The Alliance for Social Trust, an initiative of the Aspen Institute in partnership with Allstate, is proud to launch the Trust in Practice Awards, investing in collaborations that seek to strengthen trust in communities across the United States.
Trust is the foundation of vibrant, resilient communities and a healthy civic life. Across the country, organizations are demonstrating the profound ways trust shapes our collective well-being—strengthening relationships between neighbors, building confidence in institutions, and enabling people to work together to solve shared challenges. These efforts are often rooted in the leadership and lived experience of those closest to the work.
Through the Trust in Practice Awards, the Alliance for Social Trust recognizes and supports collaborations among 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations advancing innovative approaches to building trust within and across communities. Awardees will join a national network of trust builders engaged in shared learning, storytelling, and celebration through the Alliance for Social Trust’s programs and the annual Trust in Practice Summit.
About the Trust in Practice Awards
The Trust in Practice Awards will distribute up to $5 million total in grants. Each award will fund a collaboration anchored by a lead organization, joined by at least two additional partners. Each selected collaboration will receive $100,000, $500,000 or $1,000,000 to fund its proposed initiative.
Initiatives must clearly focus on building trust through activities such as civic engagement, intergenerational volunteering, community service, storytelling, dialogue across difference, or other collaborative efforts that strengthen connection and understanding within and across communities.
Initiatives should be new or evolving, for example:
- A newly designed initiative between existing partners; or
- A project that builds on prior work but introduces a new phase, approach, or model.
The awards are not intended to fund established projects that are already operating at scale. Instead, they seek to advance community-based approaches that test new ideas, deepen collaboration, and model practical ways to build and sustain trust.
Funding may be dispersed over one or two years in the following three tiers:
$100,000 Grants – Intended to support local non-profit collaborations launching an innovative, community-based project to test trust-building strategies. These may be neighborhood projects led by community organizations typically with smaller budgets and/or teams.
$500,000 Grants – Intended to support non-profit collaborations launching an innovative, larger-scale trust-building project with clear potential for wider influence. These projects may involve more partners, multiple sites, or broader audience engagement (e.g., across sectors, institutions, or geographic boundaries).
$1,000,000 Grants – Intended to support ambitious non-profit collaborations testing bold, highly visible ideas that have the potential to shift narratives or practices around trust. These projects should combine strong community engagement with research, storytelling, or policy components that extend learning and influence beyond their immediate geography. Organizations will typically have larger budgets and/or teams.
Guidelines & FAQs
The following Guidelines and FAQs are designed to help Collaborations prepare their applications for the Trust in Practice Awards. These resources outline funding tiers, eligibility requirements, application components, and the selection process, and address common questions about timelines, use of funds, and expectations for selected Collaborations. Applicants are encouraged to review this information carefully before submitting their materials.
Submission Timeline
Dates are subject to change; any updates will be publicly communicated.
- November 14, 2025: Application opens
- December 8, 2025: Information session for interested applicants at 1:00 PM ET – Register Here!
- December 11, 2025: Recording of information session and updated FAQ available on the Alliance for Social Trust’s site
- January 16, 2026: Cutoff for guaranteed responses to applicant questions is 3:00 PM ET. Questions received after this time are not guaranteed a response before the submission deadline.
- January 30, 2026: Application closes at 11:59 PM ET
Questions can be sent to allianceforsocialtrust@aspeninstitute.org.
The following Guidelines and FAQs are designed to help Collaborations prepare their applications for the Trust in Practice Awards. These resources outline funding tiers, eligibility requirements, application components, and the selection process, and address common questions about timelines, use of funds, and expectations for selected Collaborations.
Before beginning your application, please review the three funding tiers carefully to ensure you are applying to the one that best fits your Collaboration’s scope of work.
The following Guidelines and FAQs are designed to help Collaborations prepare their applications for the Trust in Practice Awards. These resources outline funding tiers, eligibility requirements, application components, and the selection process, and address common questions about timelines, use of funds, and expectations for selected Collaborations.
Before beginning your application, please review the three funding tiers carefully to ensure you are applying to the one that best fits your Collaboration’s scope of work.
The following Guidelines and FAQs are designed to help Collaborations prepare their applications for the Trust in Practice Awards. These resources outline funding tiers, eligibility requirements, application components, and the selection process, and address common questions about timelines, use of funds, and expectations for selected Collaborations.
Before beginning your application, please review the three funding tiers carefully to ensure you are applying to the one that best fits your Collaboration’s scope of work.