Exponent Philanthropy, with support from NGOsource and WizeHive, recently published 35 examples of grant and non-grant strategies that, by leveraging funders’ monetary and non-monetary assets, resulted in outsized, or larger-than-might-be-expected, philanthropic impact. As the examples show, when it comes to achieving impact, size of grant or organization truly doesn’t matter. In fact, some would argue, the smaller the operation, the more agile, flexible and fast-acting it can be.

The examples include:

• A $750 grant to pair kindergarten and fifth-grade students to study animal habitats: from this the outsized result was a decrease in schoolyard bullying as older students stepped in to defend their younger partners.
• A $1,400 monthly grant (or 6 cents per student per day) plus non-dollar support to build sanitation facilities and launch breakfast programmes at four schools in Tanzania (illustrated), the outsized results of which were that two schools became top performers and one averted shutdown

• A $10,000 seed grant to the Henry L Stimson Center (growing to $250,000 in total) to demonstrate the environmental impact (and other effects) of upstream dams on the Mekong River, the outsized results of which were international recognition for the Center and a major grant from the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation.

For more information

http://www.exponentphilanthropy.org

http://tinyurl.com/expoimpact