Core Ideas
The Green Revolution of the 1960s transformed global agriculture through a similar funding pattern: Rockefeller and Ford Foundation grants provided the catalytic capital that de-risked government and private sector investment. Foundation money is patient capital — it doesn't need quarterly returns, it can absorb risk, and it signals institutional credibility.
The AI Middle Way needs this same catalytic function. Ford, Omidyar, Gates, and Soros foundations represent the next tier — organizations with the scale and the mandate to invest in structural transformation of the Global South.
"Foundation grants are the match that lights the fire. The fuel is economic transformation."