Cascade funding (Financial Support to Third Parties – FSTP) are micro-grants issued by already-funded EU projects to support experiments, pilots, and adoption by researchers, start-ups, SMEs, and sometimes NGOs. Calls are lighter-weight than full Horizon proposals and often suit first-timers and solo applicants partnering with a host.

Key Resources:
• “Cascade funding (FSTP): How to find open calls” (EU) – Funding & Tenders Portal filter for “Calls for funding in cascade.” European Commission
• “Calls for proposals – EU Funding & Tenders” (EU) – master list of open calls; apply the FSTP filter. European Commission
• “Cascade Funding Hub – Open Calls” (Global) – aggregator listing current FSTP opportunities. Cascade Funding Hub+1

How It Helps Young Researchers / New NGOs:
• Easier entry point to Horizon with smaller, faster grants.
• Supports pilots, datasets, open-source contributions, or testing your solution with an EU consortium.
• Great for cross-border visibility and future Horizon partners.