Micro-grants

Our microgrants program is currently on hiatus, as our board works to reimagine the program. Thanks for your patience and support!

What is a micro-grant?

A micro-grant is a small sum of money that is given to an individual or group to help them make meaningful progress towards their projects or goals.

Our micro-grants will provide three $100 (USD) awards to underrepresented tabletop creators each month.

When will you start accepting applications again?

As of January 2022, we are pausing the micro-grants program so that we can re-structure it to better support our community in meaningful ways. We want to do more to amplify the work that is being done by these amazing creators! While we are currently not accepting applications for micro-grants, we are hoping to resume the program sometime in the spring of 2022.

How does this work?

To apply for a micro-grant, all you need to do is submit a short application. This process is free.

Here's the timeline for micro-grants:

  • Applications are accepted on a monthly basis.

  • You have until 11:59 pm (UTC-8) on the final day of the month to have your application be considered for that month.

  • On the following day, applications are vetted for eligibility and then all eligible applications are made anonymous and shared with the independent review board.

      • The independent review board will change each month to provide a greater diversity of viewpoints, interests, and input.

  • The independent review board has one week to confirm their selections.

  • Recipients are privately notified and publicly announced as soon as we get the review board's selections.

  • Recipients have funds sent to them once we confirm their preferred payment method.

Who is eligible to receive these micro-grants?

Applicants must meet these requirements in order to qualify for a micro-grant.

Applicants must:

      1. Consider themselves to be underrepresented in the tabletop community (with regards to gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, race, age, or other demographics)

      2. Be making something related to analog tabletop games (board games, card games, tabletop RPGs, wargaming, etc.)

      3. Be able to receive funds through Wise, PayPal, Venmo, or CashApp

      4. Agree to our Code of Conduct

Applicants cannot:

      1. Have received a micro-grant from us in the last twelve months

      2. Be part of the review board for this month

      3. Be an organizer of these micro-grants or the Tabletop Mentorship Program

These applications are open internationally. Applicants may be tabletop creators of any kind (content creators, game designers, artists, publishers, event organizers, translators, etc). You do not need to be part of the Tabletop Mentorship Program to qualify.

What can micro-grant money be used for?

That's up to each individual recipient. Be creative and think about how this micro-grant would be most useful for you and your specific project.

Some ways you might consider using the micro-grant money:

  • purchasing supplies or covering printing costs

  • covering costs associated with attending events, including registration, food, parking, and hotel costs

  • getting childcare to allow for uninterrupted work time

  • renting an event space to put a local event together

Those who receive micro-grants do not have to show receipts of how the money was used; this is not a loan, and it does not need to be paid back.

How are applications evaluated?

The independent review board will look at anonymous answers to these three questions from each application:

"Describe in detail the tabletop-related project that you are currently focused on."

"What is most exciting to you about your project?"

"How would you use $100 (USD) to help you with your project?"

We are encouraging the review board to select three recipients based on answers that they find to be interesting, unique, important, or exciting based on their personal preferences.

How can I apply?

The application is available here.

Who received this micro-grant in the past?

You can find a list of our previous micro-grant recipients here.

How can I donate or volunteer my organization to ACT AS an independent review board?

If you would like to independently sponsor one month ($300) or have your group become one of our independent review boards that selects monthly micro-grant recipients, please contact us here.

Who is organizing this, and why?

These micro-grants are being organized by the same team that organizes the Tabletop Mentorship Program: Grace Kendall and Mike Belsole. We are always looking for new ways to support creators in our community so that everyone has a chance to make interesting projects and meet their personal goals. One of the biggest obstacles that block opportunity is financial inequality; we hope that these micro-grants will allow individuals or groups to make small but meaningful steps forward on the projects they're most excited about.

We will have a different independent team reviewing entries each month to take our personal bias out of the equation and to ensure that a variety of different viewpoints and experiences are considered when selecting recipients.