Sasaki Foundation Design Grants

empowering communities through access to design

2023 Design Grants winner EarlyEducatorSpace 2.0 hosting West Broadway Design Day with residents, April 19, 2024

South Boston, Massachusetts

About the Design Grants

Our mission is equity in design. Our Design Grants fund community experts to create design solutions for challenges in their neighborhoods.

The Sasaki Foundation Design Grants program seeks ideas that promote equity and empower local communities in Greater Boston and the Gateway Cities. Each year, we issue a call for proposals. Finalists pitch their project ideas to a jury at Pitch Night, a public event. Winners receive funding and nearly a year of access to design experts to advance the project.

“We wouldn’t have gotten this far without their support.”

— Bridgette Wallace, G{Code}

2018 Design Grants winner G{Code} at a work session with professional designers

Incubator at Sasaki, Watertown, Massachusetts

2024 Design Grants finalists and jurors at Pitch Night

110 Chauncy Street, Boston, Massachusetts

2024 Design Grants

In 2024, The Sasaki Foundation launched a call for proposals for our sixth annual Design Grants competition. We received 14 applications representing 30+ organizations and institutions, 5 Boston communities, 2 Greater Boston cities, 4 Gateway Cities, and multiple proposals focusing on Greater Boston.

Explore the 2024 winners and finalists here.

Learn more about our 2024 call for proposals here.

2023 Design Grants

In 2023, we launched a call for proposals for our fifth annual Design Grants competition. We received 19 applications representing 30 organizations and institutions, 5 Boston communities, 4 Greater Boston cities, and 1 Gateway City, with multiple proposals focusing on Greater Boston.

Explore the 2023 winners and finalists here.

Learn more about our 2023 call for proposals here.

Several individuals in a housing complex's outdoor space

2023 Improving Open Space in Chinatown team on a DOT parcels walk, January 25, 2024

Chinatown, Boston, Massachusetts

2022 Design Grants jurors at Pitch Night

Lamplighter CX, Cambridge, Massachusetts

2022 Design Grants

In 2022, we launched a call for proposals for our fourth annual Design Grants competition. We received a near record 20 applications representing 52 organizations and institutions, 9 Boston communities, 3 Greater Boston cities, and 5 Gateway Cities.

Read the 2022 Design Grants Research here.

Explore the 2022 winners and finalists here.

Learn more about our 2022 call for proposals here.

2020 Design Grants

In 2020, we launched a call for proposals for our third annual Design Grants competition. We received 12 applications representing 45 organizations and institutions, 8 Boston communities, 21 Greater Boston cities, and 5 Gateway Cities.

Read the 2020 Design Grants Research here.

Explore the 2020 winners and finalists here.

Learn more about our 2020 call for proposals here.

2020 Design Grants team graphic created in collaboration with professional designers

Columbia Road Gender and Mobility Initiative

2019 Energy Shift Boston team at a work session with professional designers

Incubator at Sasaki, Watertown, Massachusetts

2019 Design Grants

In 2019, we launched a call for proposals for our second annual Design Grants competition. We received 18 applications representing 42 organizations, 11 institutions, 8 Boston communities, 6 Greater Boston cities, and 2 Gateway Cities.

Read the 2019 Design Grants Research here.

Explore the 2019 winners and finalists here.

Learn more about our 2019 call for proposals here.

2018 Design Grants

In 2018, we launched a call for proposals for our inaugural Design Grants. We received more than 100 inquiries, and approximately two dozen team submissions, from throughout the United States and six countries. Applicants created projects that focused on ten Greater Boston neighborhoods and three Gateway Cities within Massachusetts.

Read the 2018 Design Grants Research here.

Explore the 2018 winners and finalists here.

Learn more about our 2018 call for proposals here.

2018 Charles River Floating Wetland team presenting at Pitch Night

Incubator at Sasaki, Watertown, Massachusetts