Recently, I was tapped to join the newly formed New York City Venture Philanthropy Fund. NYC-VPF is a giving circle whose members’ pooled funds and professional expertise are granted in support of social entrepreneurial projects within the five boroughs.

My role so far, as part of the Donor/Membership Development Sub-committee, has been to begin planning the organization’s launch party (which actually we have divided into a “soft” and “hard” launch). With a background in advertising, I naturally engaged in a critical discussion on branding with two guidance board members.

In discussing what we wanted to convey through a logo and tagline, it became apparent we would need to choose something short and accessible since the group’s name isn’t exactly that. The irony is NYC-VPF embodies democratic philanthropy, and is probably one of the most accessible philanthropic vehicles out there.

In NYC-VPF, anyone can become a member for $365 a year; members are able to vote on grant recipients; and grantees receive support to undertake innovative approaches to solving persistent social problems. While the level to join is low and the concept is exciting and relate-able for most, the language “venture philanthropy” can be a bit alienating for those not familiar.

When we broke NYC-VPF down into its most basic essence, we determined it was about “small money, big change.” The “small money” contrasts with notions of “big money” and “old money,” characterizing traditional philanthropic entities such as foundations. The “big change” refers to the impact of a large community pooling individual “small money” and professional skills to support results-oriented social entrepreneurial problem-solving. We think it works; what do you think?