Flexible, direct support for researchers working to move promising science toward real-world use.
The grant is flexible, so you can use it where it helps you most. It is researcher-first: the funds are paid directly to you, with no institutional overhead, equity, repayment, or claim on your intellectual property.
Research funding covers experiments, publications, and training. It is less reliable at covering the everyday costs that consume a researcher’s time, attention, and financial breathing room while they try to move promising science toward use.
A modest amount of flexible support can make it easier to keep going. Fulcrum provides $5,000 directly to researchers at a moment when a little less financial friction can matter.
Graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in any scientific field who are actively helping move promising work toward real-world use. You do not need to be a founder, own the underlying idea, or have a company, patent, or finished product. The grant supports you, not a research project.
A touch point at 30 days and a closing call at 90. Fulcrum remains a resource you can draw on throughout.
Write one page covering three things:
Briefly describe the science and your role in advancing it.
What keeps you committed to seeing the work forward.
Describe the personal financial friction the grant would reduce.
Help us find great scientists. If someone you refer is awarded a grant, you will receive $100.
Graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in any scientific field who are actively contributing to work with a plausible path to real-world benefit. We focus on the work, your role in it, and what the support would change for you, not your title, pedigree, or institution.
No. Science is collaborative. You may be working within a laboratory, institution, or larger team. You do not need to be the sole inventor or project lead, but you should have a substantive role in helping move the work forward.
Real-world use can include clinical benefit, public policy, a useful research tool, deployed technology, an open resource, a nonprofit or community intervention, a product, or a mission-driven company. You do not need to have selected a final pathway.
The grant is for personal expenses such as commuting, meals, groceries, and other ordinary living costs. Use it where it will create the most breathing room for you. Fulcrum does not require receipts or a formal personal budget.
No. The $5,000 requires no repayment. Fulcrum takes no equity and makes no claim on your intellectual property. Receiving the grant does not require you to form a company, enter another Fulcrum program, or accept future investment.
Tax treatment and any required withholding depend on your tax residency, immigration status, and individual circumstances. Fulcrum will collect the documentation needed to follow applicable reporting and withholding rules. Recipients are responsible for obtaining their own tax advice.
Submit one page covering what you are working on, why it matters to you, and what $5,000 would change for you. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to a conversation with Fulcrum before final decisions are made.
You'll have a check-in call at 30 days and 90 days. We'll also ask for a written progress statement at the 90 day point. Fulcrum remains available as a resource throughout.