Through personal transformation work and social entrepreneurship training, Global Grassroots helps marginalized women and genocide survivors reclaim their lives and discover their value to society through the development of their own ideas for social change.  We then offer seed funding grants and 12 months of high-engagement advisory support to launch those projects that advance the well-being and rights of women.  Finally, we engage in creative campaigns to raise awareness of critical women’s issues globally. 

Global Grassroots is a 501(c)(3) non-profit which offers social entrepreneurship training and seed funding to help disadvantaged women in post-conflict societies launch their own ideas for social change.

Our mission is to unite, empower and support relief of poor, distressed and underprivileged women through investment in social entrepreneurship as a tool for personal and societal transformation.

Global Grassroots supports the advancement of women's well-being in post-conflict societies, targeting new social change leaders among women genocide survivors, widows with HIV/AIDS and victims of sexual assault. We are currently working among Rwandan genocide survivors, Darfur refugees living displaced in eastern Chad, and will soon be expanding to reach victims of the Lord's Resistance Army in northern Uganda.

Our three week Social Entrepreneurship Training and Investment Program helps emerging change leaders diagnose social issue priorities and design sustainable solutions benefiting women. We then provide seed funding grants and one year of high-engagement support to launch each project meeting our social purpose criteria.

Global Grassroots is currently facilitating the design of our largest social project to date, the idea of Adam, a Darfur refugee, who is developing a human rights library for refugees. The library will offer access to technology, materials and lectures about refugee laws, women's rights, children's rights, UN resolutions on Darfur, psychological healing and reconciliation for the 15,000 refugees residing in his refugee camp.

Gretchen Steidle Wallace, is the President and Founder of Global Grassroots. Gretchen graduated in 1996 with BA in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia and received her MBA in 2001 from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. From 1996-1999 she worked in international project finance for boutique investment bank, PMD International, Inc. From 2002-2003 Gretchen served as Managing Director of Youth Venture for Ashoka, an international non-profit organization advancing the profession of social entrepreneurship. In 2004 she led a team to South Africa to study the impact of HIV/AIDS and the work of social entrepreneurs combating the disease. Shortly thereafter, she founded Global Grassroots to invest in emerging social entrepreneurs working for women’s rights in developing countries. In 2005, she launched Global Grassroots’ work in the Darfur refugee camps of eastern Chad, and in 2006 expanded to Rwanda to offer social venture training to widowed genocide survivors. Gretchen is a producer of the documentary film, The Devil Came on Horseback, about her brother’s experience as a military observer in Darfur, Sudan and co-author of her brother's memoirs, titled "The Devil Came on Horseback: Bearing Witness to the Genocide in Darfur", published by PublicAffairs. She recently was honored by World Business Magazine and Shell as one of the top International 35 Women Under 35.

Gretchen Wallace - Chairman
Cristina Ljungberg - Vice Chairman
Eli Stefanksi
Jenny Holden
Lina Srivastava

Bill Carter
Alan Pesky
Susan Kraeger
Bob Webber
Jane Wells

Save Darfur Coalition
Humanity United
Paul Tudor Jones
The Fledgling Fund
Jane Wells
St. James Trust
Bernice & Milton Stern Foundation
The Big Wood Foundation
Judith McGrath
Margaret S. & Philip D. Block, Jr. Family Foundation
Cristina & Johan Ljungberg
HOPE Artists, Inc.
Shepard Fairey
Obey Giant Art, Inc.
Pesky Family Foundation
Kenneth Alphin
Jason & Wendy Flom
Jacob Burns Film Center
The School for International Training Net Impact Chapter
Autumn Ridge Church of Rochester, MN
Barrie Family Charitable Fund
Sewell Family Foundation
Tadeusz & Nadia Wellisz
John Sykes
Per & Asa Taube
Selina & Thomas Millstam
Leslie Maunsbach
Lawrence & Rebekah Helzel
Richard & Judith Smooke
Edgar Bronfman
Kiril Sokoloff
Robyn Hillman-Harrigan
Koldyke Family Fund
Kirsten & Mike Doogue
Allegro Microsystems
Andrea Morello
Craig & Marcia Steidle
Chicago Community Foundation
Moveon.org
Myspace.com
Alexandre Garnier
Wallace C. Steidle
Shames Family Foundation
Michael Sullivan
Frederick Hauck and Susan Bruce of the Family Firm Donor Advised Fund
Fred & Linda Schwartz

Global Grassroots is filling a unique niche by helping survivors help themselves. Through investment in capacity building, skills training and assistance with the launch of new social ventures, Global Grassroots is investing in a culture of social entrepreneurship that has the potential for changing systematically the way in which communities creatively and sustainably solve the social issues they face. We have also found that through the success of such locally-initiated ideas, survivors find purpose and healing in transforming their lives and the lives of other women in their communities.

In 2008, we hope to expand our work to support women and child victims of sexual violence perpetrated by the Lord's Resistance Army in Northern Uganda. We also remain committed to strengthening our programs in Rwanda and with Darfur refugees in Chad. Across four quarterly training programs, we will train 150-200 women and launch 15-20 new social ventures.

Over the last 12 months, Global Grassroots has trained nearly 200 women genocide survivors from Rwanda and launched seven social projects designed by our graduates to address critical issues facing women, such as sexual exploitation, stigma facing women living with HIV/AIDS and access to clean water. To date we have been invited by women's groups in 22 different developing countries to partner or offer our training program to accelerate social change for women.

Global Grassroots has also been active in creative advocacy campaigns to raise awareness about the Darfur crisis and its impact on women. The centerpiece of our work is our award-winning documentary film, THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK, produced by BreakThru Films in association with Global Grassroots and Three Generations. Global Grassroots has been managing the educational outreach for the film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007 and has shown commercially in 70 cities nationwide.