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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?”
Selected from over 600 applications, the LEGO Foundation’s Build a World of Play Challenge will fund five ground-breaking projects that will ensure children globally reach their full potential through play.
To date, Lever for Change has unlocked over $1 billion in funding for high-impact solutions and strengthened dozens of top organizations.
In March 2022, over 350 colleges, universities, high schools, primary schools, and other institutions in more than 60 countries – and over 50,000 people – participated in the WorldWide Teach-in on Climate and Justice.
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.
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.
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.
Lever for Change announced nonpartisan civic engagement nonprofit IGNITE as the recipient of a $10,000 grant to support partnerships to shift power to young women to become the next generation of social justice leaders.
Throughout history, competitions have produced innovative ideas, creative solutions, and even new industries. In 1795, for example, Napoleon Bonaparte launched the Food Preservation Prize seeking a safe way to store food. Nicolas Francois Appert eventually won the prize (12,000 francs, equivalent to about $36,000 today) for his solution, which sealed boiled food in airtight champagne bottles. And in 1927, after crossing the Atlantic Ocean in one flight, Charles Lindbergh won the $25,000 Orteig Prize, originally launched in 1919 as “a stimulus to courageous aviators.”