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For the last two years, we have worked with the Center for High Impact Philanthropy (CHIP) at the University of Pennsylvania to develop a toolkit called “Choosing Change: How to Assess Grant Proposals for Their Potential to Address Structural Inequality.” This free resource includes recommendations and criteria that can help donors who wish to identify ideas and proposals that have the best chance of reducing structural inequalities.

A plan to reduce Africa’s infant mortality fell short of winning the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s first $100 million competition. Then plan leaders took their show back on the road.

Launched on March 8, 2022—International Women’s Day—the Maternal & Infant Health Award, sponsored by The Patchwork Collective, is a $10 million grant competition to help improve maternal and infant health outcomes around the world.

Global competition launched in the LEGO® brand’s 90th year seeks transformational ideas to help solve the biggest global challenges facing birth to six-year-olds

The $22 million Stronger Democracy Award will drive structural reforms to help improve political representation and increase the participation of all citizens in the United States’ democratic process.
Lever for Change will celebrate its third birthday this month and we have much to celebrate. When we launched in 2019, we hoped to accelerate solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems by encouraging problem solvers to think big and by connecting those big ideas with donors willing to support them with large, multi-year grants of more than $10 million. Our team of six had serious doubts about whether we would succeed. Nonetheless, we set out with the ambitious goal of driving $1 billion in philanthropic funding to outstanding organizations by 2023.
To date, Lever for Change has unlocked $805 million in funding for high-impact solutions and strengthened dozens of top organizations.

In December 2020, premier technology workforce development organization Per Scholas was announced as the awardee of the $10 million Economic Opportunity Challenge. Their “Proven Pathways to Transformative Careers in Tech” project will improve economic opportunities for low-income individuals within the United States.

Lever for Change announced nonprofit microlending platform JUST as the recipient of the inaugural Jack Dilenschneider Award for Social Justice.

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.