“Good, but is it good enough?” That question kept coming up at the Project Redwood Annual Meeting this October. Project Redwood was created by a bunch of MBA’s with high expectations so even though we are doing excellent work, the Board of Directors gave themselves this challenge: How do we get better?
We were all proud of our class’s non-profit organization. This has been a particularly good year as we granted a record amount–$272,000–and funded 14 projects. Since we started almost 10 years ago we’ve raised over $1,500,000, have made grants to social entrepreneurs around the globe, and have seen substantial and continuing impact on several hundred thousand people.

But many of us want more—more money to grant, more participation from classmates, and especially, more progress in the fight against extreme poverty. We continue to be dedicated to our mission:
Project Redwood is a non-profit partnership that provides funding, expertise and connections to social entrepreneurs who address the challenge of global poverty.

But we are convinced that there is much more that we could do. So we decided to turn to the smartest people we know—our classmates—for answers.

Some of our key questions are:
1) What kind of projects will have the biggest impact on alleviating poverty?
2) What are the characteristics of a project and/or social entrepreneur that are most apt to lead to success?
3) Should we abandon the idea of making grants to organizations that work in the USA when dollars spent in a developing country can have a greater impact on more people?
4) With $150,000 to $200,000 to spend each year, should we give a few larger grants or a larger number of smaller grants?

Whether or not you are a Project Redwood partner, we want to know what you think about these and other questions. We posted a survey on-line  so you can give us your opinion and help guide the future direction of Project Redwood.
Ken Inadomi, one of the Project Redwood co-chairs, said, “Every year that I am involved with Project Redwood, I get more excited about what our future can hold. When you realize we provide medical care to Burundian villages who have never had a doctor, or clean drinking water to impoverished communities in Nicaragua, it makes you want to do even more.”

“Our class represents an amazing group of people,” added our other co-chair, Donna Allen. “If we can take better advantage of their intelligence, experience and connections, we can do even more to make the world a better place.”

The results of this survey will be a key information resource as the Project Redwood Board sets the direction for our next 10 years. Help us move from “good” to “great” and let us know your thoughts.