The Rockefeller Foundation and the OpenAI Foundation are jointly putting $50 million into city projects that use AI to improve public services. The new programme, called Cities Deliver, will award grants of up to $2 million, with applications open through November 29.
October 14, 2026 — Why it matters in one line: this is money aimed at everyday city services — flood alerts, non-emergency calls and local government help — rather than at another frontier model.
What happened
Reuters reported on October 14 that the two foundations plan to jointly announce the effort today. The Rockefeller Foundation has committed $10 million and the OpenAI Foundation $40 million, for a combined $50 million. The programme will be managed by RF Catalytic Capital, an affiliate of the Rockefeller Foundation.
The partners say they aim to fund projects that together serve 100 million residents of cities around the world. Andrew Sweet, a Rockefeller vice president, told Reuters the foundations expect very strong demand and a large volume of applications to sort through.
The details that matter
Cities are not required to use OpenAI models. Sweet said applicants can build on any AI models they choose, which makes this a funding programme for city outcomes rather than a distribution deal for one vendor.
The effort builds on smaller projects Rockefeller has already funded, including a chatbot-powered flood alert system in Rio de Janeiro and local government programmes in Cape Town, South Africa, including an alert system for ward councillors. Reuters also pointed to work already under way in Boulder, Colorado, where an AI-powered assistant helps answer calls to the police and fire non-emergency line.
For the OpenAI Foundation, Cities Deliver follows earlier civic-minded spending, including a $60 million project to bring AI-powered weather and crop disease forecasts to small farmers, according to Reuters. Anna Makanju, the OpenAI Foundation’s head of AI for civil society and philanthropy, said the aim is to learn from local users about where AI is actually useful.
Why it matters
Most AI money still flows to models, chips and data centres. Cities Deliver points the other way: small, practical deployments where residents can judge the result — did the flood warning arrive in time, did someone answer the non-emergency call faster? Grants capped at $2 million will not transform a large city’s systems on their own, but they are sized for pilots that a city can test, measure and either expand or drop. The model-agnostic rule also matters for trust: a city can pick the tool that fits the job instead of being locked into the funder’s products. For readers, this is the “everything AI, tested” angle in its plainest form — AI judged by whether a public service works better, not by a benchmark chart.
Frequently asked questions
How much money is in the Cities Deliver programme?
$50 million in total: $10 million from the Rockefeller Foundation and $40 million from the OpenAI Foundation, according to Reuters.
How big can a single grant be, and when do applications close?
Grants can be up to $2 million. Applications are being taken through November 29.
Do funded cities have to use OpenAI’s models?
No. Rockefeller’s Andrew Sweet told Reuters that cities can use any AI models for the projects they want funded.
Who manages the programme?
Cities Deliver will be managed by RF Catalytic Capital, which is affiliated with the Rockefeller Foundation.
Sources: Reuters