Program Goal
To advance public understanding and engagement with science by supporting innovative content creators on YouTube, as well as TikTok and other major long and short-form video platforms
Strategy
YouTube and other social media platforms far exceed traditional media in audience reach and engagement. Grants in this program seek to reach this growing audience by supporting a talented pool of creators who produce fiction and nonfiction content that tackles science, technology, and economics on YouTube and TikTok. The goals of this program are:
- Honor and celebrate exceptional content creators;
- Provide resources to up-and-coming content creators who lack the support to build their platform;
- Support new voices, including more women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people, to diversify the YouTube and TikTok space;
- Encourage innovative new approaches to science storytelling, both fiction and nonfiction;
- Increase the quality and accuracy of science programming on YouTube and social media while combatting misinformation and disinformation;
- Reach new and younger audiences, including those who do not engage with traditional media;
- Disseminate and engage with other Sloan-supported projects.
Apply
Interested grantseekers with a relevant project idea should email a one-page letter of inquiry to VP and Program Director Doron Weber with a CC to Program Associate Shriya Bhindwale. Telephone inquiries are not accepted. Before submitting a letter of inquiry, please review the Foundation's guidelines on what we do not fund. The YouTube and TikTok program also does not support:
- Science fiction or science fantasy;
- Content aimed at children or K-12 students;
- Content intended as a study or exam aide.
For more information about letters of inquiry or other Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant application procedures, visit our Apply for Grants page.