TED's Audacious Project raises $1B from donors in 2 days

The collaborative funded over a dozen nonprofits tackling major challenges

Published on Feb. 24, 2026

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Last October, 35 major donor families committed $1.03 billion to more than a dozen nonprofits through The Audacious Project, a collaborative housed at TED. The funding will support initiatives spanning multiple years and addressing major challenges like homelessness, healthcare, and climate change. The donors met in person to decide how much to give to each group, with some organizations receiving a second round of funding.

Why it matters

The Audacious Project's ability to raise $1 billion in just two days highlights the potential for collaborative philanthropy to quickly fund large-scale, ambitious nonprofit initiatives. By bringing together major donors and helping nonprofits refine their pitches, the project aims to support solutions developed by those closest to the problems.

The details

The Audacious Project announced the winning nonprofits after spending over a year selecting the groups and helping them sharpen their pitches. This year's grantees include Destination: Home, which will expand its homeless prevention services to multiple U.S. cities, and the Arc Institute, a new research group developing a virtual cell model to identify Alzheimer's treatments. Other recipients include Tiko, which provides services for teenage girls in Africa, and Last Mile Health, which will train more community health workers and support domestic health funding in African countries.

  • In October 2025, 35 major donor families committed $1.03 billion to The Audacious Project.
  • The Audacious Project announced the winning nonprofits on Tuesday, February 24, 2026.

The players

The Audacious Project

A collaborative housed at TED that brings together major donor families to fund large-scale nonprofit initiatives.

Jennifer Loving

CEO of the San Jose-based nonprofit Destination: Home, which received funding to expand its homeless prevention services.

Connie Ballmer

Cofounder of Ballmer Group and a donor to The Audacious Project since 2021.

Serah Joy Malaba

Co-CEO of the nonprofit Tiko, which received funding to expand its services for teenage girls in Africa.

Tegan Acton

Cofounder of Wildcard Giving, a donor to The Audacious Project.

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What they’re saying

“It's not for the faint of heart to work on this issue in America. And so you kind of brace yourself. You never know if people are going to see what you see and it was beautiful. It was really beautiful.”

— Jennifer Loving, CEO of Destination: Home (Associated Press)

“Nowhere that I know of can you raise a billion dollars in two days. For an organization to raise an amount — whether it's $40, $60, $80 million, I mean, do you know how long that takes them to do that kind of fundraising?”

— Connie Ballmer, Cofounder of Ballmer Group (Associated Press)

“Going through this process was probably one of the most rigorous things we've ever done. I can say with total confidence that it made us smarter.”

— Jennifer Loving, CEO of Destination: Home (Associated Press)

What’s next

The Audacious Project plans to continue expanding its network of major donor families and supporting innovative nonprofit initiatives in the coming years.

The takeaway

The Audacious Project's ability to quickly raise $1 billion from major donors demonstrates the power of collaborative philanthropy to fund large-scale solutions to complex social and environmental challenges. By bringing together diverse funders and helping nonprofits refine their proposals, the project aims to support impactful initiatives developed by those closest to the problems.