15 Years of Transformative Change Through Direct Village Grants
15 years in.
We are fifteen years into moving grant funds to low-capital villages through direct transfers.
Fifteen years into ensuring women and men, young and old, have decision-making power over local initiatives.
Fifteen years post (accidentally) starting Spark in Rwanda, with $10k in seed funds and a conviction: that people—no matter where they live—should have the resources and power to shape their own future.
It began with three village partnerships and countless questions.
Back then, sending money directly to communities was dismissed as impossible and naive. We were urged to pick a lane—education, health, or water. Instead, we chose something less convenient and more fundamental: agency. The collective right to decide. We believed then, as we do now, that _how_ decisions are made matters just as much as _what_ gets decided.
Today, the evidence is undeniable. Community-driven development isn't just effective—it's among the most cost-effective and impact-enduring approaches in global development. Where community members lead, impacts last.
Earlier this year, our CEO met with families in Ghana who banded together to protect their land from illegal mining, launched a school to serve their children, started a business to generate income, and planted cocoa seedlings to produce cocoa for chocolate-making once the trees mature. The seedlings will take at least three years before they start producing cocoa pods. The most important investments take years to mature—and are well worth it.
Over the past decade and a half, we've reached over a million lives across more than 1,000 villages. In the coming years, we're on track to realize 10x growth.
But the deeper story is this: We've learned that many supposed trade-offs don't actually exist. Scale versus local ownership? False choice—decentralization _enables_ scale. Community spirit versus excellence? Another myth—collective accountability strengthens our ability to envision and enact futures that outperform our present.
In a world that demands we choose sides and sow divisions, some of the most important truths live in the spaces between. Between idealism and pragmatism. Between mourning what's broken and imagining what we can build ahead.
We are grateful for the global community that makes this work possible—and for every dollar that finds its way to villages brimming with ideas and determination.