Bloomberg Philanthropies recently announced the 20 finalists of its Mayors Challenge, a competition that called for cities across the United States to come up with innovative solutions to critical problems. By bringing creative answers to the table, the program aims to share creative answers with other communities as method of improving city life across the United States.

"The response to the Mayors Challenge was extraordinary … I've always believed that cities are America's new laboratories of democracy and this competition provided clear proof of the talent and creativity in city halls from coast to coast," said James Anderson, Government Innovation program director at Bloomberg Philanthropies.

The 20 finalists include Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; Cincinnati, Ohio; Durham, North Carolina; High Point, North Carolina; Hillsboro, Oregon; Houston, Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Knoxville, Tennessee; Lafayette, Louisiana; Lexington, Kentucky, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Phoenix, Arizona; Providence, Rhode Island; Saint Paul, Minnesota; San Francisco, California, Santa Monica, California; Springfield, Oregon and Syracuse, New York.

These finalists will go on to participate in the Bloomberg Ideas Camp to further develop and improve their programs before finalists are selected and solutions are entered for submission in January 2013. Five winners will be chosen to share $9 million to implement their plans.

Nonprofit organizations that hope to benefit from large grant-giving opportunities can improve their chances of being selected for awards when they use nonprofit financial management programs. These solutions can generate data-driven reports for various stakeholders.