Today, we’re thrilled to announce an anonymous donor from the ICONIQ Impact community has contributed an additional $10 million to the Stronger Democracy Award, bringing its total to $22 million! Two finalists will receive a $10 million grant, the first from Additional Ventures and the second from the anonymous donor. A third finalist will receive a $2 million grant from philanthropists Cipora and Vlado Herman.

Since the inception of Lever for Change in 2019, we have developed and managed nine large-scale challenges to change the world. Working tirelessly toward our goal to unlock $1 billion in philanthropic giving by 2023, we have partnered with dozens of donors and amplified the work of hundreds of people and organizations with bold solutions to address the most intractable problems of our time.

Four Finalist Projects Receive Additional Funding to Improve the Quality of Life of Texans

At Lever for Change, we prioritize ensuring that our processes and approaches provide value and raise the visibility of bold solutions. While we continued to learn, evolve, and improve over the past year, we have seen strong evidence that being a member of the Bold Solutions Network proves valuable not only for teams who ultimately receive an award, but for all members.

Time flies. It’s been just over a year since our team at Lever for Change launched the Bold Solutions Network. Born of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s 100&Change competition for $100 million, Lever for Change unlocks capital that might otherwise remain on the sidelines. We embolden donors to make larger grants than are typical in philanthropy—$10 million or more—through customized competitions, which provide the opportunity for donors, nonprofits, and social entrepreneurs to connect and solve global challenges together. We then amplify the top-ranked solutions in our Bold Solutions Network to catalyze investments in outstanding teams and accelerate large-scale social change.

On April 7, six teams gave their final pitch to win $100 million in the MacArthur Foundation’s second 100&Change competition. That same day, five of them learned they lost. These teams will all keep working after the recipient is announced, but this loss cuts deep. I know, because I was part of a team that “lost” in the final round of the first 100&Change competition.

As a family of national civil society organizations, Asylum Access believes in the power of “proximate” solutions: we know from our experiences that those closest to experiences of displacement are best placed to confront the obstacles that face their communities. As the movement for refugee leadership in response to refugee issues grew stronger, and the calls for refugee participation made it into prominent spaces – like the (UN Refugee Agency) UNHCR’s 2019 Global Refugee Forum – Asylum Access looked inward and asked: Where do we fit? How do we help? By our assessment, the calls for change were surface-level and lacked pathways for implementation. We needed massive investment for system-wide change. At the time, it was hard to envision unlocking that kind of funding.

Resourcing Refugee Leadership Initiative Selected as $10M Award Recipient by Sponsors Chris Larsen and Lyna Lam.