An estimated 60,000 barrels of oil per day poured into the Gulf of Mexico for nearly three months, for a total of about 134 million gallons by the time the leak was capped. For comparison, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill, one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history, released 11 million gallons into Alaska's Prince William Sound.

The Deepwater Horizon spill harmed marine life and wrecked land, wildlife and ecosystems in the states ordering the Gulf — and also temporarily shut down the Gulf's multibillion-dollar fisheries industry. A criminal lawsuit against the five companies involved resulted in a nearly $21 billion settlement, most of which Congress ordered to be used for the ecological and economic recovery of the region.

Some $500 million of the settlement went to create the Gulf Research Program, which is administered by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. With the funds in a fixed endowment to be spent over 30 years, the program supports research into topics like offshore oil protection, the Gulf environment and the broad health and resilience of the people living in Gulf communities.

Now, to further advance those goals, the Gulf Research Program has added a new arrow to its quiver: It’s earmarked $50 million of the Deepwater Horizon settlement fund to launch the Gulf Futures Challenge, a competition — open to residents and organizations in the Gulf states — to develop ways to ensure that this and future generations of the region can thrive in a healthy and sustainable manner. MacArthur Foundation affiliate Lever for Change is managing the challenge, which is open for registration through August 20.

"Sometimes, the people who have the best ideas for change are the people who are living through it," said Lauren Alexander Augustine, executive director of the Gulf Research Program. "Look ahead and ask, 20 or 30 years from now, what do you want your community to look like? What do you think it could be? What do you think it should be?"

“You have to look at it as a whole”

Nonprofits, along with state, local and tribal governments, as well as academic institutions, are eligible to participate in the challenge as lead organizations, with partnerships and collaborations encouraged. Lead organizations must be based within Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi or Texas, and proposed projects should occur within 100 miles of the Gulf coastline. The challenge asks that “proposals should bridge knowledge to action to produce inclusive, innovative and transformative solutions to the key challenges facing the Gulf region.” The proposed solutions must address these regional challenges through the use of science, engineering and medical knowledge.

The Gulf region, Augustine said, is a complicated one, where oil and gas industries operate side by side with shipping, fishing and other economic activities. One community, for example, may have sensitivities around oil and gas and the energy transition, while others are concerned with climate change, disasters like flooding, or fishing, or shipping and navigation, and so on. "But in the Gulf, all of those things are in that one place, and they all interact with each other," she said. "So, when you talk about impact, you have to look at it as a whole, because the different pieces don't operate in a vacuum."

You may have assumed the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine — collectively called The National Academies — are government agencies. They are not. Although they are congressionally chartered, each academy is a private nonprofit organization that provides expert science, engineering and medical advice on pressing challenges to shape policies, inform the public and advance research. The academies educate and advise on topics like climate, COVID-19, DEI, AI and other topics.

The latest from Lever for Change

As mentioned, the Gulf Futures Challenge will be managed by Lever for Change, created in 2019 by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation as a nonprofit affiliate to help donors and donor organizations make philanthropic investments through competitive challenges.

Last year, my Inside Philanthropy colleague Mike Scutari reviewed Lever for Change, then in its fourth year in operation. As IP has noted there and in other articles, Lever for Change was established in the aftermath of the first iteration of 100&Change, MacArthur’s initiative to award big commitments of $100 million to proposals that address critical problems; now in its third round, 100&Change is now also being managed by Lever for Change.

The Gulf Futures Challenge is the latest of the Lever for Change challenges (which include the latest two rounds of 100&Change as well as MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving Open Call, which wrapped up this spring.)

Like the Gulf Futures Challenge, most Lever for Change challenges award a minimum of $10 million to help the donors advance solutions for pressing social needs. But unlike philanthropic prizes in which one winner takes all, Lever for Change challenges typically award several winners: In the Gulf Futures Challenge, up to 10 finalists will receive up to $1 million each in project development support and technical assistance to strengthen their proposals. Two of the finalists will be selected to receive awards of $20 million each to implement their solutions.

IP has commented a number of times about the value of philanthropic prize programs, compared with traditional grantmaking. Chief among the criticisms of prizes is that they can waste the time and resources of the entrants who don't win — and that certainly is a risk.

But Lever for Change has shown that doesn't have to be the case: The organization aims to help promising challenge entrants succeed, for example, by inviting all finalists to become members of its Bold Solutions Network, which it describes as a growing global network of funders that helps members secure additional funding and amplify their impact. Since challenge finalists have already been vetted and evaluated through the Lever for Change program, the idea is that they’re in a better position for relatively immediate funding from other funders.

While the debate over their merits will continue, philanthropic competitions have their place alongside traditional grantmaking — particularly in cases where funders are open to a wide range of ideas rather than narrowly prescribing the nonprofit work they want to support. In the Gulf Futures Challenge, which, rather than offering funding with a specific objective in mind, presents a very broad, open-ended goal — what might a healthy and thriving community look like for years to come? It seems like an appropriate approach.

This article originally appeared in Inside Philanthropy on August 1, 2024.