Project Funding

We ask some of the world's poorest communities, what would help them the most in being able to create a better life for themselves and their families, and then give grants for that, as long as the proposed project meets our minimum requirements. We then follow projects over time and make sure that the money is used according to the original project description and is showing positive results for the community.

Please see our list of grants disbursed, and examples of what grant recipients spend the money on.

Application Requirements

All the requirements for project applications are available in our application form:

PLEASE NOTE: We do not accept unsolicited applications. We select communities ourselves and invite them to submit a grant application to us. Any spontaneous applications will not be assessed.

Community Selection

We first conduct an initial screening using satelite imagery to assess poverty levels in candidate villages. We then rank villages based on this assessment, and give grants following the rank order to the poorest villages first. The ranking procedure is internally blinded. If the village has a women's association, we invite a grant application from them. If it does not, we inform the community about the benefits of forming a women's association, and offer our assistance with the associated formalities. If they decide to form one, we invite them to submit a grant application thereafter.

Project Evaluation

We ask for a series of documentation from the applicant to verify that funds are used as outlined in the original grant application. This is all available in the project application form above. After funds are transferred, we collect photos and videos from projects to show their progress and outcomes, collect data for monitoring and evaluation as our capacity allows, and the country ambassador regularly talks to community leaders and visits recipient communities to follow up on projects.