100&Change was a competition created by the MacArthur Foundation to give a $100 million grant to fund one proposal that promises real and measurable progress in solving a critical problem. It was created to solve problems that cannot be solved by typically-sized grants awarded to foundations. This competition was open to proposals from any organization worldwide, without restrictions on the problem being addressed or the location of work. The only major criteria were that the work have a charitable purpose, and that there be evidence of the proposed solution’s effectiveness. Sesame Workshop and International Rescue Committee (IRC)’s joint proposal won, but countless other proposals showed promise.
In partnership with MacArthur, we developed the 100&Change Solutions Bank, a public, searchable database of all the proposals on the competition site. This bank brings greater visibility to these ideas and hopefully sparks greater collaboration and learning among organizations tackling similar challenges.