Nonprofit Engine FAQ

Nonprofit Engine is a philanthropic program that gives US nonprofits a senior AI engineering team, valued at $250K, to build mission-critical technology. Each awardee works with a dedicated team from Toboggan Labs for three to six months on one major build. The program started in 2023 and has made ten awards since then.

Nonprofit Engine is funded by Kevin Ryan, founder and CEO of AlleyCorp ↗ (opens in a new tab). Read more about the people behind the program, including the selection committee, on the About page.

Kevin Ryan, founder and CEO of AlleyCorp, funds Nonprofit Engine, and Toboggan Labs delivers the engineering for every award. Nonprofit Engine is its own program, with its own name, website, and selection process. Toboggan Labs is an AI engineering firm; its teams scope, build, and hand over each project together with the awardee's own tech team.

Toboggan Labs ↗ (opens in a new tab) is the AI engineering firm that delivers every Nonprofit Engine project. Its teams cover applied AI research, data science, product design and engineering, platform and security engineering, and product strategy, and they've built technology with nonprofits since the program's first project in 2023.

Yes. Nonprofit Engine launched in 2023 as Impact Engine and took its current name in 2024, with its first open call for applications.

Nonprofit Engine has made ten awards since 2023. The 2025 awardees are mRelief and Unlocked Labs. The 2024 awardees are Recidiviz, Mobile Pathways, Planned Parenthood, and Upsolve. Earlier awards, made as Impact Engine, went to Podsie (part of Teaching Lab), Magpie Literacy, Trans Lifeline, and Teaching Lab. See every awardee and their project.

Nonprofit Engine's program partners help promote the program, refer nonprofits, and share insight when applications are evaluated. See the current program partners.

Email the Nonprofit Engine team at npe@nonprofitengine.org. It's the fastest way to get an answer about eligibility or your application.

US-based nonprofits with an existing technology product or service, and a technical team that can maintain what gets built, can apply to Nonprofit Engine. For the 2027 cohort, your work should fit one of two focus areas: Health or Workforce. See the full eligibility criteria.

Yes. Nonprofit Engine requires a technical team that can work with the engineers during the build and maintain the technology afterward. The team doesn't have to be large. Software has to be updated, secured, and monitored long after a project ends, so organizations without a tech team aren't eligible.

No. Nonprofit Engine has no minimum operating history, and both established nonprofits and newer ones are welcome to apply.

Yes. Organizations under fiscal sponsorship can apply to Nonprofit Engine.

Possibly. It depends on the exact legal structure, so email npe@nonprofitengine.org to confirm eligibility before you apply.

No. Nonprofit Engine accepts applications from nonprofits across the US. The only New York step is the final pitch: finalists for the 2027 cohort pitch in person in New York City on March 2, 2027.

No. Nonprofit Engine is open to nonprofits based in the US.

The 2027 Nonprofit Engine cohort has two focus areas: Health and Workforce. Health covers better health outcomes for all, including health equity, mental health, and the social factors that shape health. Workforce covers closing digital skill gaps and creating pathways to economic opportunity. Read more about each focus area.

Yes. Mental health is part of the Health focus area for the 2027 Nonprofit Engine cohort.

No. For the 2027 cohort, Nonprofit Engine's focus areas are Health and Workforce. Government Services was a priority area in 2025.

Each Nonprofit Engine award is a dedicated engineering team from Toboggan Labs, valued at $250K, that works with your nonprofit for three to six months on one major build. A team is usually three or four people, shaped around what your project needs. The work can run from product discovery and scoping to deployment in production, across applied AI research, data science, product design and engineering, platform and security engineering, and product strategy.

Nonprofit Engine will make two $250K awards for the 2027 cohort, with the possibility of a third.

No. The Nonprofit Engine award is in kind: the $250K covers a dedicated engineering team, and it can't be used to pay your own staff or outside contractors. Your team's time isn't part of the award, so plan for your technical lead and team to take part in the build.

Nonprofit Engine teams are senior. Toboggan Labs staffs each project with experienced engineers, data scientists, and designers who've worked on short project sprints as well as long-term product maintenance.

A good Nonprofit Engine project is a technically ambitious build that would be hard to find a vendor for, could noticeably increase your nonprofit's impact, and can be finished within a $250K award and then maintained by your own team.

Past Nonprofit Engine projects include machine learning that speeds up document review for mRelief's benefits platform, and natural language processing features for Recidiviz's tools for staff at criminal justice agencies. Other common projects test whether machine learning can solve a user problem or automate a workflow, migrate databases or system architecture, build conversational applications to reach new people, create data pipelines that make existing data usable, reduce the cost of existing AI workflows, or bring machine learning models into production. Browse past awardees' project goals.

