Product Grant Program

Cisco welcomes applications for the Product Grant Program from community partners around the world who share our vision and offer an innovative approach to a critical social challenge.

Cisco donates networking technology to qualified nonprofit organizations to help them realize significant gains in productivity, scalability, and cost efficiency. Together, we build public benefit programs that make innovative use of networking and communications technology to have a measurable impact.

Social Investment Areas:

Cisco Crisis Response is a program that incorporates shelter, water, food, and disaster relief. We back organizations that successfully address critical needs of underserved communities, because people who have their basic needs met are better equipped to learn and thrive.

What we look for:

• Innovative solutions that increase the capacity of grantees to deliver their products and services more effectively and efficiently

• Design and implementation of web-based tools that increase the availability of, or improve access to, products and services that are necessary for people to survive and thrive

• Programs that increase access to clean water, food, shelter, or disaster relief and promote a more sustainable future for all

Climate Impact and Regeneration: The commitment includes both grant and impact investment funding for early-stage climate innovation. Both categories of support will be focused on bold climate solutions, and the grants side will also concentrate on community education and activation. Grants will go to exceptionally aligned nonprofit organizations, while impact investments will go to highly promising for-profit solutions through the private sector and climate impact funds.

Economic Empowerment: Our strategy is to invest in early-stage, tech-enabled solutions that provide equitable access to the knowledge, skills, and resources that people need to support themselves and their families toward resilience, independence, and economic security.

Our goal is to support solutions that benefit individuals and families, and that contribute to local community growth and economic development in a sustainable economy.

We target our support in three interconnected areas:

• Skills development to help job seekers secure dignified employment and long-term career pathways in technology or other sectors, including environmental sustainability/green jobs

• Inclusive entrepreneurship with small businesses as engines of local growth as well as high growth–potential startups as large-scale job creators nationally and internationally, in technology or other sectors, including environmental sustainability/green businesses

• Providing access to relevant and affordable financial products and capacity building services

Education: Our strategy is to inclusively invest in technology-based solutions that increase equitable access to education while improving student performance, engagement, and career exploration. We support kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) solutions that emphasize science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) as well as literacy.

What we look for:

• Innovative early-grade solutions using the internet and technology to bridge the barriers preventing access to education for underserved students globally

• Solutions that positively affect student attendance, attitudes, and behavior while inspiring action by students to improve learning outcomes, whether they participate in person, online, or in blended learning environments

• Solutions with high potential to replicate and scale globally, thereby increasing the availability of evidence-based solutions that support student-centricity, teacher capacity in the classroom, and increased parental participation to help students learn and develop

Cisco's Product Grant Program accepts applications year-round from eligible charitable organizations.

We accept proposals for direct product grants on an ongoing, year-round basis. However, grants are reviewed on a quarterly cycle. Applicants should plan at least three months for grant review plus additional time for product shipments.

Product Grants cannot be given to organizations that have purchased Cisco equipment within the last six months or that plan to purchase Cisco equipment within the next six months.