Public Interest Registry has revealed the 35 finalists for the 2026 .ORG Impact Awards, and the list offers a striking look at the organizations and young leaders working on some of the world’s most persistent problems.
The finalists were selected from more than 4,200 applications submitted from 145 countries. Their work spans community development, education, environmental protection, diversity and inclusion, health, hunger and poverty, and a Rising Star category for leaders under 30.
The sheer size of the applicant pool makes the announcement noteworthy. These are not simply organizations that submitted applications and received recognition. They represent the top five entries in each of seven award categories.
For the first time, Public Interest Registry, or PIR, is also introducing Honorable Mentions to recognize organizations whose work stood out in an especially competitive field.
The awards are ultimately about much more than a trophy. Each finalist will receive a $2,500 donation, while category winners will receive $10,000. The eventual .ORG of the Year winner will receive a total donation of $50,000.
A Global Field of Mission-Driven Organizations
The .ORG domain has long been associated with nonprofits, advocacy organizations, charities and community groups. The Impact Awards provide PIR with a way to put some of those organizations in front of a much larger audience.
This year’s finalists demonstrate just how broad that community has become.
Some are working in remote communities to improve access to education or healthcare. Others are addressing climate change, food insecurity, wildlife conservation or economic opportunity. Several are tackling social issues that are difficult to quantify but have profound consequences for the people involved.
There is also a recurring theme throughout the finalist list: local leadership.
Many of these organizations are not arriving with a one-size-fits-all solution. They are working with communities, schools, families and local organizations to build programs intended to last.
That distinction matters. Sustainable impact is rarely created by a single campaign. It generally requires relationships, infrastructure, education and people who remain committed after the initial attention disappears.
Community Building Finalists
The Community Building category recognizes organizations working directly with communities to improve living conditions, opportunity and long-term wellbeing.
AzuKo
AzuKo works alongside women and their families in Bangladesh and the United Kingdom to create durable housing. Its approach emphasizes designing with communities rather than simply designing for them, with the goal of turning housing poverty into homes where families can thrive.
Love Binti International
Love Binti International is a global NGO developing sustainable, community-led responses to socioeconomic and environmental challenges affecting women and girls in rural African communities.
One Village Partners
One Village Partners works across Sierra Leone with communities to develop locally led solutions focused on leadership, economic opportunity and collective wellbeing. Its model emphasizes sustainable improvements rather than short-term intervention.
The Sparkle Foundation Malawi
The Sparkle Foundation Malawi is based in Sogoja Village, Zomba. The organization works to break the cycle of poverty by strengthening the broader community around each child, with programs addressing education, healthcare, nutrition and economic opportunity.
TECHO
TECHO is a youth-led organization working in informal settlements across Latin America. Volunteers and community members work together on housing, civic engagement and community-building programs designed to address poverty while promoting dignity and social justice.
Quality Education for All Finalists
Education remains one of the most powerful mechanisms for expanding economic opportunity. The five finalists in this category are approaching that challenge from very different directions.
Ideas Beyond Borders
Ideas Beyond Borders provides people and communities across the Middle East and Afghanistan with information, skills and resources intended to help build a freer and more prosperous future.
Markoding
Markoding, an Indonesian nonprofit, uses technology and innovation to expand access to education. Its programs equip women, young people and children with digital skills that can create pathways into education and employment.
Native Forward Scholars Fund
Native Forward Scholars Fund is the largest provider of direct scholarships to Native students in the United States. Since 1969, the organization says it has awarded more than $350 million in scholarships to more than 22,000 Native students representing all 50 states and more than 500 Tribes.
Style Her Empowered
Style Her Empowered, or SHE, partners with communities across West Africa to expand educational opportunities for girls and create dignified employment for women. Its School Uniforms that Grow program is intended to create sustainable pathways out of poverty.
UmRio/OneRio
UmRio/OneRio uses rugby as a platform for addressing intergenerational poverty in Brazil. Through the sport, the organization connects children, young people and families with education, healthcare, employability and social support.
Environmental Stewardship Finalists
Environmental stewardship is another category where local action is often tied directly to community wellbeing. The five finalists are addressing conservation, food security, climate resilience and biodiversity in different parts of the world.
Friends of Tonga
Friends of Tonga is a volunteer-led nonprofit partnering with local organizations throughout the Kingdom of Tonga. Its work includes education, environmental stewardship, human development and disaster resilience, while also promoting cultural exchange and long-term community connections.
Fruity Schools Africa
Fruity Schools Africa operates its Little Gardens of Eden initiative to grow fruit trees in schools and communities. The program is intended to improve children’s access to nutritious food, create green employment opportunities, support climate action and build healthier communities.
