The problem is, I'm not certain what constitutes a solution. Is a solution viable only when presented by a major organisation? Is a solution a ploy when it's presented by a corporation? How about community level solutions? Are they too small to be considered legitimate?

I ask these questions because for years mondofragilis, and I personally, have been presenting projects to potential donors. Some were on our own behalf, others were legitimately on behalf of partner organisations. Some were one organisation projects, others included multiple partners. Some were huge, some were tiny. You get the picture. We've presented hundreds of these projects over the years. So by now, I think I'm starting to get an idea of what people think of them. Here goes.

I definitely think that nobody wants to give corporations money. If your 'company' makes money, then this project only serves to fill your pockets. This is usually wrong. You have many companies who decide they want to do something for the greater good. They have the necessary infrastructure to do good. They're willing to do good at cost. But they need money to cover basic expenses. No one will touch them. No money to be found. I know, we've tried.

Smaller civil society organisations have a different problem. For instance, they are asked if they have tested the idea. How can a tiny community-based organisation that is asking for money for a 'solution' have the resources to pretest the idea?

We are not talking about programmes here. I have deliberately used the word solutions to infer that some programmes are really close to the end-game and they just need money to make it happen. Usually, these types of projects require limited overhead; they are truly implementation oriented. I've seen an example recently. It was a medium NGO asking for a reasonable budget from a foundation with lots of pertinent money. They would absolutely not fast track the money despite the need being immediate. No, it was not for a media present crisis such as Darfur, the tsunami or Pakistan. But it was, in its own way, an emergency. Sorry, no shortcuts. Wait in line like everyone else.

If we are to encourage people to come up with workable, on the ground, short term solutions, we have to give them a mechanism to do so.