I am excited to share that we are on track to reach our goal of leveraging $1 billion in funding for outstanding organizations this fall!
When we created Lever for Change in 2019, we set ourselves an ambitious target that few of us dared to believe we could reach during our four-year pilot program. Here we are, just three years later, anticipating this milestone event, ahead of schedule. We have many partners to thank and stories to tell in the next few months.
In the meantime, today we are celebrating the three recipients of the Stronger Democracy Award: Ballot Freedom Project: Building a Movement for Multiparty Democracy in America ($10 million); The Documenters Network: Civic Infrastructure for Connected Communities ($10 million); Civic Revolution: Building a Diverse Democracy ($2 million).
The crisis of democracy and representation that we face presents an opportunity to reimagine our systems and help our government more effectively represent all its citizens. We look forward to following the work of these recipients and hope to find more funding for all of the outstanding projects in this competition, as this type of large-scale, long-term funding remains all-too-rare in philanthropy.
To this end, we are excited to start showing the impact of the funding we have leveraged for challenge recipients and Bold Solutions Network members. We are kicking off a series of impact stories, starting with NEST360, whose team converted perceived failure into astonishing success. I strongly encourage you to read this article, as it is time well-spent. Look forward to another installment of this series in our next edition and let me know if you are interested in supporting NEST360 or other members of our Network.
"Many people work tirelessly behind the scenes to imagine and articulate big ideas, while others help evaluate and strengthen their proposals, so they stand a better chance of receiving funding."
Cecilia Conrad, CEO, Lever for Change
These stories of impact are great examples of all the big ideas that are coming from communities and organizations around the world. We are grateful for the tremendous response to our most recent challenges, the Build A World Of Play Challenge and the Maternal & Infant Health Award, both in terms of the applications we have received and the judges who have volunteered their time.
Many people work tirelessly behind the scenes to imagine and articulate big ideas, while others help evaluate and strengthen their proposals, so they stand a better chance of receiving funding. Our goal is to find funding for as many of these bold solutions as possible. Even though we’re close to reaching our initial goal of $1 billion, which is certainly cause for celebration, we will not rest on our laurels.
This fall, we look forward to sharing our next objectives and new challenges that we hope will inspire you to join our future efforts. Stay tuned!
Cecilia Conrad