"This is a real breakthrough, eagerly anticipated by scholars in the field. It offers a new conceptualization of an understudied type of NGO: volunteer-based, personally expressive efforts by individual Americans to help distant others."--Ann Swidler, University of California, Berkeley, coauthor of A Fraught Embrace: The Romance and Reality of AIDS Altruism in Africa "Around the world, self-authorizing change makers are implementing local development projects aimed at improving the lives of those with the fewest resources, often with interesting and unexpected results. Allison Schnable's research takes us deep into the world of these practical dreamers as they try to solve some of the world's most complex problems and overcome large and inevitable obstacles along the way. This book will become essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the shifting landscape of global social impact."--Peter Frumkin, Heyer Chair in Social Policy, University of Pennsylvania "Working outside formal channels, amateur aid operates globally, pursuing hopes of changing individual lives in developing countries. Allison Schnable deftly analyzes this narrative of redemption, illuminating what grassroots charity can accomplish and why it cannot address root causes. With empathy and acumen, she reveals this messy, imperfect, and very human form of charity in a way no one before has."--Woody Powell, Stanford University "Grassroots nongovernmental organizations are an important vehicle through which many Westerners engage with citizens in the Global South, yet we have little data about their origins and activities. This book provides important new insights into these organizations, highlighting their good intentions and their unintended consequences for the individuals and communities they seek to serve."--Mary Kay Gugerty, Nancy Bell Evans Professor of Nonprofit Management, University of Washington