Here at Building Markets, we have a tendency to put all our eggs in one basket. The eggs, in this case, are our donors. Supporting entrepreneurs with high impact services requires resources, and there are only so many donors who can foot the bill. We depend on these donors, and we are extremely grateful to them. But it doesn’t mean that we couldn’t make our monotonous pie look a little bit more like this one:

Large government donors – who happen to be our biggest funders – have all sorts of stipulations regarding the money they give nonprofit organizations like Building Markets. This includes everything from which indicators to collect data on to what percent of the funds can be spent on administration and fundraising costs. Sounds like a complaint is coming, but I assure you it’s not. Stipulations are necessary and are an important way to ensure that donors and their implementers are on the same page and making an impact. Standards are always important, even if some might be misguided or have adverse consequences.

However, having donors like these often means that our projects are less flexible, less efficient and less experimental. If a donor tells us we have funding for two years, then that’s all we’ve got, no matter what happens in country during those two years. Likewise, how are we going to know the best way to improve upon our projects if we can’t experiment?

With a variety of donors, some of whom won’t have strict requirements, we’ll be able to run experiments, improve our services, adapt to each country’s special needs and better vocalize our projects and their impact.

But of course, it’s easier said then done, and we’re hungry for more – which is where Global Giving comes in.

Global Giving can be instrumental in raising unrestricted money that will act as an extra cushion to enable us to experiment and improve our projects.  Simply put: Global Giving can make us a better organization.

In order to have a permanent profile on Global Giving, we first must raise $4,000 from 50 unique donors during the month of September! That’s a lot of eggs, and we’re going to need help. So if you believe in what Building Markets is about: empowerment not handouts, entrepreneurs not helpless victims, investment not aid – and more importantly, you want us to get even better at it, then please consider donating to our Global Giving page. Help us weave ourselves another basket.

And today, all of your donations - which can be as little as $10 - are being boosted by 15%!