There are No Small Grants
How $4,000 became $13,000
by Steve Baroch, Castle Rock High Noon Rotary, steve@crhn-rotary.com
In March 2013 I was asked by the Estes Park Sunrise Club if I could help them build a grant in conjunction with iDE, International Development Enterprises, a Non-Profit based in Colorado that works with Economic Development for subsistence level farmers in the Third World. My Castle Rock High How Noon Club contributed as well and with $4,000 in Club money we built a grant that multiplied into about $13,000. The grant was used to educate 12 Farm Business Advisors in Mozambique.
These FBA’s were trained in how to be more productive as farmers and also how to start their own businesses teaching other farmers how to be more productive and providing the tools (irrigation supplies, seed, fertilizer etc.). The training was a success and these 12 FBA’s are now running their own businesses and training many other farmers on how to produce more efficiently. When farmers can produce beyond their own subsistence level, Health improves, Education increases and the whole community benefits.
But, that is not the end of the story. Talk about sustainability! Other Corporations and NGOS’s in Mozambique heard about our project and using it as a model, according to the Country Director of iDE in Mozambique, there will be sponsorship for training of Tens of Thousands more Farm Business Advisors. These sponsors saw how beneficial and successful our little grant was and decided to contribute, but on a much larger scale. So, from a simple $4,000 came a model that will improve the lives of tens or hundreds of thousands of people in one of the World’s most disadvantaged countries.
It just goes to prove. There are no small grants.
