[2][3] The organization has funded a wide range of studies and programs in health care, education reform, criminal justice, and initiatives in open science and metascience.
[11] The Arnolds apply an investment management approach to philanthropy, targeting a significant portion of their giving toward high-risk efforts with the potential to drive long-term change, while also supporting established institutions to sustain their ongoing work.
[17] These grants are funding studies on topics such as background check laws, the role of firearms in domestic violence, gun-carrying by high-risk youth, and police training for high-stakes situations.
[17] In June 2020, Arnold Ventures donated $2.7 million to the University of California, Irvine (UCI) to study the sources and consequences of prison violence in seven states.
[18] As of April 2021, the organization had committed $7.8 million to COVID-19-related criminal justice grants, supporting initiatives such as alternatives to arrest, pretrial reforms, and the release of vulnerable inmates.
[19] The foundation funded Data-Driven Justice, a program initiated by the Obama administration in 2016 to identify repeat low-level offenders with substance abuse or mental health issues and provide targeted interventions.
[11] In May 2012, Reuters reported that the Laura and John Arnold Foundation had committed $20 million over five years to an initiative called StudentsFirst, led by Michelle Rhee, former head of the Washington, D.C. public school system.
[29][30] Arnold Ventures partnered with other organizations to create The City Fund in 2018, a nonprofit focused on improving public schools using the portfolio model.
[38] In July 2014, the Arnold Foundation donated $2.8 million to the Center for Public Integrity to support a project focused on state campaign finance.
Arnold Ventures’ work through ICER has been praised for standardizing drug pricing but has faced criticism for potentially limiting investment in treatments for elderly patients or those with rare diseases.
[40] In January 2021, the organization helped fund the Action Collaborative on Countering the U.S. Opioid Epidemic, formed by the National Academy of Medicine and the Aspen Institute to address the risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to people with substance use disorders and chronic pain.
[41] One of the first projects funded by the foundation was research into obesity, inspired by John Arnold's interest after hearing an interview with Gary Taubes on the EconTalk podcast.
[2] This led to a $4.7 million seed grant to the Nutrition Science Initiative (NuSI), a nonprofit co-founded by Taubes and Peter Attia to investigate the causes of obesity.