Acumen Fund

Learning: Where New Philanthropy Meets Old

Jane Wales | Posted 04.16.2012

Read More: Elumelu, Philanthropy, Washington DC, Unicef, Social Impact Bonds, Acumen Fund, Global Philanthropy Forum, Home News

We often refer to the debt we owe to Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller for translating their charitable impulse into organized philanthropy, pro...

Read Post

MBAs Rule

Jonathan Lewis | Posted 05.27.2012

Read More: Hospice, Keely Stevenson, Acumen Fund, Mba, Royal Bafokeng Nation, Bamboo Finance, Jonathan Lewis, Ionpoverty, Skoll Foundation, Video, Impact News

For many of us, economic justice work is triggered at any early age and continues over a lifetime. Simple steps lead to big change.

Read Post

What We Can Learn From Girl Scout Cookies

Buck Goldstein | Posted 05.14.2012

Read More: Girl Scout Cookies, Mosquito Nets, Social-Enterprise, Acumen Fund, Girl Scouts, Social Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneruship, Tanzania, Social Entrepreneur, A to Z, Impact News

How do you scale a social enterprise in a sustainable manner? The unlikely answer to the question is found in Girl Scout cookies, or more specifically, in the scaling strategy used by Girl Scouts nationwide to sell over 200 million boxes annually and generate over $700 million.

Read Post

Bringing Affordable Solar Lighting to Millions

Liz Hamburg | Posted 04.25.2012

Read More: d.light, Solar Energy, Social Innovation, Acumen Fund, Social Entrepreneurship, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Kopernik, Impact News

They certainly didn't come up with the idea of solar lighting replacing kerosene. The idea had been around for a while. And, solar has been getting a lot of buzz lately. But most of the companies offering solar solutions don't see the 1.6 billion people as a real market.

Read Post

Leadership: It's a Female Thing

Monika Mitchell | Posted 04.23.2012

Read More: Nada Jain, Women's Empowerment, Leadership, Women's Rights, ISIS Fund/Women's World Banking, Women's Leadership, C-Suite, Criterion Ventures, United Nations, Gender Diversity, Inclusion of Women, Jackie VanderBrug, Calvert Foundation, Financial Crisis, Jo-Ann Tan, Sally Boulter, Golden Seeds, Women, Acumen Fund, Economic Crisis, Anwarul Chowdhury, Christine Lagarde, Equal Pay, Winds of Change, Bangladesh, Women in the Boardroom, CJ Juhasz, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Resolution 1325, Multicultural Capital, U.N. Women, Georgie Benardete, Angela Merkel, Hillary Clinton, Noelle St. Clair, Women Leaders, Shamaya Gilo, Women News

The event marked a shift in action -- we are tired of waiting for men to open the door for us. Ladies and gentlemen ... in the 21st century, we are opening the doors for ourselves.

Read Post

Embracing Otherness: Bunker Roy

Pat Mitchell | Posted 12.18.2011

Read More: India, Acumen Fund, Rajasthan, Tedglobal, Barefoot College, Bunker Roy, India Poverty, India Education, Media News

Bunker Roy and his Barefoot College begins with an amazing story of his own choice to leave a life of privilege and prestigious education to essentially learn from the poor.

Read Post

Taking the Next Step in Pakistan

Jacqueline Novogratz | Posted 10.01.2011

Read More: Lahore, Development in Literacy, Literacy, Acumen Fund, Pakistan, Saiban, Impact News

I know many parts of Pakistan where girls have no education. "Madame, that should change," another community leader tells me. "It is wrong not to educate our children, boys and girls."

Read Post

Acumen Fund gets real stuff done across the world

Craig Newmark | Posted 06.03.2011

Read More: Antipoverty, Acumen Fund, Impact News

The deal is that the Acumen fund just had its tenth anniversary, helping create a world beyond poverty. The gist is that they use philanthropic money ...

Read Post

Winter 2011: A Growing Sense Of Urgency

Jacqueline Novogratz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Acumen Fund, Jacqueline Novogratz, Tedwomen, Impact News

The year 2011 has many of us around the world trying to catch our breath and make sense of all that is happening at home and elsewhere. Think about th...

Read Post

How Will You Show Some Love? Reinventing Valentine's Day

Jonathan Greenblatt | Posted 05.25.2011

It's certainly a special thing when we pause to appreciate our loved ones. But perhaps we can raise our game in 2011 and do a bit more on this date.

Read Post

Changing Charity to a Charity That Changes You

Lee Schneider | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: TOMS Shoes, Homeless Shelters, Habitat for Humanity, Indiegogo, Charity: Water, Acumen Fund, Gap, Jumo, Real Food Daily, Shelter, Red, Jacqueline Novogratz, (RED), Be the Change, Patient Capital, 20/20, Impact News

I'm trying to approach this whole charity thing differently -- simply by not thinking of it as charity.

Read Post

Are You Ready to Change the World?

Jacqueline Novogratz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Patient Capital, Poverty, Charity, Acumen Fund, Ow-Income Housing, Impact News

In the past nine years, we've invested $50 million in about 50 companies. This year alone, those companies will bring services to more than 40 million people.

Read Post

How Cause-Integrated Businesses are Working to End Poverty

Auren Kaplan | Posted 05.25.2011

As the movements of social enterprise and cause-integrated business mature, a new funding model is proving that scaling innovations for poverty alleviation in the developing world can be both possible and profitable.

Read Post

The Danger of Demonizing Profit Making Companies That Serve the Poor

Hugh Whalan | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Working Poor, Acumen Fund, World Resources Institute, Microfinance, World Bank, Non-Profit, India, C.K. Prahalad, Global Poverty, Poverty Alleviation, Impact News

The true issue here is not whether for-profits play an important role -- it should be clear that they do -- but rather how to encourage the right kind of for-profits to address the social needs of the poor.

Read Post

Acumen Fund: Real Results via Book the Blue Sweater

Craig Newmark | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Jacqueline Novogratz, Acumen Fund, The Blue Sweater, Impact News

Acumen Fund is the real deal, a social venture fund that invests in businesses serving the poor, with actual results. They're giving away 500 copies of its founder Jacqueline Novogratz' book.

Read Post

Everything Counts: Growing Up at All for Good

Jonathan Greenblatt | Posted 05.25.2011

It's happening, all around us, in subtle and significant ways. An Economy of Integrity is taking shape, built brick by brick, inch by inch, minute by minute. Ordinary people are choosing to forgo a lifestyle of consumption.

Read Post

Model Community Inspires Hope in a Divided Pakistan

Jacqueline Novogratz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Acumen Fund, Global Poverty, Khuda Ki-Basti 4, Pakistan, Tasneem Siddiqui, Saiban, Impact News

It is always emotional for me to visit Khuda ki-basti 4, the housing development built by Saiban, an Acumen Fund investment, outside Lahore, Pakistan. Now, each time I come, the world feels different, more hopeful.

Read Post

Acumen Fund: "The New Recruits"

Craig Newmark | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Philanthropy, Acumen Fund, Impact News

Check out a forthcoming Ironbound Films documentary talking about real results from the Acumen Fund. It airs on 15 June on PBS. The theme is that ...

Read Post

Acumen Fund and The Blue Sweater Challenge

Craig Newmark | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: The-Blue-Sweater-Challenge, Acumen Fund, