From Grants to Recyclable Capital: Designing Successful Structures for Small Business Lending

Most donors assume moving beyond grantmaking requires specialized expertise or high risk tolerance. This session is designed to change that. Three practitioners – an enterprise support leader from India, a donor who made her first guarantee commitment, and the architect of a first-of-its-kind pooled guarantee platform in the US – show what it looks like to structure philanthropic capital so it works harder, lasts longer, and comes back. Participants apply a live Capital Deployment Decision Map to their own capital context, then role-play as lenders, enterprises, and donors. They leave with a practical risk framework and the confidence to act. No prior lending or blended finance experience required.