Funders often reject projects because they "don’t have any potential to scale globally." Not every project, especially in tech, can or should be scaled.

When a platform is carefully designed to focus on a very specific need and target community, the potential for impact is far greater than attempting to multiply it in different contexts where these ideas are either unnecessary or irrelevant.

That approach doesn’t result in sustainability, it’s in fact dangerous and wasteful.

The core focus of the project becomes about survival and meaningless growth for the sake of reporting metrics, rather than genuine service and continuously improving a platform/program and tailoring it to those who need the support most.

We are often criticized for not scaling our projects globally but it’s something we also take pride in - it’s literally the only reason why every single one of our platforms still exists after 13 years.

That’s 13 years of ongoing censorship, attacks, lack of resources, and many other challenges. If we shifted our focus to pure scale, overcoming these obstacles would never have been possible.

These platforms still exist not because of availability of any resources, but because we didn’t change our approach to appease potential funders, the majority of whom criticized our strategy as "thinking too small."

Too small is just right for our context. None of these projects are designed to scale because that gradual growth within a specified region is the difference between eventual impact and mere vanity metrics.

If you’re a founder, don’t be bullied by empty assumptions and the “standard” approach to unlock funding. Don’t scale and grow needlessly just to fill up a page on an annual report.

Small is meaningful - focus on those who need what you build, and listen to the target users first and foremost, and not misinformed funders who want you to compromise quality and security to satisfy their dangerous shortcuts.

The key to actual sustainability is not scale, but consistency, and that’s not something most funders understand or encourage. It’s why nonprofits, specifically those in the civic tech field, suffer as much from challenges that are completely preventable.