BSF’s Small Grant Programme
Gradually and organically, potential ideas for work on the ground emerged from the discussions at the Retreats. By Year 2 (2019), BSF’s Small Grants Programme had been initiated – to support others to do more than a sum of their parts.
The essential idea was that hyperlocal ideas in a large city like Bangalore don’t get enough funding as they are considered experimental and not ‘mainstream’ enough. So BSF came forward to support these ideas with the hope that it could put the projects in a better phase to raise funds for the next level of funding that they might need.
The Small Grants Programme has now completed 7 cohorts and supported 40+ projects in the city. While the impact of some projects have been more evident than others, a key focus for BSF has also been the process. The intent being that the BSF grant and process hopefully offer a leg-up to these projects for their next phase – either longitudinally or for something new.
Lingaraj Dinni
Deliberative spaces are not there in the city - for sustainability in its entirety…There are other pockets doing this now.