Propel Philanthropy seeks to advance the social sector by providing funders with opportunities to achieve an impact multiplier effect.
Peter Brach served as a grantmaker for a small foundation prior to founding Propel Philanthropy in 2022.
He began his philanthropic journey by supporting organizations using systemic approaches to address specific issue areas. Over time, he became increasingly interested in a larger question: How could he move beyond supporting individual causes and nonprofits toward benefitting for many nonprofits, causes, funders, and communities at once?
Peter found he could often achieve an impact multiplier effect by combining two practices:
These two practices strongly influenced the direction of Propel Philanthropy and the later development of the A Million Dominoes initiative.
Propel Philanthropy began by bringing together more than 40 Social Sector Support Organizations to share experiences, learn from one another, and explore how to better communicate their value to funders and the broader social sector. As these conversations evolved, Propel Philanthropy focused on media outreach efforts to elevate awareness of these organizations and their contributions.
Brought together more than 40 Social Sector Support Organizations to share experiences, learn from one another, and explore how to better communicate their value.
In 2023, partnered with Alliance Magazine and WINGS to launch the eleven-part Illuminating the Invisible series.
The series was followed by a commissioned report and a second series exploring why five funders support these organizations.
Together, these efforts highlighted three important themes including the contributions, challenges, and opportunities SSSOs experience.
Documenting examples of successful far-reaching grants through its Stories of Impact Page.
Learn More →
Reporting on the contributions leading SSSOs have made through its Direct Benefits Page.
Presenting funders with SSSOs to explore on its Organizations Page.
A Million Dominoes involves an exceptionally positive impact that ripples outwardly, significantly improving a cause area or the broader social sector ecosystem by identifying and strengthening a critical linchpin within a far-reaching organization or the broader social sector ecosystem.
Propel Philanthropy and Catalyst Now (formerly Catalyst 2030) formed a partnership to create this initiative in the Fall of 2025. We believed that there are many promising, far-reaching opportunities to achieve impact. However, they are most often not funded because they are too broad to typically fit existing funding priorities.
At the same time, we believed that some funders will consider providing small amounts of discretionary investments beyond what they do otherwise if the costs were low and they clearly see an exceptional opportunity to achieve sizable, far-reaching results.
Today, we are a team of seasoned philanthropy professionals who evaluate submissions capable of creating A Million Dominoes.
We will announce our winners in the Fall of 2026 and make our larger portfolio of submissions available to funders. We will do so at no charge as our way of contributing to strengthening socitheal sector ecosystem.
