2011 - 2017: Scaling Our Impact

A Period of Growth and Milestones

This period marked a turning point as Project Redwood achieved important milestones and began scaling its impact, expanding its reach while building on early success.

We refined our approach, strengthening our model with greater focus, discipline, and a deeper commitment to measurable outcomes and long-term impact.

Through closer engagement with our community and grantees, we built the relationships, insights, and momentum needed to drive continued growth.

By the Numbers

This Period
61 grants
$1.4M invested

Cumulative
$1.9M total invested

Strengthening Our Ties to Stanford

Early in this period, we awarded grants to EarthEnable, MiracleFeet, and Embrace—organizations founded through Stanford’s Design for Extreme Affordability course. Over nine years, Project Redwood provided more than $100,000 in support to ventures emerging from the course and further developed through Stanford’s Social-E Lab.

Women working at EarthEnable

EarthEnable

Child with braces on feet from Miraclefeet

Miraclefeet

Child with braces on feet from Miraclefeet

Embrace

Targeting High-Impact Areas

We then narrowed our focus to education, job training, job creation, and entrepreneurship—awarding a total of 61 grants during this period.

St. Paul girls with chickens

St. Paul Orphanage

Woman selling fruit for Village Enterprise

Village Enterprise

CTI PepperEater

Woman with children from Child Aid

Child Aid

Self Help Int. teaching pickling of vegetables

Self Help International

Strengthening Our Foundation

We transitioned to the Tides Foundation as our fiscal sponsor, expanding our connections to other nonprofits and social entrepreneurs.

We also strengthened our community through in-person annual meetings across the country in New York, Washington D.C., Southern California, and Stanford. We renewed our focus on strategic planning and developed a more rigorous grant review process. And, we created the Evaluation and Impact Committee to further enhance our ability to assess, learn from, and report on project outcomes.

Insights from the Field

Visits to grantee project sites in Nicaragua, Uganda, Haiti, and Burundi deepened our connections and provided firsthand insight into project outcomes.

Project Redwood members in Nicaragua

A visit to Nicaragua

A founder in Haiti

A Founder visit to Haiti

PRW member in Burundi

A visit to Burundi

Let’s Talk!

Curious to learn more about Project Redwood? Connect with a fellow GSBer to see how you can put your skills to work.