The Global Citizen and PayPal Small Business Award was established to support business owners and founders who are driving real impact in their communities by demonstrating a deep commitment to equity and sustainability in their business practices. We are looking for creative small and medium-sized business owners who have developed innovative products and services to make a positive social or environmental impact. 

The awards platform will grant these groundbreaking small- and medium-sized businesses a 20K cash prize and connect them to data and insights, technical training, and marketing/brand activations to accelerate their work and impact. 

The application consists of four parts: (1) About you & about your business, (2) Pitch (3) Description of how your work aligns with the judging criteria (4) Supplemental organizational details (upon request)

For the first part, you will be required to submit basic information about you and your business.

For the second part, you must explain why you deserve this award and provide us with a 1-2 minute video of your pitch. 

For the third part, you will be required to answer four short answer questions about your work. In 250 words or less, you will describe how you meet each one of the Awards’ criteria.

Candidates will be judged against set criteria by a group of Global Citizen and independent experts.

Up to fifty (50) finalists will be selected between August - December 2026 and will be required to submit three (3) letters of recommendation. If applying for the Prize, you should have your letters of recommendation ready for submission. Additional supplemental information might also be requested of finalists.

If selected as one of the 50 finalists, you will be judged by a panel of representatives from Global Citizen and independent experts. 

At this time we are only able to accept applications in English, however, you are welcome to draft your application in another language and send us a translation.

We are judging you on the criteria, not your writing.