News: Office Depot Cloud Launches Micro‑Grant Program for Local Workspace Innovation
A new micro-grant program aims to help neighborhood work hubs, libraries and pop-up offices pilot resilient programs in 2026.
News: Office Depot Cloud Launches Micro‑Grant Program for Local Workspace Innovation
Quick take: Today we’re announcing a pilot micro-grant program to support community workspace innovation. The initiative funds small experiments — from sustainable pop-up kiosks to community repair nights.
Why this matters
Cities and local organizations are searching for practical ways to keep community spaces useful and resilient. Our program takes inspiration from recent community initiatives like GoldStars Club micro-grants and dovetails with trends in how little free libraries and community hubs are being rethought here.
Program details
- Size: $2K–$10K micro-grants for neighborhood projects
- Eligibility: Community organizations, coworking collectives, and library partnerships
- Focus areas: Sustainable operations, creative learning programs, and systems interoperability
Selection criteria and practical expectations
Applicants should demonstrate how funds will create measurable impact. We look for projects that use interoperable tech and open APIs to avoid vendor lock-in — see why interoperability matters in institutional buys here. Projects that pair community food access or micro-farming with workspace programming will score highly; learn about community micro-farms here.
Safety and event guidance
Programming that involves live events must follow new 2026 safety rules for pop-ups and markets; organizers should consult the live-event safety guidance here and adopt micro-grant accounting best practices similar to recent classroom pilots GoldStars.
How we’ll measure success
Success metrics include attendance, sustainability improvements, and knowledge sharing. We’ll publish case studies and encourage grantees to use archival tools to protect digital artifacts; for protecting photo archives see a practical guide here.
How to apply
Submissions open this quarter. Teams should prepare a short pitch, a one-page budget and a micro-meeting cadence plan for monthly check-ins (the Micro-Meeting Playbook is a good template).
Closing
This program is part of our broader effort to help neighborhoods experiment with resilient, interoperable workspace models. If you’re interested, review the application guidance and the community micro-farm case studies linked above.
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