Epic Dream Grant · Applications Open
The biggest
dream wins.
One grant. $10,000. We're funding the most ambitious plan we receive — travel, sport, or vocation. Not the safest. Not the most sensible. The one that keeps you in the field the longest, doing something that changes the shape of your life.
Write us the plan. The panel picks the best one. You go.
Sport
Adventure
Vocation
We fund the plan nobody told you to have.
Finn Wardman died on April 8, 2023. He was 20. His last day was spent surfing with his brother.
He was a freeride skier, a wanderer, and the kind of person who said yes before he'd figured out the logistics. He was also our son.
The Finn Wardman World Explorer Fund was built in his name — not to be a monument, but to keep moving the way he did. One of the ways we do that is this grant.
Every cycle, we fund one person to go do the thing they've been working up to. Not a gap year. Not a holiday. A real plan — ambitious, specific, and probably a little terrifying.
Finn would've applied. We'd have funded him.
vertical format works best
One grant. $10,000. No catch.
The Epic Dream Grant is awarded once per cycle. One winner. $10,000 USD disbursed directly to fund their approved plan.
There's no equity. No repayment. No brand deal attached. You don't owe us anything except the trip.
We do ask that you document it — photos, video, a few honest words. Not to make content for us. Because the next person applying needs to see that real people actually go.
Three kinds of dream.
One grant.
Adventure
Adventure
You've been building toward something outside. A route, an expedition, a crossing. The kind of plan that requires months of preparation and an honest risk assessment. We've funded freeride skiers, long-distance trekkers, and people who sail with no prior ocean experience. The common thread: they trained for it, planned it, and then actually went.
Sport
Sport
The gap between talented and competitive is mostly money. Travel, equipment, entry fees, coaching — it adds up fast. We fund athletes who've already demonstrated the commitment and just need the bridge. Junior competition circuits, elite training programs, qualifying attempts. If you're good enough to be there, we want to help you get there.
Vocation
Vocation
The plan that doesn't fit a category. Learning a language in country. An apprenticeship in a craft. Three months training with someone who's spent 40 years doing what you want to spend the next 40 years doing. Vocational grants are for the people who know exactly what they want to become and have a specific, achievable plan to get there.
You're 18 to 26.
You have a plan.
That's most of it.
We don't care about your grades, your CV, or how many followers you have. We're not looking for the most polished application — we're looking for the most honest one.
- You have a specific plan, not just a direction
- You've already done something to make it real — trained, researched, applied, saved
- You're between 18 and 26 at the time of application
- You're willing to document the experience and share it
- Your application includes a short video
You probably shouldn't apply if you haven't thought beyond "I want to travel" — not because that's wrong, but because the panel will ask you to get more specific, and you'll have a better shot if you've already done that thinking before you submit.
- No CV or academic record required
- No institutional endorsement needed
- Previous applicants may reapply
- Previous recipients not eligible for a second grant
- Short video required with application
What a winning application looks like.
Ambition
We want the plan that makes the committee slightly nervous. Not reckless — ambitious. There's a difference. Reckless is no prep and high stakes. Ambitious is full prep and high stakes. Know which one you're submitting.
Specificity
"I want to spend a season skiing in the Alps" is a sentence. "I've been competing at regional level for three years, I have a specific coach in Verbier who has agreed to work with me, and this is my qualifying window for the junior circuit" is an application. The more specific you are, the more seriously we take you.
Evidence of commitment
What have you already done to make this happen? Trained. Saved. Reached out. Planned. We're not the first step — we're the bridge. Show us what you've built before you came to us.
Honesty
Tell us what could go wrong. Tell us what you don't know yet. Tell us the part of the plan you're most uncertain about. Honest applications outperform polished ones every time.
Two ways in.
The Epic Dream Grant runs in two rounds — a short expression of interest first, then a full application for the ten finalists the committee selects. If you need a smaller grant for a shorter trip, you go straight through.
for the biggest plan.
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1The plan
What you want to do, where, and for how long. 100 words max. Write it like you're explaining it to a friend.
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2Rough budget
A number. How much you need and what you already have lined up.
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360-second video
Shot on your phone. Tell us who you are and what you want to do. Realness over production.
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4One link (optional)
Instagram, a blog, a race result, a trip report. Anything that shows us who you are beyond the form.
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ADetailed plan and budget
Line by line. Why this plan, why now, what you already have covered.
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BThree referees
Personal, academic, and professional or athletic — with full contact details.
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CSupporting documents
Academic transcript, financial endorsement, liability waiver.
4 questions · Under 10 minutes · Ages 18–26 · Closes when all committee votes are in
for focused plans.
Smaller in scope, same in seriousness. Start with the same short expression of interest. Shortlisted applicants complete the full application — references, budget detail, and documentation.
-
1The plan
What you want to do, where, and for how long. 100 words max.
-
2Rough budget
A number. What you need and what you already have.
-
360-second video
Shot on your phone. Tell us who you are and what you want to do.
-
4One link (optional)
Instagram, a blog, a race result. Anything that shows us who you are.
4 questions · Under 10 minutes · Ages 18–26
How this works, and when.
Common questions.
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No. We don't ask about enrolment status.
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[Confirm — international or restricted? Update this before launch.]
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No. The grant funds plans that haven't launched yet. You can be in preparation — but the funded portion of the trip should begin after the award.
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Talk to us. Life changes plans. We'd rather know than have you go quiet. We've worked with previous recipients to adjust scope — the goal is that you go, not that you go exactly as described.
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No. It's a grant. It doesn't go toward tuition, fees, or institutional programs. It funds the plan itself — the travel, the equipment, the training, the thing.
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Yes. Previous applicants are welcome to reapply in future cycles. Previous recipients are not eligible for a second grant.
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By direct bank transfer, in one or two tranches depending on the plan structure. We'll confirm the disbursement schedule with the winner.
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[Confirm — founding team, advisors, guest judges? Update before launch.]
Epic Dream Grant · Applications Open
The plan is already
in your head.
You've been thinking about this for a while. The route, the season, the person you're going to train with. You've looked at the cost and done the math and wondered whether it's actually possible.
It is. Write it down. Send it to us. The worst case is you get your plan on paper.
The best case is you go.
Apply for the Epic Dream Grant