Introducing the +1:WASH Fund
At Shockwave, we are firmly committed to sustainable adoption of climate resilient solutions by frontline communities. These initiatives must be designed and implemented by those with a deep understanding of the needs of the people we serve.
We believe that people close to the need have better insight into what works and how to tailor and scale solutions. This is particularly true for climate resilience which requires local knowledge of the environment and local, practical solutions. In addition, local organizations have the requisite relationships and trust within their communities to ensure ideas can be implemented.
In conjunction with the Roddenberry Foundation, Sall Family Foundation, and Vitol Foundation, we are investing in an expansion of the +1 Global Fund, developed by the Roddenberry Foundation in 2020 in response to COVID. The +1 Fund model relies on trust-based networks to identify under-the-radar social entrepreneurs and innovators working in vulnerable and last-mile communities. Through a nomination-based framework, we are localizing decision making, sharing power with frontline communities, reducing burdensome grantmaking processes, and supporting new cohorts of effective community-led WASH organizations.
The +1 WASH fund focuses on organizations providing safe water, sanitation, and hygiene. In each 12-week funding round, we work with network partners, starting with globally-recognized WASH organizations who excel at identifying, vetting, and supporting leading social entrepreneurs. Our partners then identify and nominate high impact peer WASH actors who are working in frontline communities. Grant nominees are vetted by a team of researchers who gather information in lieu of time-consuming applications, and awardees are selected based on their innovative solutions, connections to the community, and potential for impact. Awardees receive $12,000, and the social entrepreneur who nominated them receives $2,000, helping to shift the scarcity mindset around funding. In this model, there are no applications, no deadlines, and no restrictions.
In the subsequent grant rounds, those chosen for grants become nominators themselves, helping to expand the community of change-makers further. This network of networks approach enables social entrepreneurs who are embedded in the work to be part of the decision-making process and brings in more organizations that would otherwise not gain the attention of major funders.
In the end, our goal is to make sure our resources are applied to create the greatest impact. We take it on faith that by localizing funding power closer to the communities we serve, we can improve our efficiency and impact, while also highlighting exceptional solutions and actors who would otherwise remain invisible. We invite you to follow our journey as we try a new, more inclusive way to identify and fund access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene, and promote sustainable and adaptable solutions.