This article discusses how an environmental NGO at grassroots-level copes with severe environmental issues utilizing divergent channels as well as strategies even with very limited financial and human resources. As the development path for those "bigger " and "smaller" NGOs diverge, the primary attention of this article emphasizes the two significant elements: stable finance and human resource. A study on Huai River Guardian in Henan province illustrates how a grassroots NGO whose funding and human resources are quite limited promotes an active participation from the residents of villages by letting them run and manage the bio-water purification unit.