CZI: Science Funding & Grant Process

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) is the science- and education-focused philanthropy founded in 2015 by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan. It funds biomedical research at a scale that puts it alongside the largest private science funders research offices already track, including the Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (see also CASRAI’s broader landscape guide to private and nonprofit medical research funders). CZI is structured differently from a conventional private foundation, and its science portfolio is organized around a small number of large, infrastructure-heavy programs rather than a single standing open-call grant program — both facts change how a research office should approach it.

A different kind of structure: LLC, not a traditional foundation

The most important structural fact about CZI is one many research administrators encounter for the first time here: the parent entity, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, LLC, is a limited liability company, not a 501(c)(3) private foundation. Zuckerberg and Chan chose the LLC form specifically so the initiative could combine grantmaking with for-profit investing and policy advocacy under one umbrella — activities that are legally restricted or prohibited for a traditional private foundation. An LLC has no charitable-payout minimum, no public Form 990-PF disclosure requirement, and no restriction against lobbying or direct political spending, in exchange for no tax deduction on funds the LLC itself distributes.

In practice, CZI does not operate as a single undifferentiated LLC. According to CZI’s own site, the initiative is composed of four linked entities: Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, LLC (the parent); the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Foundation, a conventional 501(c)(3) private foundation that carries out much of the tax-deductible charitable grantmaking; a donor-advised fund held at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation; and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Advocacy, a 501(c)(4) organization that carries out policy work the other entities cannot. For a research office, the practical implication is less about eligibility and more about paperwork: the legal counterparty named on a specific grant agreement may be the LLC or the Foundation depending on which program issued the award, and each carries different tax and reporting characteristics for the recipient institution. Read the actual grant agreement’s named counterparty rather than assuming “Chan Zuckerberg Initiative” always refers to the same legal entity.

CZI’s science mission and current strategic focus

CZI’s stated long-term science mission, publicly framed since its 2015 launch, is to help cure, prevent, or manage all disease by the end of the century — an intentionally long horizon that CZI uses to justify funding infrastructure and tools (data platforms, imaging technology, open-source software, shared biological atlases) rather than only individual investigator-driven hypothesis projects. That emphasis has sharpened further in recent years: CZI’s own science pages now foreground AI-powered biology as a central strategic theme, including a “Virtual Cell” grand challenge aimed at building predictive computational models of cell behavior, alongside specific AI models it funds or builds (such as a cross-species single-cell atlas model and cancer-marker identification tools) and a large-scale single-cell data effort. Researchers evaluating CZI as a funding source should expect proposals to be judged partly on fit with this infrastructure- and platform-oriented mission, not solely on the scientific merit of an individual hypothesis.

Main science funding programs and initiatives

CZI’s science funding is organized into several standing programs. Individual competitions within each program open and close on a rolling, multi-year cycle basis, so not every program below has an open call at any given time — always check the live opportunity list at CZI’s own science site before assuming a program is currently accepting applications.

CZ Biohub Network. CZI’s flagship model for large-scale, in-house biomedical research: independently operated, multi-institution research hubs. CZ Biohub San Francisco (the original hub, launched 2016, partnered with Stanford, UC Berkeley, and UCSF) was followed by CZ Biohub Chicago (with the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) and CZ Biohub New York (with the Rockefeller University among its partner institutions). The network’s premise is that co-locating scientists from multiple universities inside an independently governed hub, rather than distributing grants to each institution separately, accelerates work on technologies too large or too risky for a single conventional lab.
Chan Zuckerberg Imaging Institute / imaging science. CZI has funded a dedicated imaging institute, based in Redwood City, California, focused on developing technologies to map proteins and other macromolecules inside living cells. CZI announced in 2026 that this Imaging Institute is combining with CZ Biohub San Francisco to form a unified Biohub concentrated on life-science imaging, sharing a campus in Redwood City. Related open-competition programs (issued periodically as distinct RFAs) have covered deep tissue imaging, dynamic imaging, visual proteomics, and cryo-CLEM (correlative light and electron cryo-microscopy) methods.
Cell science / Human Cell Atlas support. CZI is a major funder of work contributing to the international Human Cell Atlas effort to map every cell type in the human body, funding seed networks, biological-ancestry networks, and pediatric-focused networks, plus tools for computational analysis of single-cell data.
Essential Open Source Software for Science (EOSS). A recurring grant program, run jointly with the Kavli Foundation and, in recent cycles, the Wellcome Trust, that funds the maintenance and continued development of open-source software tools that underpin scientific research — explicitly framed as sustaining existing critical infrastructure rather than funding new tool creation from scratch.
Neurodegeneration Challenge Network (NDCN). Funds collaborative pairs of investigators working across disciplinary boundaries on neurodegenerative disease, plus early-career investigator awards (named, in one award category, for the late neuroscientist Ben Barres).
Rare As One Project. A distinctive program that funds patient-led nonprofit organizations — not academic principal investigators directly — to build research networks and infrastructure around specific rare diseases. This is a meaningfully different applicant model from the rest of CZI’s science portfolio and worth flagging separately to any research office more used to PI-led applications.
AI and computational biology. Programs providing funded access to high-performance computing (including GPU clusters) for large-scale machine-learning models applied to biology, reflecting CZI’s broader strategic pivot toward AI-driven approaches to cell biology.

This list will shift over time as CZI opens new challenge areas and closes or renames older ones — consistent with how CZI itself talks about its portfolio as a set of multi-year “challenges” rather than a fixed, permanent program list.

