What Others Are Saying

 

“Smart Risks is a powerful reminder that local leaders are the best experts of the challenges facing their own communities, and that trusting in their knowledge and experience is the single most promising way to build lasting change.

“Together, these illuminating essays offer a thoughtful alternative to the pervasive and deeply misguided notion that global philanthropy and development offer silver bullet solutions to complex, deep-seated problems. Every philanthropist committed to supporting meaningful, transformative change should read this book.”

 

 

“Smart Risks is an important read for anyone who cares about poverty, inequality, and social justice movements around the globe. There are many critics of global development but very few who also provide answers. The authors of Smart Risks confront the hegemonic logics of global aid that rely upon problematic assumptions about scale and outside ownership and expertise with an inspiring grounded look at how small grants, trust in local leadership, and investment in grassroots institutions promise greater and more sustainable impact in tackling some of the most pressing problems of our time.”

 

 

“This book offers heartfelt, no-nonsense lessons about investing in locally-led, community-based initiatives for justice, equality, and social change across the globe. It is never easy to take these risks, especially when seeking to keep philanthropy effective and humble across boundaries, gulfs of income inequality and diverse cultures, but in this thoughtful book, we are given reasons to recommit to engaging our resources in ways that make a lasting difference.” 

 

 

“Smart Risks is an important and timely contribution to a conversation which finally seems to be gathering momentum. People on the receiving end of development aid invariably know what they want and need and it is rarely massive injections of money, framed in short-term projects and laced with unrealistic reporting requirements. Time and time again, small grants – disbursed with respect, without a narrow agenda and alongside other forms of support – prove their worth as a critical instrument in developing power and resources, and in igniting the flame of local action. Read and learn.”

 

“Smart Risks is a huge asset to those working in or new to philanthropy. The very personal narratives allow the reader to follow the shift of revelations in the authors’ individual mindsets. This, for me, forced me to self reflect and enquire more. You’ll want to go back to Smart Risks again and again.”

 

 

“Smart Risks has stories of solutions generated by local people that could never have been imagined by western grant-makers. […] Smart Risks also delivers practical advice for grant-makers and ideas for individual donors who want to support global development.” Read the full review.

 

 

“I had the pleasure of attending the Bay Area book launch for Smart Risks. What struck me that evening was the humble, gracious way the authors held themselves and the gratitude they expressed to each other. Which reminded me of the book’s implicit theme of not just approaching grantmaking as a matter of strategy or technical steps, but of actually embodying the values underlying the strategy and implementation.” Read the full review.