The Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation will place its $100 million “big bet” on an organization looking to solve a social problem outside of the United States.
The foundation whittled thousands of applications down to about 800 by the end of 2016, and has now announced a slate of eight semi-finalists for the grant:
- Catholic Relief Services: Changing how society cares for children in orphanages
- Himalayan Cataract: Eliminating needless blindness in Nepal, Ethiopia and Ghana
- Human Diagnosis Project: Providing virtual access to specialist medical care for underserved U.S. patients
- HarvestPlus: Eliminating hidden hunger in Africa by fortifying staple crops
- Internet Archive: Providing libraries and learners free digital access to four million books
- Sesame Workshop and International Rescue Committee: Educating children displaced by conflict and persecution
- Rice University: Improving newborn survival in Africa
- The Carter Center: Eliminating river blindness in Nigeria
MacArthur embarked on the 100&Change Initiative in 2016 with the intention of providing a single huge grant to “fund a single proposal that will make measurable progress toward solving a significant problem.”
MacArthur will eventually publish a database containing all of the several hundred proposals that came in.