Global Greengrants Fund, Inc.

Established Chinese environmental groups and Global Greengrants Fund (Greengrants) are helping a new generation of Chinese nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) secure funds to sustain and expand their basic operations and projects.  The financial needs of these fledgling groups may be small, but at this stage in their development, they lack the reputations and credibility to attract support from domestic or international funders.  Greengrants, a U.S.-based NGO, helps to bridge the gap between those who can offer financial support and grassroots environmental groups in the developing world.

In China, many of these NGOs are so small that they operate below the radar of potentially interested international funders.  It also can be hard for foundations and individuals to transfer funds to these groups or to monitor their progress.  Greengrants' model relies on local advisors identifying promising grantees and providing stewardship of the grants made.  For the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Greengrants provides a channel for the philanthropy to support small groups in Southern China that are taking innovative approaches to working on environmental health issues.

Greengrants' China Advisory Board is composed of seven representatives of some of the most experienced environmental NGOs in China. China Advisory Board coordinator Wen Bo said that grant recommendations are not based on typical donor-grantee relationships.  Often, initial contact between advisors and prospective grantees takes place when working together on projects that address shared interests in environmental protection.  These groups feel they can be frank in talking to their more experienced colleagues about the resources they need to move their programs forward.  The advisors, in turn, can identify groups and people that are passionate about their cause and have bright ideas for hands-on projects.  The result, Wen Bo said, is a democratic process of making grants, as the environmental community itself identifies needs, mentors recipients, and provides support as needed for project implementation.

Grants typically range from $500 to $5,000.  These funds enable organizations to pay for staff training or field work, print a newsletter or develop a Web site, buy basic tools such as phone lines or computers, and take other steps to make operations more effective and sustainable. 

Greengrants is supporting a range of grassroots NGOs through its cooperation with the RBF.  These include, among others, student groups working on income generation projects in "cancer villages" of Guangdong Province; an environmental health educational Web site; incubators to foster new organizations; and environmental resource centers that lend books, DVDs, and other resource materials to teachers, doctors, students, and others with an interest in environmental health.

For these recipients, Wen Bo points out, a grant from Greengrants is as much a source of moral as financial support.  "It shows that an international organization recognizes the value of the work they are doing.  This gives a boost to organizations when they are struggling to get off the ground and when the value of their work is not always recognized locally."