The MacArthur Foundation, which gives out fellowship awards each year to winners who work in science, music and the arts, and journalism, among other fields. The fellowship comes with a five-year, "no-strings-attached" $500,000 stipend, which the foundation now says it is increasing to $625,000, the Associated Press reports.
"We looked at many benchmarks and decided it was time to make an adjustment," Cecilia Conrad, vice president of the MacArthur Fellows Program, told the AP. She adds that the grant needed to account for inflation. The amount of the grant was last changed in 2000.
The Foundation also asked past fellows about how receiving the award affected their work and lives, with 93 percent reporting that it made them more financially stable and 88 percent said it gave them more opportunities to be creative. A small portion, about 8 percent, said that they had less time personal or family time after receiving the award, and some asked for advice on coping with newfound visibility after winning the genius grant.