In District 5240, our clubs generally participate in international service programs through District or Global Grants. These grant programs require the clubs to raise the cash to qualify for district DDF as well as the training in the grant procedures and reporting required to participate in these programs. But what if your club does not have a big budget and still wants to get involved in an international service project?
The Rotary Club of Ojai been involved in a unique program over the past three years that may be of interest to some clubs that want to participate in an international project but do not have big budget for their own Global or District grant. The program is called the Little Big Fund Bootcamp. The program selects recent college graduates living in foreign countries who have a dream for changing the conditions in their local community.
The Little Big Fund is a nonprofit organization, headquartered in Denver, that specializes in providing these aspiring young social entrepreneurs with practical fundraising, budgeting and grant proposal writing skills. Their professional staff offers five-weeks of formal training over the internet to assist the participants in fully developing their idea for a new humanitarian project in their local community. Over the past years, Little Big Fund has provided over 200 emerging nonprofit leaders from over 30 countries with the resources and confidence needed to initiate their project and flourish.
Our club members participate at the end of the Bootcamp in a formal interview process where each individual presents their business plans and answers questions from the interviewers. The interviewers rate each proposal and decides whether it is ready to receive a small micro grant to proceed on giving their idea a real life trial. The micro grants range from a few hundred to just over thousand dollars. Not much money for us but the a huge difference for each one of them.
As a follow-up, Little Big Fund convenes a monthly mentorship gathering of social changemakers to connect, exchange ideas, share networks and discuss key opportunities for growth with social impact leaders. They also offer a series of workshops between past graduates of the Bootcamp and philanthropists as an opportunity to develop funder/grantee relationships at the ground level where the need is real. The new social entrepreneurs report an average of 84% level of satisfaction with the skills training and effectiveness of the mentorship has had on their success. 95% of them are still continuing their social ventures.
“LBF has been my power hub, thank you for showing me the way and trusting my dream by approving my grant.” – Jacqueline Jijide from Malawi
“I love their learn-by-doing approach and constructive feedback. It significantly enhanced my proposal, challenging me to think critically about our work and ultimately improving it.” – James Ahabyona from Uganda
As International Service Director, I invite any other district clubs to join us as partners in next year’s Bootcamp with a new group of young social entrepreneurs that want to make a difference in their community. Contact Mike Weaver at amweaver@pacbell.net for more information.