As we celebrate Black History Month, it's important to take a moment to reflect on the experiences and struggles that have shaped the lives of African Americans throughout history. For our CEO, who grew up in segregated Texas during the Civil Rights Movement, these experiences were especially significant. In her blog post, she shares her journey and the challenges she faced as a young African American woman navigating a society still grappling with race and equality issues.

To honor and celebrate Black History Month, Lever for Change is highlighting outstanding U.S.-based projects in our Bold Solutions Network that are Black-led or support aspiring Black leaders. Join us in our celebration by learning more about and investing in one or more of the projects rigorously evaluated for impact and featured below.

Five years ago on a snowy Chicago day, the International Rescue Committee and Sesame Workshop made a pitch for the MacArthur Foundation’s inaugural 100&Change award. The competition would provide a historic $100 million to a project striving for measurable progress against solving a critical problem of our time: the impact of the war in Syria on children’s futures.

This was a big year for Lever for Change, capped off by our announcement that we exceeded our goal of driving $1 billion in funding to outstanding organizations with inspiring ideas. Since our launch in 2019, we have helped more than 145 organizations accelerate social impact. As we celebrated this milestone, we met many amazing people, virtually and in person, and, not surprisingly, the question we were asked most is, “How did you do it?”

Changing The Way We Care was a finalist in the MacArthur Foundation’s inaugural 100&Change challenge. Five years later, it’s sparking global momentum to reform institutionalized childcare.

Following the 2022 midterm elections, Lever for Change is highlighting outstanding projects in our Bold Solutions Network that aim to increase civic engagement and strengthen democracy. We invite you to support one or more of the rigorously-evaluated projects featured in the collection below.

In 2021, Lever for Change introduced the Swift Grants fund, to provide small grants to Bold Solutions Network members for collaborative projects. This fund provided an outlet for the world’s top problem solvers to leverage expertise and join forces to find creative solutions in their fields.

Sesame Workshop was the recipient of the MacArthur Foundation’s inaugural 100&Change challenge in December 2017 for its collaboration with the International Rescue Committee to create Ahlan Simsim, a show for a rising generation of children affected by conflict and displacement across the Middle East and North Africa. René Celaya of Sesame Workshop and Marianne Stone of International Rescue Committee share lessons learned from Ahlan Simsim's fourth year.

I am delighted and humbled to share the news that we have surpassed our initial goal of helping donors award $1 billion in funding! Since Lever for Change launched as a pilot project in 2019, our mission has been to help donors find and fund bold solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems.

Thanksgiving makes me think of pecan pie and pecan pie makes me think of pareto optimality. What can I tell you? I’m an economist.