Either works. What matters is a clearly defined scope that fits the engineering team's expertise, and a nonprofit that's fully involved in decisions and approvals.

There's a slight preference for external-facing systems, or internal ones that clearly drive program impact. If you propose an internal project, explain how it will lead to more or better outcomes for the people you serve.

Yes, be ambitious about what can be done within the award, since it's easier to scope down than up. Do propose a feasible, scoped project rather than a product roadmap or wish list.

No. Nonprofit Engine is tech-agnostic, so there's no need to lean on trendy technology. Reviewers care about the substance of your project and how the build will support your impact.

The Nonprofit Engine engineering team works closely with yours, ideally embedded and connecting weekly or even daily, especially while setting requirements and design. It can also work more independently if your decision and approval process supports that. Code review from your engineers is welcome. The team works best on a discrete project rather than adding capacity to your existing roadmap.

Maintainability is a top priority for every Nonprofit Engine project. Your tech team is involved from scoping onward, so day-to-day decisions in the build hold up after handover, and the project closes with knowledge transfer to your team.

Applications for the 2027 Nonprofit Engine cohort close on December 23, 2026. They opened on October 19, 2026. Prepare and send your application.

Applications for the 2027 Nonprofit Engine cohort are open from October 19 to December 23, 2026. Q&A webinars run on November 20 and December 16, 2026. About 15 semifinalists are selected by February 1, 2027, and six finalists are notified by February 18. Finalists pitch in person in New York City on March 2, 2027, and the winners are chosen that day. See how the program runs.

Nonprofit Engine reviews every application, then sends follow-up questions to promising applicants in January, including questions about data access and quality. About 15 semifinalists go to the selection committee, which picks six finalists. The finalists pitch in person on March 2, 2027, and the winners are chosen that day.

Yes. The six Nonprofit Engine finalists for the 2027 cohort pitch in person in New York City on March 2, 2027. Finalists are notified by February 18, which gives them about two weeks to prepare.

Demo Day is the event where Nonprofit Engine awardees show what they built with their engineering team. Watch the latest Demo Day on the Awardees page.

A Nonprofit Engine project runs for three to six months. Your team needs to be available to work with the engineers for the whole period.

Apply through the online form on the Apply page before December 23, 2026. The form opens in Google Forms and asks for details about your organization, a short slide deck, and two videos.

A Nonprofit Engine application needs your organization's background (mission, website or LinkedIn, annual operating budget, and people served each year), a PDF deck of up to ten slides, a video of up to five minutes presenting the deck, a video of about three minutes on your tech stack, and LinkedIn profiles for your technical leaders. You'll also share your availability for a pitch and a project kickoff. See the full application checklist.

Your Nonprofit Engine deck should cover your vision or mission; what you do today (products, services, and scale); the technical build that would help; why it's a priority; the impact you expect, such as more people served; what you've invested so far and what you need next; risks and unknowns; and who would lead the project with Nonprofit Engine.

Record a video of up to five minutes presenting your slide deck. Focus on the why, and add anything that isn't obvious from reading the deck. Your message matters more than video quality, and it's fine to use notes or a script.

Record a video of about three minutes that shows a demo of your existing product, an overview of your technical architecture or stack choices, and an introduction to your tech team.

Share each video as a Google Drive link that anyone with the link can open, or as an unlisted YouTube link. Here's how to upload an unlisted YouTube video ↗ (opens in a new tab).

No. The Nonprofit Engine Q&A webinars are optional. They're there so you can get to know the program and get your questions answered.

Nonprofit Engine is hosting two live Q&A webinars for the 2027 cohort: Friday, November 20, 2026, and Wednesday, December 16, 2026, both at 12:00 PM ET. Register for a Q&A webinar.

No. Only the Nonprofit Engine selection committee reviews applications, your annual operating budget stays confidential, and nothing is shared publicly without your approval.

Your nonprofit owns the code and IP from its Nonprofit Engine project. Each project ends with a full transfer of the technology, platform, and intellectual property to the awardee.

The engineering team for each Nonprofit Engine project works from Canada, so any data your project needs has to be allowed for use outside the US. If it can't leave the US, you'll need to provide datasets that can be shared internationally and are enough for building and testing. Expect questions about data access and quality during the review.

The Nonprofit Engine engineering team is based in Canada. Toboggan Labs, which delivers every project, works remotely with awardees across the US, with weekly or even daily check-ins.

Your team takes over when a Nonprofit Engine project ends. Each project closes with knowledge transfer, so your technical team can run, maintain, and build on what was delivered.