our approach
ways we support affordable aging
At Next50, we believe in maximizing our impact by deploying our capital across a range of diverse investment tools and strategies – a polycapital approach.
Next50’s philanthropic approach blends responsive and proactive strategies to drive meaningful, lasting change across our priority areas. By actively engaging with the communities we serve, we gain critical insights that allow us to bridge gaps, anticipate challenges, and amplify impact.
Through polycapital, we leverage a full spectrum of financial and non-financial tools – including grants, investments, policy, advocacy, and community engagement – because creating a world that values aging requires a multifaceted and adaptive strategy.
Next50’s grantmaking
Catalyzing equitable, innovative, and collaborative programs in Colorado and across the country. Next50 currently offers three grant opportunities:
Colorado organizational resiliency (COR)
Invest in the economic resilience of organizations serving older adults in Colorado.
Support organizations working in our priority areas to make aging more affordable for marginalized older adults.
Changing aging
Partner with organizations that are making it less expensive to age across the United States.
Catalyze systems-level change
Support innovative solutions.
Commit to equitable ideas that minimize disparities among older adults.
Sudden and Urgent Need (SUN)
Supports small, Colorado-based organizations serving marginalized older adults
One-time funding to address sudden and urgent needs.
Which grant opportunity may be right for your organization?
| Criteria | Colorado Organizational Resiliency (COR) | Changing Aging | Sudden & Urgent Need (SUN) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who Can Apply? | Colorado-based nonprofits organized under section 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), or 501(c)(6) of the IRS code that are in good standing in Colorado and serving marginalized older adults. Government entities and universities are not eligible for COR grants. | US-based nonprofit entities organized under sections 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), and 501(c)(6) of the IRS code that are in good standing and serving marginalized older adults. Government entities and universities are also eligible for funding. | Colorado-based nonprofits organized under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code that are in good standing in Colorado and serving marginalized older adults. Organizational budget must be $1 million or less. Government entities and universities are not eligible for SUN grants. |
| Making aging more affordable | The organization or program must be working toward making aging more affordable. | The proposed grant must be working toward making aging more affordable. | The organization or program must be working toward making aging more affordable. |
| Next50 priority areas | The organization or program must be doing work in support of one or more of Next50’s priority areas. | The proposed grant must directly align with one or more of Next50’s priority areas. | The organization or program must be doing work in support of one or more of Next50’s priority areas. |
| Connection to Marginalized Older Adults | The organization or program must connect to and work with one or more of Next50’s mission-aligned populations. | The organization or program must connect to and work with one or more of Next50’s priority populations. In addition, the proposed grant must focus on, prioritize, and directly impact one or more of Next50’s mission-aligned populations. | The organization or program must connect to and work with one or more of Next50’s mission-aligned populations. |
| Innovation | The organization or program is making a change or improvement to its work or processes that will allow it to be more effective, equitable, efficient, or sustainable. Funding must be used to improve the organization’s capacity or resiliency, not just maintain the status quo. | Examples of innovation include: -Novel projects that create improved, equitable solutions to reduce the economic opportunity and well-being disparities between marginalized older adults and their peers. -Improvements to an existing program that will allow the program to be more effective or efficient in improving the economic well-being of older adults, or solutions that will allow these programs to scale or to improve long-term sustainability. For existing programs, funding must be used to make a lasting improvement to the program, not maintain the status quo. -Transformative ideas that seek to change the landscape of economic wellbeing for older adults, but need funding to research, pilot, or prove their concept. | Not required. |
| Impact on Organizational Resiliency | The proposed grant must improve the organization’s resiliency and/or capacity. Funding should restore or increase resiliency/capacity, not maintain the status quo. | Not required. | The proposed grant must address an urgent issue threatening the organization’s or program’s resiliency or capacity. |
| Partnership | Not required. | MOU’s or Letters of Commitment will be requested during the application process. | Not required. |
| Request Amounts | Up to $150,000/yr. | There is no maximum request amount for Changing Aging. | Up to $30,000 |
| Multi-year funding option (not a factor for award decision making) | Yes. Up to 2 years. A multi-year award will only be given when it is clear that the second year will build upon the initiatives of the first. Limited funds are available for multi-year requests. | Yes. Up to 3 years. A multi-year award will only be given when it is clear that subsequent year(s) will build upon the initiatives of the previous year(s). Limited funds are available for multi-year requests. | No. |
2026 Grant Calendar
Applications are accepted by invitation only and are reviewed on a rolling basis.
| Application Due Date | January 8, 2026 | April 2, 2026 | July 2, 2026 |
| Funding Decision | Mid-March | Mid-June | Mid-September |
Learn more about each of our grant opportunities by clicking the options below.
advocacy
Next50 advocates to make aging more affordable and to ensure older adults are valued, protected, and included in public decision-making. Through strategic investments, coalition-building, and narrative change, Next50 helps turn research and lived experience into durable policy solutions that improve how people age today and for decades to come.
We work to shape local, state, and national policy by partnering with advocates, policymakers, and community leaders to address the systems that most affect older adults’ economic well-being.
In 2025, Next50 concluded the year by launching Leverage, an independent, nonpartisan advocacy organization dedicated to making aging more affordable in Colorado. Seeded with a $3 million investment from Next50, Leverage is designed to close the widening gap between demographic reality and public policy. Through research, coalition-building, and advocacy, Leverage advances policies that strengthen economic well-being, expand opportunity, and ensure that all Coloradans can work, live, and thrive as they age. Its creation reflects Next50’s belief that philanthropy must not only respond to need but also shape the conditions that produce it.
impact investing
At Next50, we harness the power of investing to create a world that values aging. Our impact investment portfolio generates social impact alongside financial return, allowing us to recycle capital into our mission time and again.
Next50 recently announced that it will align its entire endowment with its mission. To do so, we created Next50’s Aging Investment Framework (AIF) – a novel approach to intentionally direct capital towards creating a world that values aging. Learn more about our approach below.
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