Organization:Big Bang Philanthropy
Overview
Big Bang Philanthropy, named after the powerful nature of the domino effect, strives to make the largest impact possible with limited resources. By flicking the first domino, their ideal result is the expansion of philanthropist ideals, concrete improvement in the quality of life for all, and less focus on personal gain. Big Bang Philanthropy is working to ignite an explosion of beneficial change.
Founded in 2011, Big Bang Philanthropy came into being when several people realized they had become a de-facto co-founder group. They were funding a lot of the same poverty-fighting organizations, had similar philosophies, and liked each other’s company. Each of them had other funders in mind who they thought might be a good fit and it seemed like a little structure might help facilitate a deeper level of collaboration. Today Big Bang Philanthropy represents more than $60 million focused each year on international poverty.
Purpose
Big Bang Philanthropy focuses on the fundamental needs of the poor. This effort towards small-scale factors radiates outward and tackles the large-scale nature of poverty around the world. The structure of the organization directly influences the principle behind it. BBP is a group of passionate problem-solvers that share similar philosophies. Each individual has the power to follow their own independent approach, as long as it supports the organization’s goal to:
· Dedicate at least $1 million per year to tackle poverty
· Facilitate genuine change
· Fund at least 5 organizations in common
· Keep the door open to other funders
Each member makes their own financial decisions, and decides upon alternative organizations to support. By working towards the same cause independently, Big Bang Philanthropy successfully addresses different elements of poverty to expedite change that will have the most beneficial and lasting effect.
Distinct Differences from Other Offerings
Big Bang Philanthropy is a group of several funder organizations that operate autonomously. They do not pool their resources together as that would lead to bureaucracy. Instead, when someone finds a promising company that is fighting poverty that they believe will or is having a real impact, they champion this cause to the others within the group. The other funder foundations that believe in the company as well drive money into the company on their own terms. This creates a win-win situation as the organization receives more funding than they would have if the funder organizations were not communicating with each other and the funders win because they’re able to find out about great organizations that perhaps they would not have found on their own.
Impact Achieved for Students and Campus
Big Bang Philanthropy is composed of twelve funding foundations. Each of these organizations have their own criteria for selecting organizations to fund, the amount of resources they’ll fund and how they interact with the population at large including students.
Which Organizations Qualify?
The process of choosing which organizations to fund is selective, yet pure and logical. Any group, whether they be profit or non-profit, can qualify for financial support as long as there is concrete evidence of their impact on poverty, or evidence of their potential to impact poverty. More specifically, BBP is looking for groups that adopt a business-like approach—groups that look at the logistics in order to foster realistic and sustainable change. BBP favors organizations with a functional internal structure that continuously collects and evaluates data to improve overall effectiveness. Different groups are given an amount of money that BBP members deem necessary, with the minimal amount of hassle.
Steps Required To Bring Resource To Campus
The best way to bring Big Bang Philanthropy to your campus is to investigate the twelve funding foundations involved and apply to those most relevant to your cause. If that company believes in your cause enough and thinks it will have real impact, they just may put you on the radar of their peers within Big Bang Philanthropy so that you can receive further funding.
If you’re looking to join the Big Bang Philanthropy group, below are the criteria.
1. Join the Big Bang Philanthropy group if you:
- Devote $1million or more per year to international poverty
- Buy into our common approach
- Share at least 3 investments in Big Bang organizations (or are ready to commit to doing so)
- Want to actively collaborate with like-minded funders
- Are willing to be publicly associated with Big Bang
Please get in touch with one of our members. You don’t have to change anything about how you currently fund organizations. You just have to be ready to commit a significant share of your resources to a common set of principles and organizations.
2. Make a big donation to a Big Bang organization. If you are considering support of $50,000 or more and want to discuss it with a Big Bang member, please let us know. If we can arrange a useful conversation for you, we will do so.
3. Fund for impact. Follow Big Bang. At present, we have only a website. As we evolve and grow, we will develop other ways to provide useful information to our colleagues in the social sector. Please be aware that we do not accept funding proposals; each member funds an organization based on their own independent mandate.
Contact Information
David Weekley Foundation
