However, the Small Grants Program prefers to support nonprofit, nongovernmental, nonacademic organizations. Activities supported by the Small Grants Program promote dialogue and dissemination of information about international development. These activities are most often conferences and seminars, special editions or startup costs of publications, audio-visual materials, or other innovative networking efforts that small organizations generally find difficult to fund through their regular program budgets. The grant activities focus on socioeconomic development problems such as poverty reduction, environmental protection, human resource development, as well as NGO capacity building. Examples of activities supported by the Program are attached.
Smaller grants are possible, but larger grants are rare.
The Small Grants Program rarely funds more than half of the proposed budget for an activity, and therefore prefers that its grants help to generate additional contributions from other sources. Applicant organizations are asked to describe how a grant from the World Bank might help them to raise funds from other donors. The World Bank Office, Beijing is responsible for the administration of the Small Grants Program in China. Grants are awarded by a Small Grants Committee headed by the World Bank China Country Director and composed of the Deputy Chief of Mission and sector coordinators or representatives of the various sector units. Applications are screened and reviewed by the SGP coordinator prior to submission to the Grants Committee.