The power of small grants and deep listening to fund the ‘unfundable’

A group of visionary women came together in 1984 to award Boston Women’s Fund’s (BWF) first five grants totaling $20,000. These small grants went to those who’d been left out of consideration among traditional large-scale philanthropic institutions: women, girls, and gender-expansive people who identify as Black, brown, low-income, LGBTQ+, disabled, immigrants, and refugees. From the outset, our founding mothers created an alternative model of grantmaking that involved participation from community members and deep trust in their grantee partners. They knew those most affected by the problems we face also held the solutions, so they worked to democratize the sector and make philanthropy accessible to everyday people. 

Forty years later, we remain an influential intermediary funder that raises funds from institutional grantmakers and individual donors. We’ve awarded more than 385 small grants totaling over $7.6 million to emerging leaders and grassroots organizations. Here we’ll share our insights into how the practice of listening to the community and funding the supposedly “unfundable” on a small scale can achieve what traditional large-scale philanthropy cannot.  

Read more at Candid.com.