Most creators fund their work in one of two ways: brand partnerships or streaming deals reserved for the biggest names.
But there’s an overlooked option that asks for neither an ad read nor an audience of millions: grants that exist specifically to bring ambitious ideas to life.
How grants support creators: For decades, the Sloan Foundation has funded science storytelling across public radio, TV, film, and books. Now, it funds creators—awarding direct grants and prizes with partners like the Independent Media Initiative.
Sloan backs creators from 20K followers to over 10M with original ideas in the science and tech space. In return, Sloan asks creators to deliver quality videos, plus an annual report and funder credit.
“We pick people we believe in and then trust them to do their work and deliver,” Sloan Vice President and Program Director Doron Weber told us.
Creator case study: In 2024, Sloan awarded engineering creator Xyla Foxlin $100K, which she used to pursue a childhood dream to build an airplane from scratch.
Since winning the prize, Foxlin has spent more than $50K on materials and produced four long-form videos—with more to come. Looking back, Foxlin believes sponsors may have covered the project, but it took the grant to get her to try.
“The Sloan Foundation is a really big name in extremely serious science,” she said. “Being able to say I won a grant from the Sloan Foundation as a scientist or an engineer is a big deal in the research world.”
Zooming out: Foundations are learning a creator with 500K subscribers may reach more people than most of the media outlets they’ve traditionally funded.
If the model spreads, it changes the pitch for creators with ambitious ideas. Instead of asking which brand would sponsor your project, the question could become, “Which institution exists to fund exactly this?”
If you could fund your next big project with a grant or a brand deal, which would you pick?
