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.  

The power of small grants  

While our grants remain small—$10,000 to $20,000—they have proven to be the essential spark to get promising projects off the ground and propel wider social and systems change. Thirty percent of our current grantee partners received their first or second grant from BWF, and over the past four years have either doubled or tripled their operations budget.  

From recruiting teachers of color to advocating for the release of political prisoners and wrongfully incarcerated people and supporting immigrants transition into their new lives in the United States, we trust the everyday leaders who bridge the gaps in our social systems and expand the net for those who might otherwise fall through the cracks. In turn, our grantees get a proven, institutional partner in BWF.  

Most traditional, larger foundations offer grants only after applicants have successfully secured funding from another source. For many innovative leaders whose work is vital but is rarely acknowledged, we’re their first investors. We‘re proud to be that source for women like Shafia Monroe, the “queen mother of a midwifery movement,” who is now a renowned midwife and doula trainer, and Beth Leventhal, founder and executive director of The Network/La Red, the first organization in the U.S. dedicated to ending partner abuse in LGBTQ+, polyamorous, and kink communities. 

The power of deep listening

At BWF, we’ve learned the importance of listening actively to what our grantees need and maintaining the flexibility necessary to develop cutting-edge practices that are more difficult for larger grantmakers to navigate.  

While written applications and reports are the standard in philanthropy, we heard from our community about how cumbersome the process is. We’ve always solicited grantee nominations from the public through our website, social media, newsletters, and word of mouth. So we iterated our process: First, we shortened the written application in 2021. Then in 2022, our volunteer Allocations Committee, comprising a group of people diverse in age and identity from inside and outside the sector, began conducting one-on-one conversations with prospective grantees. 

This “Request for Conversation” process has reduced time spent on applications from an average of eight hours to two. This increased efficiency means our grantee partners have more resources and time to provide essential services and support to community members.   

The power of trust and transparency 

Beyond the quantifiable benefits of reducing time spent on applications, our practice of holding direct conversations with potential grantees helps increase trust—because grantees feel genuinely heard and seriously considered by a grantmaker. It also leads to deeper mutual understanding and more transparent and equal relationships—because grantees know they can rely on us to be the partners they need to further their essential work. 

Larger foundations that are unable to be as agile in their processes and policies can still participate in innovating philanthropic practices by giving to intermediary organizations like ours. These types of funders would contribute directly to our practices of participatory and trust-based philanthropy, strengthening local communities through supporting small grants for the small organizations that wouldn’t qualify for larger grants. In turn, the close, trusting relationships we build with small local organizations enable larger funders to invest in local nonprofits both efficiently and effectively.  

This participatory and trust-based intermediary grantmaking model shows how philanthropic organizations both large and small can make positive, long-lasting impacts in local communities. And creating this change can happen both internally within grantmaking organizations by deliberate and iterative changes to their grantmaking process, as well externally through their grantmaking. 

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