Giving Compass' Take:

• Kris Putnam-Walkerly explains how small funders can have an outsized impact by taking strategic approaches to giving. 

• Do these strategies apply to your work? How could you better leverage your assets for your cause? 

• Learn more about the power of small funders. 

First, small funders typically serve smaller geographic locations in which they build the strong relationships necessary for lasting impact. Many are family philanthropies whose roots run deep in the communities they serve. Small funders can leverage those relationships to spur investments far beyond their own. For example, a small rural funder might kick-start a community effort to save or expand a hospital that is slated for closure, and in doing so rally the entire community to lend their support and voices to the effort. (Note that this has very little to do with the size of the funder’s financial resources. It’s all about the power of personal relationships that larger funders rarely have.)

Second, small funders can be more nimble and responsive than larger ones that are hamstrung by bureaucracy. With smaller boards and fewer staff members, small funders often can make decisions quickly and get resources out the door faster. Consider a donor-advised fund in a small river town that unexpectedly floods. Within 24 hours, it can approve emergency funding and send out relief and recovery funds—all in a single day, as opposed to weeks. That’s no small feat, and it can have a huge impact on those whose lives might otherwise be devastated.

Third, small funders can be more comfortable when it comes to taking risks. Effective philanthropy needs venture capital and seed money, but larger foundations may have too many barriers and safeguards in place to take advantage of those small opportunities that can become big successes. Or those opportunities may be so small that they don’t even show up as a blip on the radar of big funders.

Read the full article about small donors by Kris Putnam-Walkerly at ExpertClick.