The Busywork Trap

The NGO and donor ecosystem is overloaded. Hundreds of thousands of projects receive small amounts of funding. Each is too under-resourced to make a difference, but just enough to stay alive. This cycle produces endless activity with little impact.

Civil society workers know this truth. Everyone complains about it in private. Yet the system continues. The incentives reward being busy over being effective.

Why Quantity Destroys Quality

When donors spread money across too many projects, organizations are forced to adapt themselves to funding criteria. They chase eligibility instead of outcomes. They dilute focus. They try to be everything to everyone.

Specialization becomes impossible. Mastery never develops. Instead of solving problems, NGOs run to keep up with donor requirements. The sector fills with mediocrity.

One example we observed was a major grant for innovative disinformation work. The money could have supported a bold strategy. Instead, it was divided among struggling partners to cover budget holes. The project was doomed before it began.

The Donor’s Dilemma

Donors know the system is flawed, but they fear risk. Funding a hundred small projects feels safe. If one fails, nobody notices. But funding one big project feels dangerous. If it fails, everyone sees.

This fear creates systemic inertia. Donors avoid bold bets, and NGOs adapt to the spread-thin model. The outcome is predictable: lots of activity, little change.

Why Risk Matters

Real impact requires concentration. It requires taking risks on fewer, bigger strategies. Without that, the sector will keep spinning wheels. Societies will keep sliding backward on human rights, climate, and cohesion.

The fear of failure has to be replaced with the hunger for outcomes. Failure of small projects is invisible, but it adds up to systemic failure.

The Logiq Insight

This is where Impact Engineering provides a way forward. By using traction metrics, donors can identify which strategies actually shift mainstream audiences. Instead of counting how many projects are funded, they can count how many narratives were moved.

With real data, bold bets become rational. Donors can support fewer projects with bigger potential, because they can see proof of traction. NGOs can stop chasing eligibility and start building influence.

A Different Future

Imagine if 80 percent of small projects were retired and the resources were redirected into a handful of proven strategies. Instead of scattered noise, we would have traction. Instead of diluted energy, we would have focus.

This future is possible. It only requires the sector to measure impact by traction, not by activity.

The Takeaway

Busy is not effective. Fewer projects with stronger systems will always achieve more than thousands of small initiatives. Impact Engineering makes it possible to prove what works and scale it.