2025-2026
The F. M. Kirby Prize for Scaling Impact is an annual global prize of USD $150,000 in unrestricted funds that amplifies and accelerates the work of an enterprise working to scale its impact on social or environmental problems around the world. Now in its fifth year, this program is administered by the Center for Advancement of Social Enterprise (CASE) at Duke Univesity’s Fuqua School of Business in partnership with the F. M. Kirby Foundation.
Honoring Fred Morgan Kirby’s entrepreneurial spirit, the Kirby Prize recognizes enterprises pursuing strategic pathways to impact at scale, who are close to the challenges at hand, who center the voice and experience of the populations they serve, who have demonstrated traction, and who embody courageous and collaborative leadership. This prize is open to any legal form, geographic location, and any social or environmental impact area.
The 2026 Kirby Impact Prize phase one application window is open for eligible participants now through December 3. You can learn more about the F. M. Kirby Prize for Scaling Impact, the application criteria, and past winners by visiting CASE at Duke’s dedicated website page.
This Year's Winner
2025 Winner: Solar Freeze
Watch the CASE Announcement
The F. M. Kirby Foundation and the Center for Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business selected Solar Freeze as the winner of the 2024-2025 F. M. Kirby Prize for Scaling Impact.
Solar Freeze is a Kenya-based social enterprise tackling post-harvest loss and energy poverty through an innovative, climate-smart solution: mobile, solar-powered cold storage units for smallholder farmers. By offering affordable, off-grid refrigeration, Solar Freeze is helping to extend the shelf life of crops, increase farmers’ incomes, and reduce food waste. The model is both environmentally sustainable and economically inclusive, enabling farmers — especially women and youth — to access essential infrastructure via a pay-as-you-store system. With its scalable technology and community-centered approach, Solar Freeze is transforming agricultural livelihoods across sub-Saharan Africa.
The prize, consisting of $150,000 in unrestricted funds, is designed to help amplify and accelerate an enterprise’s impact on social or environmental problems around the world. In the 2024-25 application year, four finalists were chosen from more than 200 applicants. The four finalists represent a mix of nonprofit and for-profit enterprises working in Colombia, Eastern Africa, and across the world. Their innovative solutions span impact areas including economic development, affordable treatments for a common birth defect, and scalable sanitation infrastructure.
Read more about the three other finalists: Global Fund for Widows, MiracleFeet, Trofica