Community & Economic Development
Grantmaking sought to improve the quality of life in a range of low-income neighborhoods in Chicago while supporting similar efforts in nine other cities around the country.
Conservation & Sustainable Development
Grantmaking supported preserving ecosystems and species, and promoting development that respects the environment.
Digital Media & Learning
Grantmaking aimed to create more opportunities for more youth to engage in learning that is relevant to their lives and prepares them for success in school, the workplace, and their community.
Discovery Grants
Discovery Grants were awarded for exceptionally creative or innovative projects with high potential impact, but which do not fit into the Foundation's existing programs and strategies.
Equitable Recovery
Grantmaking supported efforts to create more resilient, inclusive communities to combat structural racism, inequality, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Girls’ Secondary Education in Developing Countries
Grantmaking supported research, policy, and practical interventions that nurtured learner-centered education models and equipped economically marginalized girls with a core set of 21st century skills.
Housing
Grantmaking supported housing policies that acknowledge the importance of affordable rental housing and the role that housing may play in promoting strong, resilient families and vibrant communities.
Human Rights
Grantmaking supported strengthening human rights protections, advancing government accountability, and improving the reach and quality of justice.
Juvenile Justice
Grantmaking supported reform in 40 states to accelerate a national movement to improve the lives of young people in contact with the law, while holding them accountable and enhancing public safety.
MacArthur Award for Creative & Effective Institutions
Grantmaking recognized exceptional grantee organizations that generated provocative ideas, reframed debates, and provided new ways of looking at persistent problems.
Migration
Grantmaking supported research, policy, and practical interventions to improve the lives of and protections for immigrants and refugees.
Nuclear Challenges
Grantmaking supported efforts to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons by decreasing the availability of weapons-useable nuclear material and by developing a more diverse and inclusive nuclear field.
Our Work in Mexico
For more than three decades, grantmaking in Mexico supported civil society organizations focused on human rights, reproductive healthcare, and migration issues.
Our Work in Russia
From 1991 to 2015, work in Russia supported strengthening civil society, independent media, human rights, higher education, and energy and the environment.
Policy Research
Grantmaking supported the development of more effective domestic policy by working to increase the policy impact of the Foundation’s program strategies.
Population & Reproductive Health
Grantmaking supported efforts to improve sexual and reproductive health and rights in India, Mexico, and Nigeria and on a transnational level.
Research Networks
From 1984 to 2021, the Foundation supported interdisciplinary research networks that examined problems and addressed empirical questions that had the potential to change prevailing paradigms.
Strengthening American Democracy
Grantmaking supported efforts to modernize election administration, protect voting rights, curb the role of money in politics, and reduce partisanship in Congress.
Current Program Information How does MacArthur Work? 
Big Bets
Connecting the people working toward a more just, verdant, and peaceful world.
Enduring Commitments
Unwavering, deep, and longstanding trust of the people doing the work.
Awards
Advancing the world’s ingenuity by supporting the creative problem-solvers of our time.
Field Support
Connecting people working toward building more effective organizations and influential networks.
Our work is carried out with a sense of urgency through a range of philanthropic and adaptive approaches that enable us to apply what we are learning.
