Ovidiu Rom | Romania
GROWING STRONGER AT THE GRASSROOTS
We help grassroots organizations grow, strategize, and strengthen, so they can do more of their good work, even better. With our assistance, our grantees learn to maximize their impact and staying power.
Organizational Development Awards
We offer customized support that helps our grantee partners make significant organizational changes that improve their performance. When a grantee partner receives an Organizational Development (OD) Award, we provide funding for a local consultant to work closely with the organization over the course of one year.
Through tailored support, the consultant guides the grantee partner through a strategic planning process. Developing financial and management systems, introducing monitoring and evaluation cycles, and setting in place a fundraising or advocacy strategy are all examples of important developments that an OD Award may support.
Leveraging
Our support is often the first significant contact our partners have with international donors, so it is crucial that we spread the word about their work and help them gain traction in the broader philanthropic world. We play an active role in advocating for our grantees, nominating them for awards and honors and facilitating introductions to governmental, multilateral, and private donors through our networks. Since 1997, we have leveraged more than $5.7 million in additional funding for our grantee partners.
Knowledge Exchange Workshops
Community-based organizations benefit from connecting with one another to share experiences and resources, discuss challenges and methodologies, and forge strong networks. To provide a forum for these interactions, we host regional Knowledge Exchange workshops all over the world, bringing together grantee partner leaders for engaging and collaborative activities. Many participants have never before had the opportunity to attend a conference.
Sustainability Awards
This $25,000 capstone award is given to our most exceptional grantee partners at the end of our funding relationship, and offers a special infusion of funds at a critical stage in their development. Grantees who receive this award are no longer in the beginning stages of growth—they are organizationally sound, with strong management, a broad funding base, and expanded budgets and programs. Often, their innovative programs have been replicated across the region, or even in other parts of the world.
Since 2004, we have awarded nearly 100 Sustainability Awards to increase our partners’ durability. Recipients use the awards in a variety of ways: they purchase permanent buildings to house their programs, enhance fundraising or communication strategies, create reserve funds, and implement income-generating initiatives. In 2011, this award was renamed the Maya Ajmera Sustainability Award in honor of our founder.
Legal Assistance
Our grantee partners can access pro bono legal services from a network of 160 independent law firms through our collaboration with the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation. The law firms assist and advise our grantee partners in a range of processes, such as registering as a nonprofit in the United States or in their home countries, navigating land rights issues, and negotiating lease agreements.