Our 2025 Innovation Fund Announcement

American workers are facing an unprecedented wave of threats: from the dismantling of labor protections and public institutions to rising misinformation, corporate monopolization, wealth inequality, and climate disasters. At The Workers Lab, we believe that the future of work belongs to all workers. Now, more than ever, it is time to protect workers, power worker-centered innovation, and prepare for what’s ahead.

In the absence of a vision for a modern and inclusive future of work for all workers, The Innovation Fund continues to provide a roadmap for the U.S. Our 2025 Innovation Fund Fellowship is focused on new ideas that shift power to working people. Through The Innovation Fund Fellowship, we’re looking for Innovators from across the country–entrepreneurs, worker-leaders, organizers, and technologists who are creating what workers need to survive, adapt, and win in this next era. 

As the National Home for Worker-Centered Innovation, we invest in new ideas for and with workers, in service of a country where all workers are safe, healthy, secure, and have power. Despite the challenges ahead, we are rooted in a deep sense of hope and optimism because new ideas—grounded in the realities of workers—can lead to transformative change. Since 2014, we've invested over $8 million in 100 innovators who are creating change for workers.

Unlike traditional investors, we are interested in: 

• Ideas that update or transform systems and structures of work from old and exclusive ones to modern and inclusive ones
• Investing beyond solutions–in leaders with proximity to the problems
• Early-stage ideas and innovators who aren’t yet seen or supported by philanthropy or mainstream venture capital
• Centering workers as co-creators, leaders, and beneficiaries of every innovation we support

The solutions we need already exist in the minds and hands of workers, organizers, innovators, and entrepreneurs across the country. By investing in their ideas, we’re not only imagining a better future—we’re actively building one where work is fair, dignified, and inclusive for all.

Our Innovation Fund Fellowship offers:

• Up to $200,000 in funding
• A paid five-month fellowship with hands-on strategic and technical support, mentorship, peer learning, and community
• Access to worker networks and national visibility with partners, funders, and allies

For our 2025 Innovation Fund, we are especially interested in: 

Even in the face of uncertainty, there is vast potential to create lasting change for working people. By organizing in new ways, building pathways to ownership and wealth, and designing worker-centered technology that centers dignity, workers can shape a future where power is shared and opportunity is real. The possibilities for progress remain strong when ideas are led by and for workers, and at The Workers Lab, we remain committed to investing in them.

If you’re interested in building a new idea for and with workers, or know someone who might be, subscribe to updates to hear more about our 2025 Innovation Fund Fellowship.