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 entrenched social considerations in broad fields essential to our philanthropy. The first round of Big Bet strategies has begun to come to a close: 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 persistent challenges, guided by our mission to build a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. Local News was the first new program to launch in 2024, and others will follow.

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, and incorporates feedback and ideas from inside and outside the Foundation. We use grantmaking and administrative resources to explore and experiment. The Board of Directors makes 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 we 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 and 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.

The New Work team has engaged Frontline Solutions as their evaluation and learning partner to support documenting, assessing, and improving its processes. 

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