Lwiro Primates Rehabilitation Center
Lwiro Primates Rehabilitation Center protects and rehabilitates orphaned primates rescued from poachers and wildlife traffickers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its work also includes wildlife conservation, research and environmental education.
Ripple Africa
Ripple Africa works with communities in Malawi on environmental conservation and local livelihoods. Its programs include sustainable resource management, education, conservation initiatives and community-led development.
Ulinzi Africa Foundation
Ulinzi Africa Foundation works to protect vulnerable ecosystems in Kenya’s Tana Delta and Lamu regions. Its efforts focus on biodiversity, wildlife habitat, poaching, impacts from extractive industries and human-wildlife conflict while working directly with local communities.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Finalists
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion category recognizes organizations working to reduce barriers and expand opportunity for people who have historically faced exclusion or inequality.
Boys Champions Foundation
Boys Champions Foundation engages boys and men across Nigeria through schools, communities, sports and fellowships. Its programs promote caring masculinity, mental health and gender equality. The organization reports reaching more than 26,000 participants while working to shift behaviors and social norms associated with exclusion, inequality and harm.
Found in Translation
Found in Translation trains low-income bilingual women to become medical interpreters. The organization connects language skills with health equity and economic mobility in underserved communities.
Nadia’s Initiative
Nadia’s Initiative is a survivor-led organization working to end conflict-related sexual violence. Its work includes advancing justice and accountability for survivors and supporting the long-term recovery of communities affected by conflict.
The Special Youth Leadership Foundation
The Special Youth Leadership Foundation is a Nigerian nonprofit founded in 2018. It works with underserved children and young people through education, leadership development and other opportunities intended to ensure that socioeconomic circumstances do not determine a child’s future.
Transfrontier Africa
Transfrontier Africa works to protect wild places in and around the Greater Kruger. Its programs combine ecosystem protection with efforts to empower women and local communities through conservation, education and sustainable development.
Health and Healing Finalists
The Health and Healing category includes organizations addressing some of the most basic and consequential barriers to healthcare, from emergency blood supplies to prosthetics and support for families facing serious illness.
E-Blood Bank Makila
E-Blood Bank Makila, also known as E-BLOOD, was inspired by the loss of its founder’s mother after a lack of timely access to blood. The organization has developed a real-time platform connecting hospitals, blood banks, donors, pharmacies and laboratories to help locate and coordinate lifesaving blood and other medical supplies in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Emilio Nares Foundation
Emilio Nares Foundation supports families of children facing cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. Its comprehensive resources are designed to provide practical and emotional support so families do not have to face a child’s diagnosis alone.
Hope to Walk
Hope to Walk provides low-cost prosthetic legs and prosthetic training programs to amputees in underserved communities abroad. Its focus is on restoring mobility, independence and the ability to walk.
Preterm Infants Parents Network Uganda
Preterm Infants Parents Network Uganda is a parent-led nonprofit supporting families of premature babies through education, peer support, psychosocial care and advocacy. The organization also works with healthcare providers to improve survival and long-term outcomes for premature infants throughout Uganda.
Unchained At Last
Unchained At Last is a survivor-led nonprofit working to end forced and child marriage in the United States. Its approach combines direct services with systems change intended to address the problem at a broader level.
Hunger and Poverty Finalists
Food insecurity and poverty are closely connected, but the organizations in this category are approaching those challenges from several different angles, including agriculture, entrepreneurship, school feeding and employment.
Acceso
Acceso is a nonprofit social enterprise focused on transforming rural livelihoods. Its market-based model connects smallholder farmers with support within their own communities, with the objective of creating more sustainable economic opportunities.
Food4Education Foundation
Food4Education works to ensure children do not have to learn while hungry. The organization partners with governments and communities across Africa to establish locally rooted and financially sustainable school feeding systems that nourish children while also strengthening local economies.
Global Fund for Widows
Global Fund for Widows helps widows and female heads of households address poverty through entrepreneurship, access to capital, skills training and legal education.
HERVeg.05
HERVeg.05 works in rural Tanzania to combat malnutrition through sustainable agriculture. Its programs empower farmers and promote nutritious, chemical-free food solutions intended to improve both health and livelihoods.
Upaya Social Ventures
Upaya Social Ventures is an impact-investing nonprofit supporting early-stage businesses across India. Its focus is on helping those businesses create dignified, sustainable jobs for people living in extreme poverty while contributing to more inclusive local economies.
Rising Star Finalists
The Rising Star category is reserved for leaders under 30 who are making a difference in their communities. This year’s finalists demonstrate how younger leaders are approaching issues ranging from child health and education to climate change, agriculture and food security.
Dr. Adriana Viola Miranda, 1000 Days Fund
Dr. Adriana Viola Miranda is associated with the 1000 Days Fund, which works across Indonesia to give children a healthier start during the first 1,000 days of life. Its programs address maternal and child health, stunting prevention and community health systems.
