The premise of the GDF is that grassroots development produces results at three levels, and important tangible and intangible results should be taken into account. In business, profits are the bottom line. In grassroots development, a project must generate material improvements in the quality of life of the poor. Because poverty entails not only lack of income but also lack of access to a range of basic services (including education, healthcare, shelter and others), as well as insufficient opportunity for active civic participation, the GDF draws these indicators into a single tool.

A development project is a special kind of investment that should produce tangible and intangible benefits, and the GDF seeks to measure and document both. The Foundation's experience has demonstrated that each project can plant a seed for change and that grassroots development produces results not only for individuals but also for organizations and society. Therefore, the cone shape of the GDF portrays the potential dimensions of the impact of grassroots development, progressing from individuals and families, to organizations, to the community or society at large - the three levels of the GDF.