Emergent Ventures Grants and Fellowships: Rolling Funding for Moonshot Ideas from the Mercatus Center

Emergent Ventures Grants and Fellowships: Rolling Funding for Moonshot Ideas from the Mercatus Center

Most funding programs run on a calendar. They open a cycle, publish a deadline, review a batch of applications, announce winners, and then close until next year. Emergent Ventures works differently. There is no deadline. You can apply today, and if your idea is compelling, you could hear back in weeks rather than seasons. That single design choice, a rolling application with no fixed cutoff, makes Emergent Ventures one of the most accessible funding options available to ambitious people with unusual ideas.

Emergent Ventures is a grant and fellowship program run by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. It was founded in 2018 and is administered by the economist Tyler Cowen, who serves as a faculty director at Mercatus. The program describes its mission as supporting entrepreneurs and talented minds with highly scalable, “zero to one” ideas that meaningfully improve society. In plainer terms, it funds people and projects that traditional grantmakers tend to overlook: early-stage ideas, unconventional projects, young people without a track record, and the kind of ambitious, high-variance work that does not fit neatly into an existing category.

This page explains what Emergent Ventures offers, who it is a good fit for, what it tends to fund, how the rolling application process works, and how to give yourself the best chance of writing a proposal that stands out. Where a fact is confirmed by the Mercatus Center, it is stated as such. Where a detail is genuinely variable or not publicly fixed, that is noted plainly rather than guessed at.

At a Glance: Key Details

What Emergent Ventures Offers

Emergent Ventures provides two main forms of support: grants and fellowships. The distinction matters, because they suit different kinds of projects and people.

A grant is a payment, either one time or staggered over a short period, to support a specific project. Grants are the more common path and the most flexible. The money is not tied to a rigid budget line or a narrow institutional purpose. It can support a startup, a research effort, a piece of writing, a public project, travel that advances a career, or the runway a person needs to pursue an idea full time. Because the funding is flexible, recipients have latitude to use it in the way that best moves their work forward.

A fellowship typically involves time in residence at the Mercatus Center in Northern Virginia. Fellowships suit people whose work benefits from being connected to the intellectual community around Mercatus, or who need a more sustained relationship with the program than a single grant provides.

A prize track also exists within the broader Emergent Ventures family. Over the years the program has awarded prizes for specific achievements and for progress on particular problems, in addition to its core grants and fellowships. If you are being recognized for something you have already done, rather than seeking funding to start something new, a prize may be the relevant category.

One point deserves emphasis because it is a common source of confusion: there is no single fixed grant amount. Emergent Ventures grants have ranged from small awards of a few thousand dollars to substantially larger sums, depending on the project, the person, and what the work requires. The program does not publish a set figure, and it would be inaccurate to claim one. If you see a specific dollar amount quoted elsewhere as “the” Emergent Ventures grant, treat it with skepticism. The honest answer is that amounts vary and are decided case by case.

Who Emergent Ventures Is For

Emergent Ventures is unusually open about who can apply. In general there is no nationality restriction and no requirement that you hold a particular degree, job, or affiliation. The one firm eligibility rule the program states is age: applicants must be at least 13 years old. Beyond that, what matters is the quality and ambition of the idea and the person behind it.

The program has funded a strikingly wide range of people. Students, including remarkably young ones, have received grants. So have founders building companies, researchers pursuing questions outside the usual academic funding streams, writers and journalists, artists, and independent creators working on public-facing projects. What these recipients share is not a credential but a disposition: they are ambitious, they are working on something with the potential for outsized impact, and they often struggle to find funding through conventional channels precisely because their work is early, unproven, or hard to classify.

You are likely a good fit if you have a specific project rather than a vague aspiration, if that project has the potential to scale or influence far beyond its initial scope, and if you can explain clearly why it matters and why you are the person to do it. Emergent Ventures is explicit about its bias toward moonshots and underfunded ideas. A modest, incremental project that many other funders would happily support is, somewhat counterintuitively, a weaker fit than a bolder idea that most funders would consider too risky.

You may be a weaker fit if your project is primarily an established organization seeking operating support, if it is a routine activity that fits neatly within existing grant programs, or if you cannot articulate what makes it ambitious. That does not mean such projects have no value; it means Emergent Ventures is deliberately looking for something different.

