About Escape Velocity Grants
Escape Velocity Grants supports early-stage research at the moment it needs a small push to move forward.
Across conservation and environmental science, many important ideas stall, not because they lack value, but because early work often falls outside traditional funding systems. Modest costs can prevent field visits, pilot studies, or data collection from ever happening. We exist to help remove those barriers.
Inspired by the idea of escape velocity, the minimum energy needed to break free and enter a new trajectory, we provide micro-grants that enable researchers to test ideas, gather evidence, and take the next step in their work.
We support students, early-career researchers, independent practitioners, and others working outside formal institutions. Our focus is on short-term projects related to nature, environment, and conservation science, where small, timely funding can have an outsized impact.
Our approach is simple: low bureaucracy, rolling reviews, and trust in the people doing the work. We value clear questions, feasibility, and genuine care for the natural world over polish or pedigree.
Escape Velocity Grants aims to help good ideas cross the threshold where they can be explored, strengthened, and shared.
Our Origins
Escape Velocity Grants builds on the earlier Gaur & Chopra Escape Velocity Grant, a Bengaluru-based microgrant initiative founded on the belief that small amounts of funding can meaningfully change trajectories.
While the original grant supported young people across disciplines, Escape Velocity Grants carries that philosophy forward with a focused commitment to nature, environment, and conservation research.
Escape Velocity Grants 