Jovany Florvil, Educare Now
Jovany Florvil represents Educare Now, which expands access to education, STEM and sustainable community development in Haiti, Uganda and Tanzania. The organization’s work is focused on empowering young people to become future leaders and innovators.
Razel Suansing, Klima Education International Incorporated
Razel Suansing is associated with Klima Education International Incorporated, which provides Filipino children with climate education in their own language. The organization aims to help young people develop solutions for their communities and carry those ideas into national policy.
Robyn Mijares, Grow School Philippines
Robyn Mijares is associated with Grow School Philippines, a nonprofit described as the country’s first bamboo farm school. The organization provides free environmental and agricultural education to public school youth, with the goal of turning challenges involving hunger and food production into opportunities for learning and long-term community development.
Smart Israel, Smartel
Smart Israel, Smartel works to restore degraded land and protect biodiversity using smart, soil-free hydroponic systems. The technology allows communities in climate-vulnerable regions to grow food without relying on degraded land, chemical fertilizers or excessive water consumption.
Who Will Be .ORG of the Year?
There is one more distinction still to be decided.
The .ORG of the Year award will recognize an outstanding nonprofit or nongovernmental organization selected from the seven categories. According to PIR, judges will consider achievement during the past year, including results and contributions to a sector, its constituents, a community or society at large.
The winner will receive a total donation of $50,000.
That makes the award substantially more consequential than a typical recognition program. For many nonprofits, a $50,000 contribution can help fund a program, expand outreach, support staff or provide resources that otherwise might not be available.
A New Honorable Mention Category
PIR is also expanding the awards this year with Honorable Mentions.
The new recognition is intended for organizations whose work stood out among what PIR described as its most competitive applicant pool to date. Honorable Mention recipients will receive a $1,000 award and will be featured on PIR’s website in the coming weeks.
That addition is telling. With more than 4,200 applications from 145 countries, limiting recognition to 35 finalists would inevitably leave many compelling organizations outside the main award categories.
The Honorable Mention program gives PIR another way to recognize that work.
Karamo Will Host the Awards Ceremony
The 2026 .ORG Impact Awards ceremony will take place October 6, 2026, in Washington, D.C. The invitation-only event will bring together the finalists, nonprofit leaders and members of the global .ORG Community.
Emmy-winning television host, author and activist Karamo will host the ceremony.
Karamo is best known as the culture expert from Netflix’s Queer Eye. He is also the founder of The Talented Twelve, a private philanthropic fund that supports scholarships, grants and community-level initiatives for African American high school graduates and college freshmen who need emergency financial assistance.
His involvement is a natural fit for an event focused on community impact, inclusion and social change.
Karamo has advocated for inclusion, empathy and personal growth and has worked on policies benefiting LGBTQ+ youth and their allies. His role at the awards ceremony will give the event a recognizable public face while keeping attention on the organizations being honored.
Recognition Can Have Value Beyond the Prize Money
For nonprofit organizations, awards can be useful in ways that extend well beyond the actual check.
PIR specifically points to increased visibility as one of the potential benefits of receiving an .ORG Impact Award. Greater visibility can help organizations attract donations, funding, employees, volunteers and strategic partners.
That may be particularly important for smaller organizations.
A large international nonprofit may already have an established donor base and significant public recognition. A smaller organization working in a specific community may have impressive results but limited exposure outside its immediate region.
An award can change that equation.
It gives the organization a story to tell. It gives donors another reason to pay attention. It can give potential partners a signal that an independent organization has evaluated the group’s work and found it worthy of recognition.
In that respect, the visibility component of the .ORG Impact Awards could prove nearly as valuable as the financial awards.
What This Year’s Finalists Say About the .ORG Community
The most interesting part of the 2026 finalist list may be its diversity of approaches.
There is no single definition of social impact represented here.
One organization is building homes. Another is teaching digital skills. Another is protecting primates from wildlife trafficking. Another is connecting hospitals with blood supplies. Another is helping farmers build sustainable livelihoods.
Some are tackling global issues. Others are focused on a particular village, school, ecosystem or community.
That is arguably what makes the .ORG community distinctive. The common thread is not a particular cause or geographic region. It is the use of organized, mission-driven efforts to address problems that affect people, communities and the environment.
With 35 finalists selected from more than 4,200 applicants across 145 countries, the 2026 .ORG Impact Awards provide a rather substantial snapshot of that work.
The winners will be announced October 6 in Washington, D.C. Until then, all 35 finalists have already earned recognition for making it through one of the most competitive applicant pools in the history of the awards.
And judging from the range of organizations represented, there will be no shortage of stories worth watching when the envelopes are opened.