Smart Risks
How small grants are helping to solve some of the world's biggest problems
Jennifer Lentfer, Tanya Cothran
As never before, international aid is in the hands of ordinary people. Concerned citizens in wealthy countries are starting philanthropy groups, joining giving circles, and travelling internationally to lend support. Yet, they are torn between the feelings that ‘something’ must be done about global poverty and that foreign assistance is creating dependency and fueling corruption overseas.
A growing community of international small grant-makers know how to find and fund effective grassroots initiatives. Compared to donor-controlled, large-scale, project-based international aid funding, small grant-makers use the concept of ‘smart risks’ to build upon existing human and social capital and to make a lasting changes in people’s lives.
Smart Risks brings together the wisdom of experts with wide-ranging experience within the development sector. Their contributions focus on five guiding question, such as ‘who is a smart risk?’ and ‘what is your role in smart risks?’ They include case studies, personal stories of lessons learned over time, provocative insights on power and privilege, and practical frameworks for choosing, investing in, and measuring the impact of grassroots organizations and movements.
This book is essential reading for all those who wonder how their donations and work can make a difference in developing countries – from aid agency staff and policy makers, to globally engaged individuals.
Published: 2017
Pages: 186
eBook: 9781780449302
Paperback: 9781853399312
Hardback: 9781853399305
A growing community of international small grant-makers know how to find and fund effective grassroots initiatives. Compared to donor-controlled, large-scale, project-based international aid funding, small grant-makers use the concept of ‘smart risks’ to build upon existing human and social capital and to make a lasting changes in people’s lives.
Smart Risks brings together the wisdom of experts with wide-ranging experience within the development sector. Their contributions focus on five guiding question, such as ‘who is a smart risk?’ and ‘what is your role in smart risks?’ They include case studies, personal stories of lessons learned over time, provocative insights on power and privilege, and practical frameworks for choosing, investing in, and measuring the impact of grassroots organizations and movements.
This book is essential reading for all those who wonder how their donations and work can make a difference in developing countries – from aid agency staff and policy makers, to globally engaged individuals.
| Introduction | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Smart Risk #1: Investing in local expertise | |||
| Making local to global connections | |||
| Community resilience | |||
| Peace begins at home | |||
| Dedication, incentives, and what drives local leaders | |||
| The real experts | |||
| Respect at the core | |||
| Smart Risk #2: Being non-prescriptive and flexible, with a | |||
| long-term outlook | |||
| Unearthing community wisdom | |||
| When local leaders say, ‘Thanks but no thanks’ | |||
| Local leaders in the driver’s seat | |||
| Leaving the room | |||
| When small is too small | |||
| Smart Risk #3: Looking to the grassroots for innovation | |||
| Small grants as seed funding for entrepreneurs | |||
| Grants, not loans | |||
| Building accountability from the ground up in Liberia | |||
| Out of the comfort zone | |||
| Fruitful failures and the pull of curiosity | |||
| What if we saw “mistakes” as fuel for innovation? | |||
| Smart Risk #4: Rethinking accountability | |||
| Charity rankers: Who is defining effectiveness? | |||
| The solution within: Communities mitigate their own risks | |||
| Does your financial report make people feel poor? | |||
| What “real-time” community feedback can tell you that | |||
| evaluations can’t | |||
| Dusty sneakers, girls dorms, and challenging our assumptions | |||
| Rigorous humility | |||
| Smart Risk #5: Practicing vulnerability | |||
| The Dissonance | |||
| Uncomfortable conversations | |||
| Ten rules for helping | |||
| Whose capacity needs to be built? | |||
| Questions to focus organizational learning for social change | |||
| What happens when we listen? | |||
| The Five Essential Qualities of Grassroots Grantmakers | |||
| Conclusion |
Jennifer Lentfer Jennifer Lentfer is Director of Communications, Thousand Currents and creator of the blog, how-matters.org;
Tanya Cothran Tanya Cothran is Executive Administrator, Spirit in Action.
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