(3) organizations and their charitable equivalents elsewhere, but if you are not a charity and think you have a project in scope, apply anyway and we will work out the mechanics.
We would particularly like to hear from organizations with existing access to decision-makers who have not previously worked on this issue, and from people who have done analogous work in the domains that alt protein has historically been lacking talent (e.g. market shaping).
We would encourage you to forward this RFP if you know someone who would be a good fit.
How to apply
Apply here by Monday 15 September 2026. Phase 1 is a short screener, reviewed on a rolling basis, and we aim to respond within one to two weeks. The RFP has more details on our priorities, what is out of scope, and how we evaluate.
We are not able to take calls or give feedback on fit before review. Questions about the application process go to [email protected].
