Center for Social Innovation

A couple of years back, an American visitor to the slums in Kisumu, Kenya’s third largest city, handed out bumper stickers asking an open-ended question: “What does your community need? Tell us.” That got people talking. Their stories revealed growing dissatisfaction with a community-based youth sports organization that was receiving funding through GlobalGiving, a nonprofit marketplace for matching donors with projects. Eventually, and with community approval, the donor funding stream was redirected to a new organization that enjoyed stronger local support.

That’s far from the end of the story, however. Inspired by what happened when people were given a voice in Kisumu, GlobalGiving has continued to fine-tune ... Read more