Why does Spark provide such small grants?
Millions of communities face pressing problems that can be addressed with relatively little funding. We fill a gap in development where large development projects fail to allow for community-led projects and where business development projects such as micro-loans cannot address social problems like access to clean water or good education - that simply do not make enough money to fund themselves. The scale is appropriate for highly impoverished communities where a little money can go a long way and where they know how to identify and address problems themselves.
How do you find groups to work with?
Currently, as we are developing our model, most of our groups come through personal connections that the Spark team has made during many years of global health work. Sasha Fisher, our first dedicated Microgrant Organizer who is currently based in Rwanda, is currently seeking new organizations to work with.
Who administers these grants?
Each
grant is administered by a MicroGrant Facilitator. The Facilitator is somebody who is living in the area where the competition is taking place (though she or he may or may not be a citizen of the country) and has access to the internet. This is often a representative from an existing community organization or NGO. The Spark team works directly with the Facilitator to identify an important issue to address and create a plan for generating local solutions to it. The facilitators convene meetings of potential contestants, help contestants describe
and submit their ideas, work through multiple rounds of proposal development, and ultimately
administer funds and provide some oversight.
How are winning ideas selected?
For each grant we work with the facilitator to determine an appropriate method to select which ideas will be funded. Spark always provides input, but the selection is typically done by local judges.
How do you know what happens after the grant is given?
In order to for an idea to be funded, the grantee must submit a Monitoring Plan, which consists of specific data elements that will be reported, such as the number of deliveries that happen in a clinic each month. A final payment of a few hundred dollars is withheld until the completed Monitoring Plan is submitted.
How is this different than MicroFinance?
Microfinance organizations provide loans to individuals, typically to help them improve their livelihood. These are private loans that usually need to be paid back. We see an opportunity to use a similar approach for the public good, and improve the impact and efficiency of development funds. Our grants enable communities to address pressing social problems even when there is no direct financial return on this investment.
How can my organization receive a MicroGrant?
We are currently not accepting unsolicited proposals due to capacity constraints.
