What Lever for Change does

Lever for Change is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2019 as an affiliate of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The organization designs and manages customized open calls — challenge competitions through which philanthropic funders identify and award grants to vetted, high-impact nonprofit organizations addressing significant social problems. Its core offering is the Bold Solutions Network, which combines open call programs (such as 100&Change, Racial Equity 2030, Build a World of Play, Gulf Futures Challenge, and Action for Women's Health), a vetted membership community of 500+ organizations, and curated thematic collections. Since founding, the organization has facilitated more than $2.5 billion in grant awards across 450+ awards to high-impact organizations worldwide. The web platform (leverforchange.org) functions as the primary infrastructure for hosting open calls, managing applications, showcasing awardees, and connecting donors with vetted solutions.

The organization's business model is donation- and grant-funded rather than revenue-generating. It does not charge fees to applicants, member organizations, or beneficiaries. Instead, operating costs are covered by grants from its parent MacArthur Foundation and program partners, while separate philanthropic capital flows through Lever for Change's challenges to awardee organizations. Funder partners include foundations (W.K. Kellogg Foundation, LEGO Foundation, Pivotal, Enlight Foundation), corporations (Capital One and Capital One Foundation), government-adjacent programs (National Academies' Gulf Research Program), and individual philanthropists (Reid Hoffman). The organization serves two primary segments: (1) funders seeking curated, rigorously evaluated giving opportunities to deploy capital against specific social challenges, and (2) applicant nonprofits seeking access to large-scale, flexible philanthropic capital. Geographic reach is explicitly global, with submissions sourced from 72+ countries and awardees operating across multiple continents.

Operational scope includes major recent challenges with capital pools ranging from $10 million to $250 million, an executive team led by CEO Cecilia Conrad and President Kristen Molyneaux, and external recognition including the 2025 TIME100 Philanthropy list and the 2025 InterAction Disability Inclusion Award. The organization is governed as an independent nonprofit affiliate of MacArthur rather than a subsidiary, with programmatic and reputational ties to its founding foundation.

Name

Lever for Change

Legal name

Lever for Change

Website

https://leverforchange.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit affiliate of the MacArthur Foundation that designs and manages customized open calls and challenge competitions connecting philanthropic funders with vetted, high-impact nonprofit organizations worldwide through its Bold Solutions Network, having facilitated $2.5B+ in grants since 2019.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Philanthropic Funding and Grants: Lever for Change is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that operates through philanthropic partnerships. The organization receives funding from foundations (MacArthur Foundation as parent affiliate, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, LEGO Foundation, etc.), individual philanthropists (Reid Hoffman), and corporations (Capital One). Revenue comes in the form of grants and donations rather than service fees.
2. Open Call Management Services: Lever for Change creates and manages customized open calls for funders. While they are a nonprofit, they facilitate significant grant disbursements through their challenge programs. The organization does not charge fees to applicants or beneficiaries but is funded by donors who use their platform to identify and fund high-impact solutions.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Lever for Change creates customized open calls and tailored funding opportunities to connect donors (foundations, philanthropists, corporations) with high-impact nonprofit organizations. Through challenge competitions such as 100&Change, Racial Equity 2030, and Build a World of Play, the organization facilitates the awarding of large-scale grants using a rigorous, expert-led evaluation process. The Bold Solutions Network connects vetted awardees with additional funding opportunities and ongoing support beyond initial awards.

Product overview

Lever for Change operates as a nonprofit philanthropy organization that creates customized open calls and funding opportunities to connect donors with bold organizations working on global challenges. The organization does not offer a traditional SaaS product but rather facilitates funding competitions through its Bold Solutions Network platform, which includes open calls (such as 100&Change, Racial Equity 2030, and Build a World of Play Challenge) and a membership program for vetted organizations. These programs work together to match donor capital with high-impact solutions identified through rigorous evaluation processes.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Bold Solutions Network: A growing global network that helps secure additional funding for organizations, amplifies members' impact, and accelerates social change. Top-ranked teams and challenge finalists become members of this network.

