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TED's Audacious Project raised $1.03 billion from donors in two days to fund major nonprofit projects
Summary
Last October, 35 major donor families in TED's Audacious Project committed $1.03 billion to more than a dozen nonprofits after a year-long selection and pitch process; winners were announced this week.
Content
Last October, 35 major donor families met in California under TED's Audacious Project and committed $1.03 billion to more than a dozen nonprofits. The collaborative, which is housed at TED, announced the winning grantees after spending more than a year selecting groups and helping them sharpen larger project pitches. Donors meet in person to decide final funding amounts, and the group expands by invitation. Participating donors are asked to be willing to commit at least $10 million to a funding round.
Key facts:
- The donors committed a reported $1.03 billion to more than a dozen nonprofit projects.
- The selection process took over a year and included helping finalists refine larger-scale proposals.
- Examples of funded projects mentioned include Destination: Home for expanding homeless prevention services, the Arc Institute for developing a virtual model of a cell aimed at aiding research into diseases such as Alzheimer’s, and Tiko to expand services for teenage girls including contraception, HIV services and responses to sexual violence.
- At least 35 major donor families joined the most recent round, and 55 families have participated in at least one round of the Audacious Project.
- Donors in the collaborative include long-standing philanthropists and families who commit large sums; participation is by invitation and many donors give more than the minimum after seeing others' commitments.
Summary:
The funding round is intended to provide multi-year support for selected, larger-scale nonprofit initiatives in areas such as homelessness prevention, biomedical research tools, and girls’ health services. How exactly the funds will be allocated over time and the detailed rollout plans were not specified publicly. Undetermined at this time.
