Our PBIF Spring 2026 Open Call Launches Today! Here’s What We’re Looking For.

Download the Call For Proposals | Deadline for Submissions is May 15

At Center for Civic Futures, we believe the hardest problems in public benefit delivery don't just need new ideas — they need real space to test them. 

Government systems are under enormous strain right now. The complexity of administering programs like Medicaid and SNAP has grown significantly, and the people who depend on these programs can't afford for us to wait for certainty before acting. We have to be willing to learn in motion.

That's what our latest Public Benefit Innovation Fund (PBIF) open call is designed for. 

This year, we've structured the call around two distinct award tracks to better reflect where teams actually are in their work. Our Early Concept track will support teams testing a new hypothesis in a controlled environment — the kinds of questions that need room to breathe before they're ready for the real world. Our Pilot track is for teams with a proven concept ready to be tested in a live government context, with the partnerships and implementation readiness to back it up. Both tracks matter, representing necessary stages in getting from a promising idea to lasting public impact.

Over the past few months, we’ve listened closely to the field to learn where strategic investment would make the biggest difference in helping government meet this moment. 

Through a partnership with collaborative design agency CivicMakers and support from AARP Foundation, we conducted a series of listening sessions with government agency staff, frontline caseworkers, nonprofit civic tech and policy leaders, and AI experts. We heard one common theme loud and clear: the most pressing and urgent challenges facing government public benefit programs today are not new. What is new is the world of potential solutions that exist to address them. 

This open call will focus on projects that experiment with novel applications of emerging technologies to solve persistent problems in public benefit delivery: 

1. Improving backend processes to enable caseworkers to focus on people, not administrative tasks.

2. Using data effectively to comprehensively and simply connect people to services. 

3. Modernizing tech infrastructure to enable the systems of the future. 

We’re also excited to be launching this open call in partnership with the Recoding America Fund. While PBIF funds tech-enabled tools that improve public benefits delivery, the Recoding America Fund invests in the conditions that determine whether those tools can actually be adopted to drive impact. This partnership reflects a shared belief that emerging technology will not succeed in improving outcomes without also addressing the structural and operational barriers that have long prevented governments from driving their own digital futures. 

In the days ahead, we'll be sharing additional guidance materials with advice for applicants — including what makes a strong proposal and how to think about framing your hypothesis and learning goals. We’ll also be hosting a webinar on April 22nd for potential applicants to learn more about this open call and the application process. 

If you have questions in the meantime, or want to talk through whether your project might be a fit, we'd love to hear from you. Reach out at info@publicbenefitinnovationfund.org.

‍Ready to apply? We can’t wait to hear from you.