Pure Earth has launched a new Opportunity Fund to support strategic, short-term projects targeting lead poisoning in low- and middle-income countries.
The fund will expand on the work of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Lead Poisoning Prevention Initiative, a partnership between Pure Earth and five other implementing partners (CDC Foundation, LEEP, Resolve to Save Lives, Vital Strategies, and the World Health Organization). This groundbreaking initiative will combat lead poisoning worldwide, targeting the highest-need countries in Asia, Africa, and South America.
As part of the initiative, Pure Earth, alongside partners LEEP and Vital Strategies, is administering grants associated with a new Opportunity Fund, which will support projects that advance our communal understanding of lead poisoning prevention, interventions, and policies. Our fund is a mechanism to quickly address emerging issues or urgent data gaps related to lead poisoning in low- and middle-income countries.
LEEP’s Fund will focus on activities associated with reducing lead exposure from paint and lead chromates, as well as research to design, test, and evaluate practical and scalable solutions to reduce lead exposure from any source. 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, and formulate policies that address key gaps in public health systems’ response to lead.
About the Pure Earth Opportunity Fund
Grants ranging from USD $10,000 to $100,000 will be awarded over a 12-month period for projects and proposals. Eligible applicants include legally registered NGOs, CSOs, universities, or other types of non-profit entities, with a preference for organizations based in the country/region where the activities will take place.
The fund prioritizes geographies in low-and middle-income countries. Eligible projects will focus on activities associated with lead exposure source assessment and mitigation activities for various sources, not including paint.
Examples of potential grant activities could include, but are not limited to:
- Screening market goods for lead or a survey of a single potential exposure source (e.g. a survey of fish or other food items)
- Piloting a new lead detection technology or protocol
- Awareness-raising efforts in a particularly sensitive or high-risk community around source assessments or piloting mitigation activities
- A targeted engagement with a specific industry around industrial processes or material inputs (e.g. used lead-acid battery (ULAB) recycling facilities)
- Seed funding to initiate a national-level lead working group or other related coordination efforts
- Research to answer key questions that presently prevent progress in reducing exposure
- Policy analysis
- Other efforts to assess or prevent lead exposure
Applications will be screened for meeting basic requirements, and then will be asked to submit a full proposal to be reviewed by a Project Review Committee. Proposals will be reviewed quarterly and are due December 1st, 2025, March 1st, 2026, June 1st, 2026, and September 1st, 2026. Successful applicants will be required to complete a due diligence process, during which time you will be requested to submit additional documentation, i.e., incorporation certificate (including translation to English), financial statements, internal policies/procedures, annual report, reference letters, etc.
Please note: This is a two-step process. Applicants will first be screened to ensure they meet the basic requirements. The deadline to submit a screening form is October 10, 2025 at 12pm ET. Those who qualify will then be invited to submit a full proposal, which will be emailed to you by Pure Earth and reviewed by a Project Review Committee.
Learn more about the Opportunity Fund.
To apply, please fill out the screening form here. The deadline to submit a screening form is October 10th, 2025 at 12pm ET.
For questions, please reach out to Carol Sumkin, VP of Development, and Laurie Puzio, Assistant Director of Development, at [email protected].