Products and services

• Open Calls / Challenges Customized funding competitions designed to identify and support bold solutions to significant social challenges. Programs include 100&Change, Racial Equity 2030, Build a World of Play Challenge, Gulf Futures Challenge, Action for Women's Health, Scaling Pathways to Homeownership, and the Trust in American Institutions Challenge. Open calls are designed in partnership with funders (foundations, philanthropists, corporations) and surface high-impact organizations through rigorous expert-led evaluation.
• Bold Solutions Network A growing global network that connects donors with high-impact organizations that have been rigorously evaluated through Lever for Change open calls. The network helps secure additional funding for member organizations, amplifies their impact through ongoing support, and provides visibility with potential donors across philanthropic and corporate giving communities.

Quantifiable outcome

• More than $2.5 billion awarded through open calls since 2019
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered major, core and supporting.

• National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Gulf Research ProgrammajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 23 April 2026The Gulf Research Program partnered with Lever for Change on the Gulf Futures Challenge, awarding $20 million each to Louisiana Public Health Institute and Gulf Offshore Research Institute for Gulf Coast resilience.
• PivotalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 November 2025Pivotal partnered with Lever for Change on the $250 million Action for Women's Health initiative, a global open call that surfaced 80+ awardees across six continents working on women's health solutions.
• Every.orgsupportingTechnology or Integration · 7 April 2025Lever for Change launched a donation tool powered by Every.org to connect donors with bold, vetted solutions. This partnership expands philanthropic reach and global impact through technology integration.
• The LEGO FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 February 2022The LEGO Foundation partnered with Lever for Change to launch the $143 million (900 million Danish Kroner) Build A World Of Play Challenge, focused on early childhood development. The challenge awarded bold solutions to improve children's lives through play-based learning.
• W.K. Kellogg FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 October 2020W.K. Kellogg Foundation partnered with Lever for Change to launch Racial Equity 2030, a call for bold solutions to drive an equitable future. The $80 million challenge received 1,453 submissions from 72 countries.
• Bold Solutions Network Member OrganizationscoreOthersThe Bold Solutions Network includes hundreds of vetted nonprofit organizations that have been highly ranked in Lever for Change competitions. Network members receive ongoing support, funding connections, and peer learning opportunities.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Ashoka: Ashoka is a global nonprofit that identifies and invests in leading social entrepreneurs through a rigorous selection process, mirroring LfC's rigorous vetting and network-building approach.
• Echoing Green: Echoing Green is a nonprofit that identifies and funds social entrepreneurs through fellowship and challenge programs, directly comparable to Lever for Change's model of running open call competitions to surface and fund high-impact leaders.
• New Profit: New Profit is a venture philanthropy organization that funds and supports social innovators through tailored funding and capacity-building, operating in a similar intermediary space as LfC.
• Skoll Foundation: The Skoll Foundation funds social entrepreneurs and operates large-scale award programs (e.g., Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship) to identify and support bold solutions, paralleling LfC's challenge competition model.
• Blue Meridian Partners: Blue Meridian Partners is a philanthropy intermediary that pools capital from multiple funders and deploys large-scale, multi-year bets on high-impact nonprofits — directly comparable to LfC's large challenge competitions.
• Audacious Project: The Audacious Project (housed at TED) curates and funds bold, large-scale solutions by connecting philanthropists with vetted high-impact projects — a closely analogous model to LfC's open calls and Bold Solutions Network.

Broad incumbents

• MacArthur Foundation: As LfC's founding affiliate and a major grantmaker, MacArthur Foundation operates broadly in philanthropy with a far larger endowment and program portfolio, but LfC operates as a specialized spin-out serving multiple funders.
• Ford Foundation: Ford Foundation is a major global grantmaking foundation with significant programs in racial equity, economic opportunity, and governance — an area where LfC also runs targeted competitions like Racial Equity 2030.

Others

• GiveDirectly: GiveDirectly is a high-profile nonprofit that has been an LfC Bold Solutions Network member/awardee, representing the type of vetted organization LfC surfaces and funds through its competitions.
• Submittable: Submittable is a SaaS application management platform widely used for grant applications and challenge submissions; LfC's incoming VP of Operations Sam Caplan previously led social impact at Submittable, illustrating technology adjacency.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/LeverforChange
• Facebookfacebook.com/LeverforChange
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/leverforchange
• Instagraminstagram.com/lever4change

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments3 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Lever for Change