Can small amounts of money make a difference? It’s a question that many of us ask ourselves as we contemplate how to spend our charitable dollars. As individuals, we may decide to make one or two large donations each year to a favorite charity, or spread our contributions among a handful of organizations that appeal to our particular interests.

Foundations have similar approaches. Some choose to make only a limited number of large grants every year, restrict their giving to groups that fit within a narrowly defined set of parameters, or distribute resources across a wide range of recipients.

At The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, we believe that a combination of these methods has maximum benefit. Compared with some of the multimillion-dollar bequests made by other private and corporate foundations, our grants are relatively modest. While we do provide significant ongoing support to annual recipients such as Duke University, the majority of our grants are in the $1,000-$5,000 range.

As with any foundation, our mission guides us in all that we do. Our primary purpose is to further and extend Mary Duke Biddle’s lifelong interests in religious, educational, and charitable activities, specifically in North Carolina and New York. Within that framework, however, there are endless numbers of ways we can direct our resources. We have found that by making a prudent number of smaller grants, we can have a far-ranging impact that goes beyond specific dollar amounts.

Educational initiatives, of course, have longterm implications for the populations they serve. Through a grant to the North Carolina Outward Bound School, for example, we support the Unity Project, which brings together young people from diverse backgrounds to work on issues of moral leadership and social justice. At a time when religious and political differences threaten to render our world dangerously unstable, we can think of no better investment in our future than to foster these sorts of important conversations about what it takes to build common ground.

Grants to worthwhile service organizations can have both immediate and lasting value. That’s particularly true of programs for children. Our grants in 2007 helped provide new school clothes—and greater self-esteem—for students living in poverty, and funded outreach efforts for young people dealing with juvenile diabetes, the loss of a loved one, or the effects of physical or emotional abuse.

Another key reason why smaller grants can make a big difference is that service organizations usually rely on multiple sponsors. In order to attract funding on an ongoing basis, non-profits need responsible, dedicated leaders who can forge creative partnerships within their communities. Such leaders recognize that sustainability is not an end in itself. Instead, they know that the best management strategy is to adapt and respond to the changing needs of their constituents.

Finally, smaller grants can serve as both endorsement and incentive to groups and individuals engaged in pursuits that fall outside of traditional funding channels. For years we have supported the Durham Arts Council’s Emerging Artists Program, which brings together a fivecounty coalition of arts organizations under one administrative umbrella. The program provides financial assistance and public recognition of local artists who are poised to take their art to a new level. One of these recipients, illustrator Stacye Leanza, plans to use her 2007 grant to develop a website and create promotional material to bring her work to the attention of children’s book publishers.

More important than the financial support, Leanza says, is the validation of her worth as a professional illustrator. At a ceremony for grant recipients, she said that when she found out about the award, "I felt like my life had some mass to it, some weight. I was no longer floating, out in the space of ideas and imagination…Along with that comes a good chunk of confidence to proceed. This, I believe, will stay with me long after the grant money has been spent."

In 2007, The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation awarded more than $1.6 million to more than 300 grantees. With every grant we make, the trustees endorse the valuable contributions already being made by a diverse group of individuals and organizations. At the same time, we are embracing the potential that our grantees have to make a difference in the lives of others, and in the lives of our communities.

Can small grants make a difference? Once you’ve read this annual report, and seen the ways that moderate sums can yield major dividends, I think you will agree that the answer is, unequivocally, yes.