Dorsey’s Start Small: public spreadsheets and the missing last mile
Donor & institutional legacy: Jack Dorsey
A technology holding becomes an emergency commitment
In April 2020 Jack Dorsey announced that he was moving approximately $1 billion in Square equity into an initiative called Start Small, initially for pandemic relief and later for other causes. He made a public grant-tracking spreadsheet central to the project. This differs from older endowed foundations whose early grant records may be scattered across archives. A stock commitment, however, is not the same event as a completed grant or a service delivered to a person.
What unusually open grant records reveal
A dated spreadsheet can show an award, recipient, purpose, and amount. This allows observers to identify which organizations received significant funding and whether the initiative’s priorities shifted. It does not automatically show what a recipient paid for rent, salaries, subgrants, or supplies. Nor does a spreadsheet establish that a listed payment has been independently audited. Transparency is strongest when the receiving organization also publishes accounts and outcomes.
The emergency setting matters
During a pandemic, speed can be valuable: money for food distribution, protective equipment, or emergency housing may be most useful before a long review is completed. Rapid giving also makes it harder to compare recipients or follow funds across multiple partners. The important question is whether recipients had capacity to deliver assistance and whether records were maintained well enough to investigate later. Administrative spending can be essential; undisclosed conflicts and unverified results remain legitimate concerns.
The lasting lesson for larger foundations
Start Small’s public record demonstrates that grantmakers can disclose much more than a broad annual total. The next step is a traceable chain from award to implementation: legal recipient, transfer date, amount, restrictions, subcontractors where material, and outcomes. Some recipients will be businesses supplying services; others will be community groups or individuals. Identifying each accurately is more informative than declaring all intermediary spending either wasteful or beneficial.
Records and further reading
Financial reports and grant disclosures provide evidence of institutional transfers. Recipient-level results require separate examination. IRS nonprofit filing search