Opportunity Fund

 

Opportunity Fund – Lead Poisoning Prevention Initiative

Despite increasing awareness of the dangers of lead, inadequate detection, regulation, and enforcement of safety standards, along with limited resources for prevention and treatment, continue to exacerbate the issue in many low- and middle-income countries. With support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, LEEP, and five other implementing partners (CDC Foundation, Pure Earth, Resolve to Save Lives, Vital Strategies, and the World Health Organization) are working together on the Bloomberg Philanthropies Lead Poisoning Prevention Initiative, enabling significant programmatic expansion in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

As part of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Lead Poisoning Prevention Initiative, LEEP will be expanding its Paint+ Programs across 50 African countries over the next two years. To further expand the impact of the initiative, LEEP, Pure Earth, and Vital Strategies are administering grants as part of a new Opportunity Fund. The fund will support strategic, short-term projects that advance our communal understanding of lead poisoning prevention. 

 

LEEP’s Opportunity Fund

Specifically, LEEP’s Opportunity Fund is open to applications, focused in LMICs, on:

  • Activities associated with reducing lead exposure from paint or lead chromates
  • Research to design, test, or evaluate practical and scalable solutions to reduce lead exposure from any source

 

Examples of potential grant activities:

  • Activities associated with reducing lead exposure from paint or lead chromates 
    • E.g. paint testing and awareness-raising with key stakeholders in a country without a well-enforced lead paint law
    • E.g. mapping the usage and supply chains of lead chromates in a country, and raising awareness with key stakeholders of the need for lead chromate controls
    • E.g. raising awareness of the availability of non-lead raw materials with the lead paint industry, and providing technical support on their substitution
  • Research to design, test, or evaluate practical solutions to reduce lead exposure from any source. 
    • E.g. trialling and evaluating a pilot intervention to identify what type of consumer messaging is effective at reducing the use of leaded black eyeliners in a community
    • E.g. before-and-after evaluation of an approach to cookware manufacturer engagement to test whether it is effective at reducing lead levels in the cookware
    • E.g. trialling and evaluating a pilot intervention to reduce the use of lead chromates in plastics 
    • Research that would inform the design of such a solution, e.g. into the markets and supply chains of leaded eyeliners and their alternatives in a country, or into the lead content or user behaviour of a food or product

We encourage applicants to only apply to the fund that best fits their proposed activity or project.

Pure Earth’s fund focuses on activities associated with lead exposure source assessment and the research and implementation of mitigation activities for various sources, such as used lead acid batteries (ULABs), food items, and consumer products, excluding paint. Contact [email protected].

Vital Strategies’ fund is intended to promote creative public health responses to the complex challenges of addressing lead exposure. Priority will be given to proposals that: advance public health systems engagement; build public health surveillance capacity or systems; enhance the roles of poison control centers or equivalents; improve clinical systems’ ability to detect and respond to cases of lead poisoning, publishing key findings otherwise undisclosed; and formulate policies that address key gaps in public health systems’ response to lead. Contact [email protected].

Details

Geographic scope: Projects or activities focused in low- and middle-income countries.

 

Grant size: $10,000 – $100,000 over 12 months. If a project demonstrates significant impact, we can consider supporting expansion or replication beyond the initial grant period.

 

Experience: We encourage applications from organisations with strong track records, whether or not they have experience in the field of lead exposure. 

 

Eligibility: Applicants must be legally registered and incorporated organisations in good standing, with the capacity to implement the proposed project and comply with LEEP’s standard grant conditions, U.S. 501(c)(3) requirements, Bloomberg Philanthropies’ donor terms, and local laws. They must hold an active organisational bank account, maintain transparent financial records, and be able to provide appropriate due diligence information (including policies, governance, key staff details, and at least one verifiable reference if not already known to LEEP).

 

Application and review timelines: Applications are due and will be reviewed on a four-monthly basis. Please submit applications by December 1st 2025. Following this, applications will be due on April 1st 2026 and August 1st 2026.

 

Application form: Click here to apply.

We will request further information from promising applicants. LEEP will then make recommendations to Bloomberg Philanthropies for the final decision. Successful applicants will be required to provide information and documentation for a due diligence process. 

 

Questions: If you have questions about whether your proposal fits within the scope of LEEP’s Opportunity Fund, please email [email protected].