Small Foundation

OVERVIEW: The Small Foundation focuses its grantmaking on eradicating extreme poverty and chronic hunger in sub-Saharan African countries.

IP TAKE: This funder seeks organizations operating programs that are scalable, sustainable and effective. While this funder offers grants, it is also supportive in a variety of ways — from providing non-financial support to help grantees leverage it’s networks and staff to supporting impact networks.

To stand out, your work must be scalable and focus on supporting and advancing local leaders and solutions. This funder is particularly fond of creating partnerships to advance it’s work, so don’t hesitate to reach out to see if your organization would be a good fit after deeply reading the foundation’s Theory of Change and strategies.

This funder works in both Ireland and around the world, particularly in Africa. Grantees based in the U.S. will have a harder time getting funded, if at all, unless you have an office somewhere outside of the U.S.

Unfortunately, this is not an accessible funder, so applying for a grant will be hard to come by.

PROFILE: Based in Dublin, Ireland, the Small Foundation is on a mission to “act with urgency and ambition to catalyze and scale income-generating opportunities for people living in extreme poverty in rural sub-Saharan Africa.” The foundation supports income-building opportunities, projects and programs that expand access to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, increase knowledge, build skilled human resources, improve financial inclusion and expand access to technology and markets.

Grants for Global Development

The Small Foundation conducts it’s global development work through a strategy that focuses on collaborating with “those creating the environment for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to succeed and deliver opportunity at scale. In particular, work with intermediaries that increase availability of the finance, social and human capital, knowledge, technology and markets required by a thriving, commercially viable MSME ecosystem.” Since 2021, the Small Foundation conducts grantmaking through systems thinking tools and techniques to review it’s strengths, weaknesses, and understanding of the systems in which it works.

Along with individual projects and direct partnerships, this funder also invests in research that elucidates how to better address extreme poverty in rural Africa.

Important Grant Details:

Small Foundation grants vary widely in amount, often ranging from €45,000 to €500,000.  Past global development grantees include Acumen, which received funding to support its global anti-poverty efforts and AgDevCo, which received a grant to support its agricultural development work in sub-Saharan Africa. To learn more about select foundation grantees, explore its Investments page.

PEOPLE:

Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).

LINKS:

1-2 CAVENDISH ROW

DUBLIN 1, D01 K883

IRELAND

ENQUIRIES@SMALLFOUNDATION.IE