New Work - MacArthur Foundation
Forecasted
New Work supports organizations through MacArthur Foundation grantmaking that explores emerging or persistent challenges and new approaches to advance equity and a more just, verdant, and peaceful world.
Funder: MacArthur Foundation
Due Dates (Anticipated): January 2027 (Application deadline, anticipated)
Funding Amounts: $71 million invested across 99 grants to 83 organizations since 2022
Summary: New Work explores emerging challenges and new approaches to grantmaking that advance equity and a more just, verdant, and peaceful world.
Key Information: New Work will not reinstate ended program strategies or directly extend current work.
Description
New Work is the MacArthur Foundation’s initiative to explore and develop new areas of grantmaking in response to emerging or persistent challenges. Established in 2022, the team uses grantmaking and administrative resources to experiment with new approaches and encourage cross-program collaboration. The Foundation seeks ambitious, bold, creative, and strategic work aligned with its mission and values that advances equity.
The initiative’s participatory, iterative process incorporates ideas and feedback from inside and outside the Foundation, drawing on its assets, networks, and lessons learned. The Board of Directors makes final decisions about new areas of work. Programs emerging from this process include Local News, launched in 2024, and Native Self-Determination and AI Opportunity, launched in 2025.
