While cleaning my home to prepare for a dinner guest last weekend I used my most persuasive skills to obtain help from my sons. It took a little effort, but to my amazement I was successful and working together made the job more efficient and even enjoyable. This outcome led me to ponder on the power of collaboration. A collaborative effort makes tiny tasks disappear, medium-sized projects manageable and the largest and most difficult work bearable. The funders I chose this week use the power of collaboration to address one of the most painful and prevalent issues in the world today – abuse.

This week’s pick: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), a philanthropic organization devoted to improving health and health care is sponsoring a collaborative competition with Changemakers an initiative that focuses on social innovation and provides solutions and resources to help everyone become a change maker. Their combined effort is a open competition called No Private Matter! Ending Abuse in Intimate and Family Relations.

As described by RWJF Sr. Program Officer J.A. Grisso, “The title—No Private Matter!—is emphatic by design. Domestic abuse, intimate partner violence and relationship violence in all its forms are emphatically not private. The consequences touch us all.”

The competition is international in scope and can be entered by showcasing your solutions in an online form between now and March 28th. You can even qualify for an early entry prize if you submit your ideas by February 10th. All entries are available for public viewing and commentary to lend help in refining applications. Twelve finalists will be announced and the Changemakers community will vote among them. The top three vote-getters will each receive a $5,000 award. To learn more about this unique opportunity go to http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/competition/endabuse.