Social concerns that continue to animate the idea of development in India, where many small and medium grassroots organisations are very active:
These organisations work on the issues defined by the people, of the people, with the people.
Responses to these issues emerge over time through a series of experiments and projects and often demand cross-sectoral and hybrid work.
Hence, today, these grassroots organisations are more relevant than ever before.
Development is about real persons and real communities located at a certain place and time.
For the work of an organisation to be truly effective, the organisation must, over time, blend itself in that particular context and become a permanent fixture.
To make a real dent in social concerns, many grassroots organisations are required, instead of few large ones.
Because the development sector, like most industries, is a long-tail phenomenon:
The sum of work done across the tail of the sector far outstrips that which is done by a few larger ones.
Hence those who resonate with these social concerns should focus on small- and medium-sized grassroots (SMG) organisations.
Funding at margin
In the context of small and medium grassroots non-profits, it is defined as leveraging all the historical investments.
If you practice this consciously, deliberately and systematically you are becoming a funder at the margin.
Thereby, allowing effective capital allocation, and avoiding, as far as possible, creating solutions for today that create problems for tomorrow.
“Don’t ever take a fence down until you actually know why it was put up”. - Robert Frost
Traditional Approach
1. Recognise the cause.
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2. Search for/develop an explicit or implicit theory of change (ToC).
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3. Find agents/instruments/means of change (non-profits) to realise the ToC.
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4. Define concrete, quantifiable and time bound outcomes and outputs.
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5. Create and implement the project.
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Development funding becomes a series of projects to meet an end goal (say SDGs)
Funding at Margin
1. Recognise the cause.
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2. Find agents/instruments/means of change (SMG non-profits) to realise the cause.
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3. Build perspective on internal capabilities.
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4. Preserve and grow the intangibles.
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5. Participate in internal meetings and decision-making processes.