Serena Sun Breaking Taboo

Today, The Pollination Project celebrates a decade of service to our global community, which now numbers over 5,000 grassroots volunteer leaders in over 120 countries. Every day, we offer a small seed grant directly to an individual who has an emerging solution to a felt need in their own community. 

 In honor of this momentous anniversary, here are ten lessons we have learned from the past ten years of service. 

• If you believe in your vision, stay the course. 

Ten years ago, our idea of funding individuals directly was disruptive. The idea that we would offer support to those without a track record of institutional success was met by one major philanthropic news outlet as “an unfortunate development” that would take funds from established organizations and disperse it to untested individuals. I understand that our model might have been threatening. After all, we were founded not to fill the coffers of large nonprofits, but to find and nurture the next generation of these leaders. We may not have had the right language for it yet, but essentially we were creating a mutual aid framework for volunteer-powered social change movements. 

 And it worked! Today, with the proliferation of incubator programs, the popularity of direct giving, the rise of mutual aid as a form of communal service, and the growth of the small grants movement, we regularly receive calls from established foundations who want to incorporate elements of our work into their own models. 

• Do what good you can, with what you have, where you are. 

I am frequently awestruck by what grantees are able to accomplish when they receive a grant, often with very limited resources. I have seen grantees single-handedly eliminating period poverty in their neighborhoods with a rusty sewing machine and scraps of fabric. I have met food security activists whose outreach has saved millions of pounds of food from being wasted, and rechanneled it to hungry families in need. I have talked to self-taught botanists whose careful work has saved hundreds of heirloom seed varieties from becoming extinct. I am now thoroughly convinced that the most important resource needed to change the world is nothing more than the persistent, burning desire to do so. 

• Nothing for us without us.

If there is one thing that stands out in looking at the last ten years of giving, it is that those closest to or experiencing a community need are the best solutionaries. They understand cultural context, have deep networks of relationships in a given area, and are acting from a place of love and concern for friends, neighbors, and ecosystems that catalyzes any investment exponentially. In fact, every project we fund generates on average a fourfold return in terms of community volunteerism leveraged. This is one reason that we invest in individuals directly, and have few or no prescriptive guidelines on the kinds of projects or interventions we support. 

• Give money, but also give power. 

No one on our small and lean staff team makes decisions about which projects receive funding. How could they? We are not experts in all things in all countries, and we don’t presume to be. Everything we do is made stronger by our participatory grantmaking framework, wherein our funding decisions are made by grant advisors, the vast majority of whom are previous grantees from the Global South. These individuals have lived and practical experience about what it takes to be effective in grassroots work within a given geographic or focus area, and they are thoroughly trained in equitable decision making. In fact, we just onboarded nearly 75 new advisors last month! Not only are their decisions more valid and culturally relevant, but they also make everything else we do possible. Without our advisors, there is simply no way that our small staff team could review the volume of applications and award the number of grants that we do each year. Ceding money along with the power to decide where that money flows is a win for all involved.

• Small is beautiful. 

We were formed as an organization that invests in nascent, early-stage projects. Our seed grants are typically just $1,000, which has led many to wonder what could possibly be accomplished with such a modest investment. Most of our changemakers received their very first “yes” from The Pollination Project, and their success in the initial demonstration year led many of them to additional and significant subsequent grant funding. Our grantees have pioneered clean water technology in South America, revolutionized the way supply chains flow to meet refugee needs in the Middle East, and changed legislation for farmed animals in the UK. Their work has been recognized by the UN, highlighted by the Obama Foundation, and featured in the most recent US Presidential Inaugural ceremonies. There is a reason we call them “seed grants,” in that so many of them grow and bloom far beyond what anyone might have expected at first glance. 

• Belief matters. 

Early stage leaders face an uphill battle in many respects. It can be difficult to attract institutional support, not to mention that many wonder if they are the right people to do the work. They may feel strongly that “someone should do something about _______,” but struggle with self-doubt wondering if they are that “someone.” What we hear from grantees time and time again is that the check is wonderful, but the belief matters even more. To have the validation of any foundation, especially at the very beginning, is an affirmation and a blessing. For this reason, we try to amplify these expressions of belief whenever we can, and we strive to build relationships within and among our grantee community to help normalize and support viewing oneself as a powerful force for good. 

• Process over outcome. 

Not all of our grants go on to scalable massive impact or international recognition, and that is perfectly fine. In fact, we have come to believe strongly that the act of undertaking a grassroots volunteer project is often as important as the work itself. I have seen firsthand how seeing oneself as a solutionary is an act of hopefulness, belonging, and agency; we often say that our grantees’ work is an antidote to apathy, an inducement to civic engagement, and helps mend a fragmented social fabric in ways that ripple out immeasurably. 

• Relationships over everything.

Very few foundations seek to create community beyond the transaction of grantmaking; this is true even though within a particular geographic or focus area they may have many individuals and/or groups who have a shared vision for a better world. There is tremendous opportunity in creating the causes and conditions for connection within and among grantees, and in doing so we can help facilitate the emergence of new collaborations, partnerships, and ideas. This year, we did that through a new effort called “Greenhouse” that brought leaders from across the globe together in a virtual learning space to build capacity and community. The results were transformative, and we will launch our second cohort this fall! 

• Inner transformation is deeply connected to external change.

An important but rarely talked about outcome of grassroots social change work is the impact that it has on the person doing it. Burnout and compassion fatigue are very real – as is divisive anger when we perceive a binary approach to social issues. I would argue that factitious othering – on all sides – is a major impediment to meaningful change, and is a corrosive force to empathy and true belonging. We are committed to offering an alternative #heartivist path, along with opportunities for our community to grow in mindfulness, service and compassion. 

• One person can change the world, but they need help. 

Every good thing that has ever happened in the history of humanity began as a tiny spark in the mind of one person; much like a glowing ember, it required others to fan the flames of potential for it to warm the world. Being there, at the very beginning, is the greatest privilege and honor of my life.