Chris Cardona, Managing Director, Discovery, Exploration, and Programs shares leading trends from the top proposals in the third round of our $100 million competition for a bold idea and solution.
We have reached the stage of reviewing top proposals in the third round of our 100&Change competition.
This competition awards one $100 million grant to a project designed to solve a pressing social issue in a way that is impactful, evidence-based, feasible, durable, and just. The project can be on any topic, anywhere in the world. As we shared in December, Lever for Change, which runs the competition on behalf of MacArthur, received 869 proposals from 62 countries, which went through three rounds of review that included more than 259 Wise Heads. MacArthur’s Board of Directors is currently reviewing the top proposals to select up to five Finalists. Each will receive a planning grant and technical assistance as they prepare to compete for a $100 million grant to be awarded this fall.
MacArthur’s Board of Directors is currently reviewing the top proposals to select up to five Finalists.
The intent of 100&Change is to shift how philanthropy does business, by demonstrating the potential for more large-scale investments in bold solutions to pressing social problems. While each round of the competition has one award recipient, we go out of our way to showcase many more worthwhile projects.
This desire to transform philanthropy led to the incubation of Lever for Change, which has since launched 16 open calls and leveraged more than $2.5 billion. And the desire to spotlight more than just one project per competition led to the creation of the Bold Solutions Network, which features top-ranked teams and finalists vetted through Lever for Change open calls, including 100&Change, and facilitates connections with other donors.
A National Geographic Pristine Seas diver collects information on the state of the giant kelp forests in Tristan da Cunha during an expedition in 2015. National Geographic Pristine Seas was a 2021 100&Change finalist and now a member of the Bold Solutions Network. Credit: Roger Horrocks/National Geographic Pristine Seas
These aims are especially notable in the current moment, as private donors are challenged to consider where their funding can create the greatest impact and support sustainability at a time of uncertainty and change. MacArthur and Lever for Change believe that the kinds of projects identified through competitions like 100&Change and featured on the Bold Solutions Network are necessary and ready for engagement from private funders.
Increased Partnerships Signal Deeper Opportunities
Indeed, partnerships are in some ways the hallmark of this year’s competition. As we have reviewed the hundreds of proposals submitted for 100&Change, one thing has become clear relative to prior rounds. The number of proposals submitted by a partnership of more than one organization is up dramatically, from 37 percent to 62 percent.
We observed partnerships of a few different types.
Taking on Different Parts of a Problem or Solution
Organizations working together may have dedicated expertise on a particular aspect of a solution: one partner works with governments to get a certain topic on the agenda of public spending, another focuses on logistics, another specializes in last-mile delivery in remote rural contexts. This allows for greater depth in each area.
Facilitating Implementation Across Geographies
An organization that has developed an impactful, evidence-based solution may have only implemented it in a certain number of municipalities, states, or countries. A partnership with organizations steeped in different geographies may enable greater reach for the solution, which may be the focus of the proposal: scaling and/or replication.
Tapping Expertise Across Sectors
While foundations traditionally focus on funding nonprofits or non-governmental organizations (NGOs), solutions of the type proposed through 100&Change require working with government, business, and private individuals as well. Some partnerships focus on addressing various stakeholders: one partner provides scientific research based in a university and works with pharmaceutical companies, another specializes in grassroots implementation with local governments and NGOs, another partners with banks and global institutions to provide financing, while the final partner works with industry to facilitate manufacturing and distribution, and so on.
Going Deeper with an Existing Partnership
Many of the partnerships submitting proposals have been in existence for some time, seeking to advance a solution based on available resources. The potential of a larger scale investment may offer the chance for that partnership to go deeper by pursuing additional ideas that have been on the wish list, such as commissioning more detailed evaluation, implementing prior evaluations or strategic plans, or addressing policy dimensions of the problem they work on. These allow the existing partnership to reach a more meaningful level of impact.
Addressing Sustainability
There are elements that organizations know enhance the potential and durability of a solution, such as evaluation, capacity building, and strategic communications. But these can be hard to find dedicated funding for, let alone create staffing and space for, in strapped organizational budgets. By adding an evaluation partner or including a technical-assistance provider within a partnership, its members can generate insights and build capacity that help the solution have a chance to stick beyond the period of the proposed funding.
Complex Social Problems Create New Considerations
Since the first 100&Change competition in 2017, the complexity of social problems has only increased. A world of greater polarization, which makes pursuing common cause more difficult within countries as well as across them, requires more local knowledge, proximate relationships, and a greater awareness of political dynamics.
Since the first 100&Change competition in 2017, the complexity of social problems has only increased.
The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the fragility of supply chains, so a greater attention to the complexities of logistical delivery is needed. And with more social pressure regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion—whether for or against—more organizations are asking themselves fundamental questions about creating a space for belonging, accessibility, and lifting up voices from historically marginalized populations. They see that to achieve lasting impact, these considerations are essential.
A girl plays with Basma, a character from Ahlan Simsim. Sesame Workshop and International Rescue Committee, the 2017 winners of the 100&Change competition, created the media program to deliver early learning to children displaced by Syrian conflict. Credit: Sesame Workshop
In the complexity of this operating environment, organizations are seeing the value of collaborating with partners who bring complementary skills. While such relationships take time, negotiation, and ongoing attention, it is striking that in responding to a call for a bold solution that can effectively use a $100 million investment right away, so many organizations have chosen to make a safer bet on partnerships—by proposing existing partnerships or creating new ones.
That said, one organization advancing a solution is certainly feasible as well. Either approach is viable. Indeed, the first two awardees of 100&Change represent these alternatives: Ahlan Simsim is a collaboration between Sesame Workshop and the International Rescue Committee, and Community Solutions is a single organization.
This spring, we will announce our Finalists and introduce their proposals and bold ideas. Whatever the outcome of the competition, we are intrigued by the increased number of partnerships and think it is something donors ought to pay attention to as they pursue big-bet-style opportunities.
