In August 2024, the Prebys Foundation launched Prebys Sparx to invite a wide range of new or existing solutions that employ arts, culture, and/or nature to address growing mental health disparities and promote behavioral well-being among young people ages 0-25 in the San Diego region. Up to four honorable mentions will each receive $25,000 and one grand prize winner will receive $1 million.

Please contact us with any challenge-related questions, requests for help with accessibility and special accommodations, and technical support. 

Once you have registered and throughout the challenge, we will send important notifications to the email address associated with your account, as well as the primary and secondary contacts listed on your registration form. There are three important steps you can take to make sure these messages are received promptly:

1. Add our email address to your contacts.

2. Whitelist our email address. Here are instructions to add to your whitelist in most major email providers.

3. Update your registration form right away if one of your contacts changes. If you need to make a contact change after the application window has closed, please email us, and we will assist you.

The Prebys Foundation defines "non-clinical" health services as interventions that do not involve direct medical treatment, diagnoses, or clinical procedures. Instead, these services focus on social drivers of health (SDoH), such as housing, food access, employment, education, transportation, safety, clean air and water, and as centered in this initiative, arts, culture, and nature. Non-clinical interventions aim to enhance overall quality of life and prevent health issues by addressing these broader determinants of health beyond traditional healthcare (Golden, 2023; Chatterjee, et al., 2018).

Prebys Sparx welcomes applications from nonprofit entities serving San Diego County. Each applicant must identify a Lead Organization, and Lead Organizations must be based in San Diego County or partner with a nonprofit that is based in San Diego County to be eligible. The Lead Organization will assume responsibility for the receipt and management of any award. The following organizations are eligible to apply: 

• An entity serving San Diego County, California described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (“IRC”), that has received a tax determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service (such entity, a “501(c)(3) organization”).  

• A fiscally-sponsored nonprofit organization serving San Diego County, California. 

Review the Rules for a complete set of eligibility requirements. NOTE: Projects that employ culture to promote behavioral well-being are welcome to apply. Please select “arts and culture” from the options listed under Solution Category when registering.

Prebys Sparx welcomes applications from eligible nonprofit organizations located anywhere in the U.S. and U.S. territories that serve San Diego County. Organizations must be based in San Diego County or partner with a nonprofit that is based in San Diego County to be eligible.

Partnerships must demonstrate authentic collaboration between organizations and must continue for the duration of the one-year project period at minimum. Memorandums of understanding may be requested from Finalists to verify authentic, sustained collaboration. Review the submission requirements to learn more about partnerships.

All proposed projects must serve and benefit youth communities in San Diego County, California. Proposed projects must impact San Diego young people ages 0-25—some benefits are allowed for adults ages 26 and over but the proposed solution should be focused primarily on young people ages 0-25.

Entities that have previously applied for and/or received a grant from the Prebys Foundation are eligible to apply for this challenge, as are current grant recipients or those applying.

We encourage you to first assess your fit and eligibility for Prebys Sparx, then register no later than 3:00 PM Pacific Time on Thursday, November 7, 2024 to participate. Registration is required and is a simple two-step process. First, create a username and password then check your inbox to confirm your registration. Next, complete the online registration form. Once you are registered, submit your application online no later than 3:00 PM Pacific Time on Wednesday, December 4, 2024.

Each application must include a brief video of no more than 90 seconds that showcases your solution. This DOES NOT need to be a professionally produced video – a video shot on a smartphone is acceptable.

The following are instructions for recording and uploading your video on YouTube:

1. Record a video using your smartphone’s camera app

2. Download and open the YouTube app

3. Sign-in or create an account on YouTube  

4. In YouTube, select “Create” > “Upload a Video”

5. Select your video and press “Next”

6. Set your video’s visibility to “Unlisted,” which will allow only those with the URL link to view your video (do not set to private or public)

7. Select “Upload Video”

8. Check to make sure embedding is turned on.

For more information about video guidelines, review the submission requirements. If you need technical support, you can email us.

You may only complete one submission as the Lead Organization except as described below. A participant can serve as a partner on a team for multiple submissions as long as each of those submissions proposes a separate, distinct solution. This means each project can only be submitted once, and we leave it up to each team to designate their eligible Lead Organization. 

Teams that are operating as fiscally-sponsored projects of a 501(c)(3) organization under formal fiscal sponsorship arrangements may each submit separate applications naming the 501(c)(3) organization as the Lead Organization on their applications. Regional or location-specific branches of larger organizations, as well as departments, schools, and programs within or based in a college/university, may each submit separate applications naming their parent organization as the Lead Organization on their applications.  

In all circumstances described above, the proposed solutions must be separate and distinct. There should be no overlap in personnel/team members. The intent of the policy is to ensure that any team is concentrating their best effort into a single application. We encourage teams to select a single project that best represents your organization's ability to deliver a solution that meets the scoring criteria.

Review the Rules for more information.

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Once the submission deadline passes, the Prebys Sparx team will perform an administrative review to confirm each submission meets the Rules and submission requirements before advancing to Evaluation Panel Review. All reviewers will use the scoring rubric. 

The Selection Committee will review top-scoring submissions and request additional information as needed to select four honorable mentions and one winner based on the Evaluation Panel’s recommended rank order. Final decisions and selection of awards will be made by the Selection Committee and announced by March 2025.

Award funds must be used for the project for which they are intended and may be dispersed to partners for project-related purposes. Award funds may not be used:  

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• For non-charitable purposes; 

• To influence the outcome of any specific public election or to carry on, directly or indirectly, any voter registration drive (within the meaning of United States Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) section 4945(d)(2)); 

• To carry on propaganda or otherwise to attempt to influence legislation within the meaning of Code Section 4945(d)(1); 

• To distribute funds to any organization not related to the proposal; 

• To make a grant to any organization not identified in the proposal, to make a grant to any individual for travel, study, or other similar purposes, or to make a grant to any organization, except in compliance with the provisions of Sections 4945(g) or (h), as the case may be;  

• For the creation of any endowment or for the aggregation of philanthropic capital by organizations that regrant to nonprofit organizations; 

• For the creation of a venture capital fund, or pooled funds to invest in or distribute to for-profit organizations. 

• For loans or microloans to individuals, nonprofit, or for-profit entities;  

• To fund general operating support for the Lead Organization and/or any partners;  

• To fund political organizations (501(c)(4) organizations and 527s).  

• For government services.

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Review the Rules for more information.

The grant period is 12 months. The winner will be selected and announced February-March 2025. Prebys Foundation will then work with the winner to execute the grant agreement, which will outline the project start and end date. The grantee will return any unexpended funds to the Prebys Foundation at the end of the project period. Please review the timeline, rules, and sample agreement.