(Justmeans.com / CSR News) - By Kelley Buhles

The Refugee Agriculture Project at MercyCorps Northwest, a 2009 Seed Fund grantee

In the Pacific Northwest, refugees and immigrants are getting help starting organic market gardens and small farming enterprises that will improve self-sufficiency, as well as provide their communities with nutritious food. In Sierra Leone, rural families are taking sustainable apiculture workshops and learning to build beekeeping enterprises that will give them access to a sustainable livelihood. What do these worthy projects have in common? Both were funded by the RSF Seed Fund, a small grant-making program that seeds new initiatives within RSF’s three focus areas.

March 15^th is the upcoming deadline for the Seed Fund, which makes small grants ($1,000-$5,000) to projects that further the field of social finance with innovative solutions.  Although the grants are small, they have a large impact on the projects they support due to their need for start-up funding.

Unlike most of the other funds at RSF, the money for this fund comes from small donations.  While RSF has not engaged in active fundraising for the Seed Fund, we have been able to make $12,500 in grants annually thanks to contributions from RSF’s donor community. (We welcome all donations, so please see the bottom of this post for information if you would like to give!)

A unique aspect of the Seed Fund is that it’s one of RSF’s only grant-making programs that accepts unsolicited proposals. While most of our grant-making is done through Donor Advised Funds, this small pot of money allows us to review proposals from any eligible candidate, giving new and potentially transformational projects an avenue to become known to us.

The fund is advised by a rotating group of staff members who review the proposals and then decide which projects will receive grants. Staff members enjoy a chance to participate in the grant-making process and their diverse professional backgrounds make sure that we have a fresh perspective in each grant-making cycle.

Despite being our smallest fund, the Seed Fund has always held an important place at RSF for the number of exciting new projects it has helped to kick-start.  We hope that you will consider supporting this fund with a donation, however large or small.  Thank you!

To help RSF continue to operate the Seed Fund, make a donation by visiting: rsfsocialfinance.org/services/giving/donate-now/

To apply for a grant from the Seed Fund (before the March 15th deadline), visit:  rsfsocialfinance.org/services/giving/seedfund/apply-for-a-seed-fund-grant/

To read more about our 2009 Seed Fund grantees, visit: rsfsocialfinance.org/services/giving/seedfund/2009-seed-fund-grantees/

Kelley Buhles is the Program Manager of Philanthropic Services at RSF Social Finance.