More than 20% of the world’s greenhouse-gas emissions are a result of deforestation in the developing world. Local people only control about 30% of the forests there.

The Ford Foundation is funding programs designed to double community ownership of forests over the next 20 years.

Each year, about 250 schools, hospitals, art organizations and community groups across the Pacific Northwest receive more than $30 million in grants from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust.

Last year, it helped the Mount Baker Theatre bring world-renowned performers to Bellingham, Wash.; an Alaskan town restore a native chief’s house; and Saint Martin’s University build a new applied sciences building.

More than 20% of California’s high-school students don’t graduate in four years.

Linked Learning is a proven approach to education backed by the James Irvine Foundation that combines rigorous academics with real-world learning opportunities and personalized support.

“Students who participate in Linked Learning tend to have higher test scores and graduate at a higher rate than their peers.”— Anne Stanton, Youth Program Director

The work done at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology changes the world. MIT graduates invented the transistor radio, email and vacuum-cleaning robots, among countless other breakthroughs.

The school’s endowment helps fund cutting-edge research to reimagine transportation, eradicate cancer, improve cyber security and create robotic prosthetic devices for amputees.

To ensure that the next generation of science and engineering leaders come from diverse backgrounds, MIT provides financial aid to more than 60% of students.

For years, educational organizations in the developing world focused on building schools and hiring teachers. But while more students now attend school, many aren’t learning—especially students from poorer backgrounds who start behind and never catch up.

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation works with organizations in India and Africa to develop programs that ensure all students receive a quality education. Early results are promising.

The Smithsonian Institution has an ambitious goal to sequence the DNA of every life form on the planet.

The museums of the world have been collecting biodiversity for centuries and sticking it on a shelf. But recent breakthroughs in genomics allow for so much more.

Understanding the makeup of these organisms could lead to the discoveries of new drugs or help identify the outbreak of new diseases.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute
At Janelia Farm, 300 scientists in more than 50 labs are trying to unlock the secrets of human consciousness by conducting the basic research critical for future breakthroughs. “It’s a 50- to 100-year problem,” says Gerry Rubin, the research center’s executive director.

One lab visualized the activity of all the neurons in the brain of a zebrafish. Others study fruit flies and develop next-generation imaging technology. Scientists today still know so little about the human brain and the discoveries made at Janelia Farm are important early steps.

Boston Children’s Hospital serves as a safety-net hospital for the most critically-ill children and those from low-income families. It’s also one of the few places pioneering new treatments for minors.

One team of researchers at Children’s developed a way to keep patients’ brains functioning—even when their hearts and lungs have stopped—by injecting oxygen bubbles directly into their blood.

Children’s surgeons also developed a way to help children born with half a heart essentially grow a whole one.