How to Break Through — with Limited Funds

You may be involved with a cause that wants to take its mission to a new level. But most likely, it’s got limited funds. Actually, that’s okay. In fact, it may be the best place to start.

And this idea isn’t new: More than 2,000 years ago Plato called necessity the mother of invention. Thunderhead Works’ mission is to help causes move to that next level, often through innovation. And as I’ve blogged about groups acting at this intersection of innovation and social change, I’ve noticed a lot of efforts that make me say “Wow!”

It was only in looking back that I realized that in almost every case, the innovators’ funds were completely inadequate for the size of their challenge. That’s why their ideas — and the execution of those ideas — are so remarkable:

• Urban visionaries are revitalizing a destitute Miami warehouse district by bringing top graffiti muralists from around the world to create a giant outdoor art museum and attraction.
• A group in Peru is trying to bring back the glaciers of the Andes (and the water that makes farming and life possible) by painting giant areas of rock white, and cooling the micro-site by thirty degrees.
• A Canadian student is helping reduce anemia by providing Cambodian villagers with a small iron fish to put in the water they boil to drink.
• A British group is exploring training hairdressers to watch for early signs of skin cancer.
• Cash Mobs are springing up around the country as way to encourage local spending.
• A coalition is bringing life (and blue crabs) back to the Chesapeake Bay by convincing area residents to shift their lawn fertilization from spring to fall.
• Chicago innovators turned a city bus into a mobile farmers market that provides fresh produce weekly to a dozen food desert neighborhoods.
•  “Light bulbs” made of two-liter plastic bottles are being installed in the roofs of slums around the world.
• Methodist Healthcare in Memphis has partnered with 450 congregations to improve that city’s health.
• Bus passengers in Bangalore, India, are automatically entered into a lottery, successfully increasing ridership and reducing traffic.

The point is, you can do a lot with little. Limited funds, while inconvenient, does not determine the future. With creativity and perseverance, causes can move mountains with small inputs.