Ivory Prize Competition Details
The Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability is an annual award recognizing ambitious, feasible, and scalable solutions to housing affordability. The Prize is designed to award innovators for their efforts and provide material support to advance their projects. The search committee looks for solutions across finance, policy and regulatory reform, and construction and design.
2025 Ivory Prize Competition Timeline
If you have any questions about the Prize timeline, please email info@ivoryinnovations.org.
September 3, 2024
Nominations and applications open for the Ivory Prize
December 6, 2024
Ivory Prize applications close
February 2025
Ivory Prize Top 25 Announced
April 2025
Ivory Prize Top 10 Announced
May 2025
Ivory Prize Winners Announced
What happens during our due diligence process?
1. Screening
Candidates are evaluated by Ivory Innovations and Student Associates for completeness of application and alignment with the Ivory Prize mission of supporting scalable solutions in housing affordability.
2. Qualification Round
Candidates that match our criteria are referred to a group of Ivory Innovations evaluators with relevant expertise. Some nominees will be visited during this process or receive requests for additional information.
3. Advisory Committee
Top candidates from the Qualification Round will be selected as finalists and winners by the Ivory Innovations Advisory Board and Ivory Innovations Fellows.
Ivory Prize Process
1. Applications
Any organization (public or private sector, small or large) may be nominated for the Ivory Prize. An organization may be nominated by an outside source or through the self-nomination process.
2. Due Diligence
Ivory Prize nominees are screened and reviewed by the Ivory Innovations team with the help of our Advisory Board, Fellows, and Student Associates.
3. Finalist Rounds
The Ivory Prize has three rounds of finalists: Top 25, Top 10, and Winners from each of our areas of focus.
4. Winners Announced
Ivory Prize winners receive unrestricted grant funding and recognition as part of the Ivory Prize awards process.
Awards
$100,000
The Ivory Prize awards up to $300k to the most promising housing innovations in the country – typically across three organizations, one in each area of focus.
Finalist Benefits
Organizations selected as part of the top 25 group of finalists receive a myriad of non-financial benefits, including connections to funders, pro bono consulting support and summer student interns funded by Ivory Innovations.