COVID-19 response
What if we could accelerate scientific discovery and the development of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments?
Fast Grants
In the race to find COVID-19 treatments and vaccines, there’s an unprecedented need for scientific exploration and discovery and fast. Fast Grants has developed an innovative model to expedite research critically needed to save lives and safely reopen economies.
What if we could deploy a fully remote model to deliver cash support to the world’s most poor during the pandemic?
GiveDirectly
The pandemic is hampering humanitarian systems that typically address major disasters, the ability to deliver aid in person has never been more complicated. GiveDirectly has developed a method to provide direct cash assistance to 300,000 people in need in Sub-Saharan Africa using mobile and satellite technologies.
What if we could equip Black communities to scale emergency relief to reach those hardest hit by COVID-19?
Harlem Children's Zone
African Americans have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Harlem Children's Zone has pioneered a comprehensive approach to provide comprehensive neighborhood-level emergency response and recovery support to Black communities across the U.S.
What if a virtual-mentoring platform could better equip health workers around the world in the fight against COVID-19?
Project Echo
To fight COVID-19 the health community needs to mount a coordinated effort in preparing clinicians and local health workers. Project ECHO will develop a global hub of COVID-19 content and resources, empowering healthcare workers with critical knowledge and skills in 16 countries.
What if we could help U.S. cities provide immediate food relief and help sustain small businesses?
World Central Kitchen
An estimated 37 million Americans face hunger daily, World Central Kitchen has a bold plan to feed those in need, while providing relief for struggling small businesses during the pandemic.
2020 ideas
What if we built a global surveillance network to stop the next pandemic before it starts?
ACEGID + Broad Institute
In 2018 and 2019, 42% of all deaths from outbreaks reported by the WHO were in West and Central Africa. Sentinel, an early-warning outbreak system, will save thousands of lives each year—and help us to avert future pandemics.
What if we could lift millions of the world’s poorest people out of ultra-poverty?
BRAC
Nearly half of the world’s poorest people live in the most extreme form of poverty. BRAC developed the Graduation approach to tackle the multidimensional needs of the ultra-poor, helping them to build sustainable livelihoods.
What if we could deliver mental health support to anyone, anywhere via text message?
Crisis Text Line
1-in-4 people will be affected by mental disorders at one point in their lives and 300M+ are currently living with depression. Crisis Text Line is using technology to help people in crisis via text anywhere.
What if we could map one billion people currently missing from the world’s maps?
Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team
There are currently one billion people who live in places that are not on the map. HOT will engage one million volunteers to map places home to one billion people living in poverty or at high risk of disaster.
What if we could have meaningful communication with another species and reshape our relationship with life on Earth?
Project CETI
Humanity is at a critical turning point. To survive, we must reshape our relationship with nature. Project CETI aims to deepen our ties to animals by seeking to understand sperm whale communication – and eventually talk back
2019 ideas
What if science could eliminate racial bias in policing?
Center for Policing Equity
In the US today, Black people are two to four times more likely to be targets of police force than White people. Center for Policing Equity works with police departments and communities one city at a time, using smart data capture to fuel measurable behavior change.
What if we could empower more than one million girls to enter the classroom?
Educate Girls
When girls get an education, their lives improve — as do the lives of their families and communities. Educate Girls has a bold plan to get 1.6 million girls in India into school, by going door-to-door in 35,000 villages and working to change collective mindsets.
What if we could harness the power of proteins to create the next generation of medicines and materials?
Institute for Protein Design
Until now, human beings have been unable to design new proteins. The Institute for Protein Design will lead the protein design revolution, becoming the “Bell Labs” of the field and taking on five grand challenges that could change how drugs, vaccines and materials are made.
What if plants can help slow climate change?
Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Plants naturally remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, converting it into oxygen and biomass. Salk Institute believes it can train plants to be even more productive, storing massive amounts of carbon for longer — and keeping atmospheric temperatures from rising.
What if we could massively reduce disease from parasitic worms in Africa?
The END Fund
More than 1.5 billion people in the world are currently at risk for parasitic worms, stymying their health and potential. The END Fund has a bold plan to disrupt worms’ hold on families, communities and economies — by amplifying a movement already in progress.
What if island nations’ debt could be restructured to protect vast areas of ocean?
The Nature Conservancy
Even if a country wants to protect its ocean, it doesn’t necessarily have the funding to do so. The Nature Conservancy has a brilliant idea that stands to protect 4 million square kilometers of ocean over the next five years.
What if every child came to school on day one ready to learn?
Waterford UPSTART
Kids without access to early education may start kindergarten already years behind their peers. Waterford’s UPSTART project will break through existing barriers, by coaching parents and providing personalized learning tools for every child.
2018 ideas
What if we hit the brakes on climate change by tracking gas emissions from space?
Environmental Defense Fund
Methane accounts for a quarter of the global warming we're experiencing today. By launching a satellite to measure its leakage, the Environmental Defense Fund will help corporations and governments take action.
What if we digitally empowered community health workers to make care available to all?
Living Goods + Last Mile Health
A billion people around the world currently lack access to health care. Through digital disruption, Living Goods and Last Mile Health will empower community health workers to fill the gap — while earning a living.
What if we could deliver college degrees and a pathway to earning and employment to refugees?
Southern New Hampshire University
Only 3 percent of the world’s 70 million displaced people have access to higher education. SNHU’s innovative model is providing self-paced, and affordable higher education to marginalized learners across the globe.
What if we ended the injustice of automatic jail time for those who can’t afford bail?
The Bail Project
On any given night, more than 450,000 people in the United States sleep in jail cells because they don't have enough money to pay bail. The Bail Project is a self-sustaining model to make criminal justice fair for all.
What if we explored the ocean’s vast twilight zone, teeming with undiscovered life?
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The twilight zone is a mysterious part of the ocean that may hold a million new species, and 90 percent of the world's fish biomass. Woods Hole hopes to explore the region — before commercial fishers do.
