New Work

Beginning in 2015, MacArthur established a roadmap for grantmaking via three new modes: Big Bets, aimed at audacious solutions to era-defining challenges; Enduring Commitments, designed to support areas intrinsic to the Foundation’s identity; and Field Support, focused on entrenching social considerations in broad fields essential to our philanthropy. We determined that Big Bets would be time-limited in nature, while our Enduring Commitments and Field Support programs would be responsive to emerging conditions in the world, improve our understanding of effective interventions, and incorporate updated grantmaking tools. Over the coming years, we will bring to a close our strategies in Nuclear Challenges (2023), On Nigeria (2024), Criminal Justice (2025), and Climate Solutions (2026).

As each of our Big Bet strategies approaches its scheduled end, we are developing new work and strategies to respond to similar or other persistent challenges, guided by our mission to build a more just, verdant, and peaceful world.

The New Work team—established in 2022—is exploring and bringing onboard new areas of work, looking for new ways of working, and encouraging more cross-program collaboration as we strive for greater impact.

Our process of exploring new work is iterative and rooted in participatory practices, incorporating feedback, sourcing, and generating ideas from within and outside the Foundation. We will use grantmaking and administrative resources to explore and experiment. The Board of Directors will make the final decision about new areas of work.

We will not reinstate program strategies that have ended, but we will leverage our assets, networks, and lessons learned to identify new areas and modes of work that respond to the moment and where MacArthur can make the greatest impact. New work may be related to our current areas of work, but it will not be a direct extension of it.

The Board has expressed an interest in identifying work that is ambitious, bold, creative, and strategic. We want to ensure new work aligns with our values, mission, and advances equity.

View all New Work Grants

Evaluation of our work is critical for informing our decision making, leading to better results and more effective stewardship of resources. We develop customized evaluation designs for each of our programs based on the context, problem, opportunity, and approach to the work. Evaluation is not a one-time event. It is an ongoing process of collecting feedback and using that information to support our grantees and adjust our strategy.

Findings and analyses from evaluation activities are posted publicly as they become available.

The New Work team will engage an evaluation and learning partner to support in documenting, assessing, and improving its processes.