We believe that grassroots efforts are key to solving many of the world's environmental problems. Local people are highly aware of environmental degradation around them, and they are usually the ones most vulnerable to its ravages.
Grassroots groups often are in the best position to identify and address root causes of degradation, and their moral authority is essential for building broader public involvement and support. Although they almost always lack financial resources, grassroots groups can be a powerful force for environmental and social progress.
Improving the world from the ground up
There is no better investment than supporting passionate people with great ideas.
Every day new leaders - ordinary people with extraordinary energy and commitment - emerge from communities around the world.
Our grants can be there to support these leaders in the crucial early stages of a project. For leaders and groups that might otherwise struggle in obscurity, we can be a springboard to greater things.
And some of our grantees do go on to greater things. We count among our alumni Goldman Environmental Prize winners, Ashoka Fellows and recipients of major grants from MacArthur and other prestigious foundations.
Yet, many of our grantees will never gain wide recognition. Some may even fail to reach their goals. This too is a point of pride with us, because we know that failure can be a sign of reaching too far. Our grantees often work against tremendous odds, and we are proud to stand by them and support their hopes and their initiative. We also are proud to share the risk of failure that so many of our grantees live with day to day.
Return on investment
There's a practical side to our risk taking. Although it may sound crass, grassroots support offers tremendous return on philanthropic investment, and not just because it's a good way to stretch a dollar. In truth, it~s a strategic imperative for anyone concerned about increased levels of political tension and economic instability in the world today.
Many developing countries are on the brink of economic and social collapse. Most people in the world do not have access to basic services. In these fragile places, support of grassroots efforts helps ensure that people have the tools to work toward positive change. If transformation is inevitable, let it take the best possible forms. In places less threatened, support of grassroots groups builds a capacity for social and environmental progress in even the most resistant and undemocratic societies.
We all are beginning to recognize that our world is a more complicated and dangerous place than we may once have believed. But what are the root causes of hatred and conflict? We believe that unjust and profligate resource use, pollution, scarcity and deprivation may be humankind's most pernicious enemies. And we have a very promising model for confronting these enemies.
An incubator of grassroots initiatives
In a way, Global Greengrants Fund is like is an incubator of grassroots initiatives. We provide financial support and, through our advisor network, provide connection to a global community of people with scientific expertise, political savvy and access to sources of further funding.
To say that we've found an important niche is an understatement. We work within a huge void.
And yet, for a relatively small investment our grants can have a great impact. We gain a double benefit because our grants reach places where there often is a near vacuum of financial support and because they reach places where the stakes are very high.
Our grants also tap a groundswell of energy and enthusiasm and capitalize on volunteer and community spirit. Each dollar we grant is multiplied many times by our grantees, who...
- Know how to stretch their limited resources
- Compound each dollar spent with volunteer help
- Benefit from the knowledge and experience of local people
- Benefit from the help of the GGF advisor network
- Often pay little or no overhead
- Work in places where even a little bit of help can be energizing
- Feel a deep responsibility to their community
Global Greengrants Fund touches the lives of people who often know nothing of the world beyond their village or town. This is grantmaking on a personal scale. For many people, these grants are their first direct evidence that people in wealthy countries want to help. This alone can be a powerful force. In the long run, support of grassroots groups may turn out to be the world's most durable and rewarding form of diplomacy.
The potential of grassroots work is clear to anyone who has seen how an isolated grassroots initiative can turn into a great collaborative movement with a profound effect on national and international policies, the conduct of global business, and the quality of all our lives.
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