$100 million dollar grant funding opportunity for EA

The MacArthur foundation is giving away a grant of $100 million dollars to “fund a single proposal that promises real and measurable progress in solving a critical problem of our time”.

A key requirement is that “Your budget must be a minimum of $100 million to be considered” so it’s go big or go home. Obviously given this scale, only existing (and likely relatively large) organizations would be meaningful contenders.

Unfortunately, the deadline to register in order to be able to apply for this cycle has already closed (It was August 15th). Despite it being too late to apply for the 2024 grant cycle, this is the third time they have conducted this grant competition (with the prior rounds being in 2017 and 2021) and so I expect they will do so again in the near future (probably next 3-4 years based on previous rounds). Therefore, I wanted to share this grant so that anyone working at a organization that might be interested can bookmark this and be aware of it for future rounds. It’s worth being patient and strategic when the stakes are so big. 

For clarification, I have no affiliation with MacArthur, I just found this while researching philanthropic grants and thought that it could be a great opportunity for the right organization and wanted to share it with the EA community. An objective competition to win 100 million is pretty crazy and I think some EA orgs would be meaningful contenders at winning!

Application Details:

https://www.100andchange.org/application 

Examples of previous finalists:

Clinton Health Access Initiative & Murdoch Children’s Research Institute

Bringing life-saving oxygen therapy to children worldwide 

Community Solutions

Accelerating an end to homelessness in 75 U.S. communities in five years 

National Geographic Pristine Seas

Safeguarding and restoring the ocean’s health and productivity 

Project ECHO

Democratizing life-saving medical knowledge and care 

Report for America

Eliminating American news deserts 

World Mosquito Program

Protecting communities by preventing transmission of mosquito-borne disease 

Here is their scoring rubric that they use to evaluate entries:

https://www.100andchange.org/scoring 

There are 5 scoring dimensions and each applicant is given a score for these 1-5:

1. Impactful
   1. Does the proposal describe an urgent problem worth solving, and will the solution have a transformative impact? Is the proposal sufficiently ambitious either in its progress toward a solution; the size and number of communities served; the size of the geography served; or intensity of impact on a small but vulnerable population or geography?
2. Evidence-Based
   1. Does the proposal present evidence that the solution or its critical components have previously yielded practical and concrete results? Does the evidence suggest that the solution can be adapted to other contexts, such as expanding to new populations or geographies, or to reach a greater number of people over time, and still retain its effectiveness?
3. Feasible
   1. Does the team have skills, capacity, relationships, and experience to deliver its proposal? Do the budget and plans represent a realistic understanding for successful implementation? Does the mitigation plan address changes in key personnel and political, market, or social environments? Is community input incorporated throughout design, implementation, and evaluation?
4. Durable
   1. Will the solution have a sustained impact? Does the solution either expect to solve a problem in five years or create a pathway to solving the problem over time? Will the project elicit support from other sources—private, philanthropic, or public? Has the team advanced a clear, cogent, and compelling vision for the future?
5. Just
   1. Has the team demonstrated a commitment to equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the ideation and design of the solution and in its staffing and operations? Will the solution benefit different populations equitably—particularly historically marginalized populations or populations with the greatest needs, both human and nonhuman?
   2. A note about the “Just” requirement from elsewhere on their website: We believe there is no topic that is exempt or excluded from these commitments, and so this criterion is not a barrier to entry.

In addition to scoring each application on the five criteria in the scoring rubric, applicants will also provide a final numerical score, ranging between 0-100, representing an overall assessment of quality for the entire application.