Small Grants
The problems we’re talking about are big. Global climate change. Catastrophic industrial pollution. Rampant deforestation. Widespread displacement. So…why small grants?
For the "Women for Development" Cooperative in Nicaragua, a $3,000 grant from Greengrants was the first funding they ever received. It enabled them to create safe, sustainable work opportunities for local women. It also gave them the confidence to continue their work and seek more funding.
Local organizations, especially in the early stages, need appropriately-sized, targeted amounts of money. They need grants that build confidence and fund core needs but that don’t overwhelm their capacities—or worse, corrupt their agendas.
Small grants—and by small, we mean as little a a few hundred dollars, and on average around $3500—have a big impact. When strategically awarded at the right time to the right organization, a small grant can be exactly what activists need to grow in reach and make a difference.
Because we make many hundreds of small grants each year, we are able to spread our resources out. We’re able to support hundreds of new solutions, each one appropriate to the context and culture of the region.
Our small grants allow us to:
Make grants quickly, with minimal bureaucracy
- Provide funding that is nonrestrictive—that promotes creativity and freedom of action
- Grant amounts large enough to take action, but small enough that they do not overwhelm the groups or create undue burdens for financial management
- Fund hundreds of different solutions in hundreds of different places
