This is fairly aligned with what I described before, making tiny bets or investments across large number of individuals or startups.
Having said that $12,000 is too small of a figure to make a realistic impact. Rather it would be better to focus on boostrapping and making that amount every month, and continually reinvest in your business.
YC's first batch, the Summer Founders Program, was just 6k per founder for 5-7% equity -- teams were expected to make that last for three months (as opposed to YCF's two), and were required to pick up and move on top of that. That funding was enough for Reddit to get started, and we think there will be other great founders who will be able to start good companies with this amount too.
Having said that $12,000 is too small of a figure to make a realistic impact. Rather it would be better to focus on boostrapping and making that amount every month, and continually reinvest in your business.