What Emergent Ventures Funds

Because the program is idea-driven rather than category-driven, the range of things it funds is broad. Based on how the program describes itself and the kinds of recipients it has supported, funded work commonly falls into areas such as these:

Education and self-directed learning. Support for people pursuing knowledge, skills, or study in ways that do not fit standard scholarship structures, including young people undertaking ambitious independent education.

Research. Funding for research projects, particularly those that sit outside conventional academic funding, cross disciplinary boundaries, or would be hard to fund through traditional grants.

Startups and ventures. Early-stage support for founders building companies or products, especially before they are ready for conventional investment.

Public projects and writing. Support for writing, journalism, publications, and public-facing projects that spread ideas or serve a broad audience.

Travel and career development. Funding that helps a person reach an opportunity, relocate to where their work can grow, or take a step that meaningfully advances their trajectory.

Because grants are flexible, the money is not locked to a single narrow use. The program is less interested in policing exactly how each dollar is spent and more interested in backing people whose work will make a difference.

Regional tracks add another dimension. Emergent Ventures operates dedicated support for projects focused on India, Africa, the Caribbean, and Ukraine. If your work centers on one of these regions, you can select the relevant track in the application. These verticals exist to make sure talented people and important projects in these places are not overlooked, and they are a strong signal that the program actively wants applications from beyond the United States.

Eligibility in Detail

The formal eligibility bar is refreshingly low, but it is worth being precise about what is confirmed and what is not.

Confirmed by the program: applicants must be 13 years of age or older. The program is global in scope, and its regional tracks explicitly invite applicants working on India, Africa, the Caribbean, and Ukraine. The program supports individuals with compelling projects across a wide range of fields.

Not restricted, as a general matter: nationality, profession, academic background, and prior funding history. Emergent Ventures does not require you to be a student, a founder, an academic, or anything else in particular. People from many walks of life have received support.

Where you should check directly: any specific requirement tied to a particular track, prize, or cycle. Program details can evolve, and the application form itself is the authoritative source for current requirements. If you are unsure whether your project qualifies, the practical answer is usually to apply anyway, because the application is short and there is no cost to submitting.

The Rolling Application Process

The defining feature of Emergent Ventures is that it accepts applications on a rolling basis. There is no deadline to race toward and no cycle to wait for. You apply when you are ready, and the program reviews applications as they arrive. For anyone who has watched a promising idea stall while waiting for an annual funding window to open, this alone is a significant advantage.

The application itself is deliberately short. You complete an online form that asks a few basic questions about you and your project, and you submit a brief written proposal. The proposal is generally expected to be no more than about 1,500 words. That length is intentional: the program is not asking for a lengthy grant document with appendices, budgets, and letters of support. It wants a clear, direct explanation of what you want to do, why it matters, how much money you are requesting, and why you are the right person to pursue it.

The application is hosted at the Mercatus form portal, currently at https://mercatus.tfaforms.net/5099527, which you can also reach from the official Emergent Ventures page at https://www.mercatus.org/emergent-ventures. If your project has a regional focus, you select the appropriate region from the application so that it reaches the right track.

Because the process is low overhead by design, decisions can come relatively quickly compared with traditional grant cycles, though the exact timing is not fixed and depends on the volume and nature of applications. Treat any specific turnaround time you see quoted elsewhere as an estimate rather than a guarantee.

Timeline: What Rolling Really Means

For a program with no deadline, the useful way to think about timing is in terms of your own readiness rather than the calendar.

There is no opening date to wait for, because the program is always open. There is no closing date to beat, because applications are accepted continuously. This removes the usual pressure of deadline-driven applications, but it introduces a different discipline: since you can always apply later, it is easy to keep postponing. The practical advice is to apply once your idea and your proposal are genuinely ready, and not to wait for a level of polish or certainty that early-stage projects rarely have.

If you are not selected, the rolling structure also means you are not locked out for a year. You can strengthen your idea, make progress, and apply again with a stronger case. Many strong projects look very different a few months after a first attempt, and demonstrable progress is exactly the kind of thing that makes a proposal more convincing.