How the CZI grant application process works

CZI does not run a single continuous open call for unsolicited science proposals. Instead, science funding is issued through periodic, program-specific Requests for Applications (RFAs): targeted competitions, each with its own defined scope, eligibility rules, and timeline, published as they open on CZI’s science site. This is a materially different model from a foundation that accepts standing letters of inquiry year-round, and it means the first real step for a research office is confirming whether a currently open RFA actually matches the investigator’s work, rather than preparing a generic proposal to submit whenever ready.

Application portal. All CZI science applications are submitted through a dedicated SurveyMonkey Apply (SMApply) portal, separate from CZI’s general grants site. Applicants create an account, then apply directly to a specific open RFA listed there; each RFA page sets out its own scope, eligibility, required application elements, and deadlines.
Eligibility varies by RFA, not by CZI as a whole. Some competitions restrict the lead applicant to a US-based nonprofit research institution; others explicitly welcome international collaborators as sub-awardees on a US-led project; Rare As One is built around patient-led nonprofit organizations rather than university PIs. There is no single CZI-wide eligibility rule — read the specific RFA’s eligibility section before assuming an investigator or institution qualifies.
Review structure. Consistent with how most large program-driven funders run competitive RFAs, expect CZI’s internal science program staff and outside scientific reviewers to assess fit against the specific challenge’s stated goals as much as general scientific merit — proposals that read as a conventional single-investigator R01-style project, without engaging the program’s collaborative or infrastructure-building goals, are a common weak fit for CZI’s model.
Award structure and size. CZI’s own program pages report cycle-level totals rather than a single standard award size, and those totals span a wide range depending on the mechanism — from software-maintenance and single-investigator awards up through institutional network and Biohub-scale funding that runs into the tens of millions of dollars across a full cohort of grantees. Do not treat any single figure quoted for one program as representative of CZI funding generally; check the specific RFA for its stated award range and duration.
Contact. CZI directs administrative and programmatic questions about specific RFAs to a dedicated science-grants inbox ([email protected]) rather than a general philanthropy contact — use it for RFA-specific eligibility or process questions rather than guessing.

Practical guidance for research offices and investigators

Check current opportunities directly on CZI’s own site before assuming any program is open. Because CZI’s programs run on rolling, multi-year cycles and several of the specific competitions described above are closed at any given time, a secondary source (including this page) will lag the live RFA list. Confirm status at CZI’s science site and the SMApply application portal directly.
Match the proposal to the program’s actual model, not just its topic. CZI funds tools, shared infrastructure, open-source software, and multi-institution networks as much as it funds individual hypothesis-driven research. A strong scientific fit that ignores the specific RFA’s collaborative or infrastructure goals is a common reason otherwise-strong proposals underperform.
Confirm the legal counterparty on the grant agreement. Given CZI’s multi-entity structure, sponsored-programs offices should treat the named grantor (the LLC vs. the 501(c)(3) Foundation) as a real due-diligence item, the same way they would for any funder whose award letter names an entity that isn’t itself the parent brand.
Expect an emphasis on open science. CZI’s Essential Open Source Software program and its role in supporting the Human Cell Atlas reflect a broader institutional preference for open tools and shared data; institutions should be prepared to discuss data-sharing and open-source licensing terms as part of standard award negotiation, similar to expectations increasingly common among other major private science funders.
Budget for cycle-based timelines, not rolling deadlines. Because funding runs through discrete RFA cycles rather than continuous submission, investigators interested in a CZI-funded area should track the relevant program page on an ongoing basis rather than waiting to search only when ready to submit.

Frequently asked questions

Is CZI a foundation or a company?

Neither in the conventional sense. The parent entity, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, LLC, is a limited liability company, not a tax-exempt foundation. CZI’s charitable science grantmaking is carried out substantially through a separate, linked 501(c)(3) private foundation, alongside a donor-advised fund and a 501(c)(4) advocacy arm. The LLC structure lets CZI combine grantmaking, for-profit investing, and policy advocacy in one initiative, which a traditional private foundation cannot do.

Who is eligible to apply for CZI science funding?

There is no single answer — eligibility is set independently for each Request for Applications. Most target nonprofit research institutions as the lead applicant; some restrict to US-based institutions with international sub-award collaborators allowed; Rare As One is built specifically around patient-led nonprofit organizations rather than academic PIs. Always check the specific RFA.

Does CZI fund individual investigators, or only institutions and networks?

Both, depending on the program. Programs like the Neurodegeneration Challenge Network include early-career investigator awards aimed at individuals, while the CZ Biohub Network and Human Cell Atlas support fund institutional networks and shared infrastructure. CZI’s overall portfolio leans toward infrastructure, tools, and multi-institution collaboration more than a typical single-PI federal research grant does.

How do I find out which CZI programs are currently accepting applications?

Check CZI’s science site and its SurveyMonkey Apply application portal directly. Because CZI runs discrete, multi-year RFA cycles rather than a standing open call, the list of currently open competitions changes over time and is not reliably captured by any static secondary source.

Is a CZI grant the same as a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Foundation?

Not necessarily. CZI operates through several linked legal entities, and the grantor named on a specific award letter or agreement may be the parent LLC or the separate 501(c)(3) Foundation depending on the program. Research offices should confirm the actual counterparty named in the grant agreement rather than assuming.