The Auschwitz Pledge Foundation has opened its 3rd annual Erase Indifference Challenge to applications.

The Challenge was established to support the foundation’s aims of tackling indifference to discrimination by addressing it as the root of bigotry, violence and even genocide.

The Erase Indifference Challenge opened today to submissions from NGOs, large enterprises, and small businesses that are tackling discrimination “in new and inventive ways”. It is open worldwide.

What might innovation look like? The foundation stats that it is encouraging entries “that use technology, socialisation and collaboration techniques, gamification, pop culture approaches, data and research, social experiments, and/or educational tools.

It is especially interested in ideas that will connect with younger people and address one or more of its categories:

• racism
• anti-semitism
• anti-immigration & xenophobia
• LGBTQIA+ discrimination
• misogyny

Ideas can be for a new project or for one in-progress, and for a global or local initiative.

Previous challenge winners in Europe include:

GrowSPACE (Poland) – a platform that helps secondary school students choose safe, open and friendly high schools across Poland.

GDevents (Poland) – an event agency specialising in creating immersive experiences, particularly focusing on HR-related activities and gamification for effective internal and external communication.

Smilemundo (Spain) – Smilemundo’s Insignia is a communication game designed to reveal the origins of discrimination by providing participants with a firsthand experience of the dynamics of social exclusion.

The deadline for applications to the Erase Indifference Challenge is 11 February 2024. Applications should be submitted in English.

The foundation will select up to three organisations that will win up to €30,000 in grant funding along with mentors’ support.