In an effort to stick to its locals-know-best philosophy, sometimes Spark even funds projects that it has misgivings about, like a potato cultivation effort in the northern Rwandan village of Nyabageni, where a group of 80 families wanted to use insecticides instead of organic farming methods (chemical insecticides are common in Rwanda, says Lesh).

FORBES: Saving the World on a Shoestring: Spark MicroGrants