Stories of Impact

Introduction

Over the past five years, my fund has invested almost exclusively in capacity support to social impact infrastructure organizations. I can say that the outcomes have far exceeded my expectations, suggesting that small grants ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 can achieve extensive levels of impact.

Regardless of these outcomes, which are arguably subjective and do not paint a complete picture – one that discusses successes and challenges. With this in mind Propel Philanthropy founder Peter Brach shares more in-depth information to give funders with a more rounded perspective.

A Powerful Testimonial

The commentary below was a response to an interview shared on Linked with Victoria Vrana, formerly at the Gates Foundation. It was an excellent and highly relevant article found on Propel Philanthropy’s hub in Alliance Magazine, and can be found here.

“This is SUCH an important conversation. When I was co-leading The Finance Innovation Lab in the early years, 2010, the only reason we survived was because a funder explicitly funded us as ‘infrastructure for systems change’. Everyone else was keen to pick their favorite project and back that.

Since then, I’ve been training systems leadership and hosting peer learning programs for people leading systems change projects internationally. A key challenge that emerges is space to stop, think, to learn together and to work out the next emergent strategic step. You can’t do this if you’re also managing the accounts, updating the website, [and] replying to emails from key stakeholders.

Funding the learning, funding the admin and the ‘boring bits’ of work gives you the space to do the very difficult work of systemic change- building relationships, bridges, adapting strategy to what is actually happening.

We had at least one person in every cohort who had been through burn out or was in the cusp. This is the cost of doing a bad job at supporting infrastructure for systems change.”

Our Four Best Stories with High Correlation Probability

1. One forward-thinking funder galvanized others to join him in providing The END Fund with funding to hire development and communication staff. Within two years, the organization went from $57 million to $104 million in revenue. Learn more here.

2. A $100,000 grant enabled an organization serving the uber-wealthy to create a revenue-generation model. They have earned 1.4 million to date with continued annual revenue expected to follow.  Learn more here.

3. A $70,000 grant enabled TechSoup (TS) to hire an assistant to a lead development person. Without this grant, TS would not have completed its $11.5 million capital campaign by a hard deadline. Today, these funds support different operations, including serving over a hundred thousand organizations in 236 countries. Learn more here.

4. One thoughtful funder asked a nonprofit what they needed. Based on their discussions, he provided grants under 30,000 Euros over three years. This gave the organization enough breathing room to develop a strategic plan and time to build relationships with additional funders. This resulted in commitments of 566,000 Euros. Learn more here.

Additional ROI Stories Involving Modest Grants

  • Spending $19,000 to hire a temporary grant writer led to $250,000 in grants. Learn more here.
  • Through matching grants, SHOFCO secured $60,000 to undergo a comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation process. Afterward, Mastercard let the staff know they were impressed with their M&E work and subsequently awarded them a grant exceeding $1 million. Learn more here.
  • Nonprofit leaders could easily spend 40-60% of their time doing what could be done with others. This story conveys the enormous impact one organization achieved when its CEO was able to free up time. Learn morehere.
  • Networks can achieve exceptional impact. MoveOn.org is one of the earliest examples. Fito is a global network of networks helping its constituents get the support they need. With the help of two funders, Fito is making impressive steps as a network that helps many other networks succeed. Learn more here.
  • A foundation that never considered providing funding for a development person did and the cost was covered within the first year. Learn more here.

A Story About Providing Long-term Operational Support

For many years, WINGS has served similarly to an operation department of a business. Over the last several years, the organization has grown at a very fast rate and firmed up its position to lead the social sector. However, without the Mott Foundation’s ongoing long-term support much of this progress would not have been possible Read this story here.

SIIO leaders share their successes and frustrations

Karen Ansara, Founder at NEID Global, provides an evocative account of the progress she has witnessed in her work. You will find her account here.

A funder’s journey from Rachael’s Network describes her efforts toward achieving collective impact. Learn more here.