How to Write a Strong Application

The proposal is short, which means every sentence carries weight. A few principles tend to separate strong applications from forgettable ones.

Lead with the idea, not your biography. Reviewers want to understand quickly what you want to do and why it matters. Open with a crisp statement of the project and its potential impact, then explain who you are in service of that.

Be concrete about ambition. Emergent Ventures favors moonshots. Do not undersell your idea to make it seem safe. Explain honestly why the project could matter far more than its size suggests, and what the best-case outcome looks like.

Be specific about the ask. State how much funding you are requesting and what it would let you do. You do not need a line-item budget, but you should make clear what the money buys, whether that is time, travel, equipment, runway, or the freedom to work on the project full time.

Show why you. The program funds people as much as projects. Explain what makes you unusually suited to this work, whether that is a rare skill, an unusual perspective, existing traction, or simply an intense drive that you can evidence.

Respect the word limit. Keeping the proposal to roughly 1,500 words or fewer is not just a rule to follow; brevity forces clarity. A tight, well-argued proposal reads better than a padded one.

Write like a person. Clear, direct, honest prose beats formal grant language. Let your genuine interest in the work come through.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Being too modest. Because the program explicitly wants bold ideas, playing it safe works against you. Applicants who frame their project as small and incremental miss the point of what Emergent Ventures is looking for.

Being vague about impact. “This could help people” is not persuasive. Explain who is helped, how, and why the effect could scale.

Waiting indefinitely for the perfect moment. The absence of a deadline tempts people to keep delaying. An early-stage idea, clearly explained, is often exactly what the program wants to fund.

Treating it like a corporate grant application. Long, formal, jargon-heavy documents work against you here. The program deliberately asks for something short and human.

Ignoring the regional tracks. If your project centers on India, Africa, the Caribbean, or Ukraine, failing to select the relevant track means missing dedicated support designed for exactly your situation.

Quoting a fixed grant amount you cannot support. Do not anchor your entire proposal to a specific number you assume the program awards. Ask for what your project genuinely needs and justify it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a deadline? No. Emergent Ventures accepts applications on a rolling basis with no fixed deadline. You can apply at any time.

How much money will I receive if selected? There is no fixed amount. Grants vary widely, from a few thousand dollars to considerably larger sums, depending on the project and its needs. The program decides amounts case by case, so it would be inaccurate to promise a specific figure.

Do I have to be based in the United States? No. The program is global. It also runs dedicated tracks for projects focused on India, Africa, the Caribbean, and Ukraine.

How old do I have to be? The program states that applicants must be at least 13 years old.

Do I need to be a student, a founder, or an academic? No. Students, founders, researchers, writers, and other creators have all been funded. What matters is a compelling project, not a particular job title or credential.

What is the difference between a grant and a fellowship? A grant is a payment, one time or staggered, to support a project. A fellowship typically involves time in residence at the Mercatus Center in Northern Virginia. Grants are the more flexible and common path.

How long should my proposal be? The program generally asks for a brief proposal of no more than about 1,500 words, along with answers to a few basic questions.

Can I apply more than once? Because the program is rolling and there is no annual lockout, you can strengthen your idea and apply again if you are not selected the first time. Demonstrated progress can make a later application stronger.

How can I use the money? The funding is flexible. It can support education, research, a startup, a public project, writing, or career-advancing travel, among other uses. The program cares more about impact than about micromanaging spending.

Official Links and Next Steps

If Emergent Ventures fits your project, the process is straightforward and there is no reason to delay once your proposal is ready.

Start at the official program page for the current description and any updates: https://www.mercatus.org/emergent-ventures

Apply through the Mercatus application portal, selecting a regional track if your project focuses on India, Africa, the Caribbean, or Ukraine: https://mercatus.tfaforms.net/5099527

Prepare a brief proposal, generally under 1,500 words, that clearly states what you want to do, why it matters, how much you are requesting, and why you are the right person to do it. Keep it concise, ambitious, and honest.

Because there is no deadline, the only thing standing between you and a decision is a finished application. If you have an ambitious idea that conventional funders would consider too early, too unusual, or too risky, Emergent Ventures was built with people like you in mind. Write the proposal, submit it, and let the work speak for itself.