Last summer’s uprisings brought forth a slew of funder pledges to invest more in grassroots racial and climate justice organizations, for good reason: Grassroots groups generate the public energy and urgency behind equity initiatives and climate action, so investing in them could catalyze the systemic and policy changes funders are seeking. The recent cancellation of the Keystone Pipeline — the product of years of activism — is just one example of the power of these movements.

Despite this, not enough funders are effectively investing in grassroots movements. Some are modeling successful strategies for putting financial resources and decision-making in the hands of front-line organizations, but most philanthropic funding portfolios still lack diversification. While it’s easy to attribute this to a funder’s hyperfocus on mission, the real problem lies in structural and cultural factors that make it challenging for big philanthropy to fund grassroots efforts. In short, philanthropy has a systemic problem with funding systemic solutions.

Figuring out this problem is well worth the effort.

Much as a diversified investment portfolio is more resilient and yields better returns over time, diversified philanthropic portfolios are more likely to yield consistently high-impact results. Successful grassroots initiatives operate on the insight that community-driven solutions can be more sustainable and effective, and if supporting them includes promoting strong local models, they can scale. We’ve seen foundations and megadonors pour money into top-down initiatives that fell flat. Diversifying investments to include grassroots initiatives — the startups of the nonprofit world — may be the true path to better returns for philanthropic funders.

Big funders often don’t hear about the most creative solutions percolating in grassroots and movement organizations because they haven’t made themselves accessible. There are many ways to open the doors, from more effective outreach to broader engagement with intermediaries that have community connections and the capacity to administer small grants.

Read the full article about fueling grassroots initiatives by Alice Ng at Medium.