100&Change Wise Heads, an external review panel, shares reflections from this round’s proposals with insights that will invigorate their own work in the future.
A crowd of thinkers, visionaries, and experts—our Wise Head Panel—provides thoughtful analysis of our 100&Change applications, reviewing proposals for bold ideas and solutions informed by their experience. Since the inaugural round of 100&Change, we have worked with a Wise Head Panel of external judges in fields that include education, public health, impact investing, technology, the sciences, the arts, and human rights, to review and score proposals using established criteria.
This round, 259 judges reviewed 500 applications following the Participatory and Administrative Review phases. We invited a few Wise Heads to share observations from their recent experience evaluating proposals. They all felt a responsibility to carefully evaluate and provide meaningful remarks about each proposal they reviewed. And many left inspired and invigorated to pursue innovation, creativity, and scale in their own work.
Amy Berry*, CEO, Tahoe Fund
The idea of awarding just one nonprofit the enormous sum of $100 million dollars can be a bit overwhelming. It is such an honor to participate in the Wise Head review process. I always feel a keen responsibility to find an organization that has a proven track record and a team in place to be able to scale to that level. Although most applications are submitted by an organization doing wonderful work, not every applicant really meets the requirements of an award of this magnitude.
For the ones that do, I find myself transforming into their biggest champions as I read their applications. I tell everyone in my circle about them and follow all of their progress on social channels. I have learned to keep my own scorecard, so I can check my results against the final tallies when the results are finally announced. It is downright euphoric when one of “my” applicants makes it towards the top of the rankings.
I find myself transforming into their biggest champions as I read their applications.
It is a lot of work to judge these applications and give each application the respect the team that submitted it deserves. But as in most philanthropy-related things, I’m sure I get much more out of it than I am supposed to. Reading through their objectives, challenges, and results (the results!), I am so inspired by the people who choose to do the hard and important work to take care of those who cannot. Kudos to MacArthur for not just funding the solutions but for providing a venue to bring them to a broader audience. It inspires me to think of what more I can be doing in my own nonprofit work.
*Berry has evaluated proposals for all three rounds of the 100&Change competition.
Nasra A. Ismail, Founder, Generative Connections
For me as a Wise Head, this process required both liberation from my biases and deep attunement to my lived experience—to everything I have seen work and everything I have seen fall short. The best judgment is not about certainty but about holding multiple truths at once: knowing when to challenge an assumption, when to push an idea further, and when to recognize the brilliance in its simplicity. I took my role seriously, knowing that my job was not just to evaluate but to listen—to truly understand what was being proposed, how it worked, and what it could become.
Good judgment in this process requires a balance of curiosity and discernment. I have to set aside what I think I know, step beyond my own experiences, and approach each idea with openness and fairness. At the same time, I have to assess whether an idea is truly built for this scale—whether it can thrive when stretched to meet the full potential of a $100 million investment.
I walk away changed. Not just as a reviewer but as someone who has been challenged to think bigger, listen better.
One of the most meaningful lessons from this process is that 100&Change is not just about funding—it is about identifying the right partners for large-scale transformation. The organizations that rise to this challenge are not simply well-resourced or well-structured; they are deeply committed to scaling solutions in ways that match the complexity of the world’s problems.
I walk away changed. Not just as a reviewer but as someone who has been challenged to think bigger, listen better, and recognize that the most transformative ideas are often the ones that push us beyond what we think we know.
Aapurv Jain, Associate Director, Bilateral Relations, Disability Rights Fund, Inc.
I was honored to serve as a reviewer for MacArthur’s 100&Change competition—a unique experience that deepened my appreciation for bold, transformative ideas. As someone who has lived and worked across four continents—Africa, Asia, North America, and Europe—I found the opportunity to assess proposals from diverse organizations especially meaningful.
It was inspiring to see a foundation of MacArthur’s scale embrace an open, participatory process for such a significant award. Being on the other side of the table—as a grant writer and program designer myself—allowed me to reflect on what makes proposals truly compelling. From clear and accessible language to genuine commitments to equity (including budgeting for reasonable accommodation), the strongest applications stood out not just for their vision, but for their intentionality.
I was struck by the importance of local partnerships, particularly for Global North organizations working in the Global South—some proposals meaningfully engaged with local organizations, while others missed this critical element. The 100&Change competition is a rare platform for ambitious solutions, and I am grateful to have played a small role in this process.
Becca Sharp, CEO, IDinsight
Serving on the Wise Head Panel of MacArthur's 100&Change competition was an enlightening experience, especially as a fellow social changemaker. Reviewing proposals from across the social sector that spanned a huge array of domains (environment, arts, social justice, health, and urban development, among others), offered a rare and fascinating glimpse into the latest big ideas for how to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges.
I was inspired by many of the bold, ambitious interventions up for 100&Change’s consideration.
I was inspired by many of the bold, ambitious interventions up for 100&Change’s consideration. It was a privilege to learn about new organizations (including their track records, programs, and existing funders) and see how different innovative approaches are shaping the future of social impact. No doubt, comparing “apples to oranges” was challenging—but it also allowed me a rare opportunity to think like a funder: evaluating very diverse ideas and noticing how effective organizations communicate their impact through both rigorous evidence and compelling storytelling.
