Want to change the world but need the funding? This contest could be your answer
The MacArthur Foundation has given away $5.5 billion since it was set up in 1978—and it still has a $6.5 billion endowment.
Now, the foundation has come up with a novel way to disperse another $100 million as part of its mission of building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. A contest has been set up to award the entire $100 million for “a single proposal designed to help solve a critical problem affecting people, places, or the planet.” The foundation is going for impact, not for parsing out what author Steven Goldberg called "billions of drops in millions of buckets." The goal is to fill one bucket entirely, until it overflows.
Any nonprofit or for-profits can enter. The only catch: the proposal has to be feasible.
“Solving society’s most pressing problems isn’t easy, but we believe it can be done,” said MacArthur President Julia Stasch in announcing 100&Change. “Potential solutions may go unnoticed or under resourced and are waiting to be brought to scale. Every three years, we plan to award $100 million to help make one of these solutions a reality. Through 100&Change, we want to inspire, encourage, and support other people’s ideas.”
A panel of judges will review each proposal. They will be looking for ideas that will have the most impact. Proposals that make the cut, according to the foundation, must be “meaningful, verifiable, durable, and feasible.”
And entries are not restricted to any particular field. The prize money will be used to implement the proposal. This is philanthropy at its finest.
We know how hard it is to change the world. So we’ll be rooting for a proposal that can change one part of it. If it can help close the school-to-prison pipeline or strengthen families to ensure positive youth development, we wouldn't be opposed.
Take a look at a visual depiction of the school-to-prison pipeline and you might see why we think it needs to change.
