Gaining on $100 million MacArthur grant

Rollins researchers have submitted two of the highest-scoring proposals, designated as the Top 100, in the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s 100&Change competition for a single $100 million grant to help solve one of the world's most critical social challenges. One of the proposals, Destination Zero, led by Dr. K.M. Venkat Narayan, aims at lowering rates of hypertension and diabetes in India and could ultimately impact 100 million people (or more).

The other proposal, Impacting Generations: The Transformative Power of Large-Scale Food Fortification is led by Nutrition International and includes Godfrey Oakley and Vijaya Kancherla. This project proposes to support countries with the highest burden of anemia and birth defects to implement large-scale food fortification with two micronutrients—iron and folic acid.

Both entries have been chosen for “Lever for Change”—a process that socializes worthy proposals across a vast range of philanthropies. The top 100 applicants represent the top 21 percent of competition submissions. The vetting involved multiple steps including an administrative review, peer-to-peer review, an evaluation by an external panel of judges, and a technical review by subject matter specialists.

Best known for its MacArthur Fellowships or Genius Grants, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation began the 100&Change competition to find and fund a single proposal that helps solve one of the world’s most critical social challenges.

The competition is held once every three years. Since the first contest in 2017, other funders and philanthropists have committed an additional $419 million to date to support bold solutions by 100&Change applicants.