MacArthur Foundation to award $100 million to problem solver

CHICAGO -- A Chicago-based nonprofit is offering a $100 million grant to a single proposal designed to help solve a critical problem affecting people, places or the planet.

The MacArthur Foundation launched the new competition, called 100&Change, on Thursday. The foundation plans to name up to five finalists by next summer and announce a winner by early 2018.

The competition is seeking meaningful, verifiable, durable and feasible proposals. It's open to organizations working in any field of endeavor anywhere in the world. The applicants must be able to identify the problem they're trying to solve and explain their solution.

The $100 million prize is the MacArthur Foundation's biggest individual grant via a competition in the realms of public-spiritedness and altruism.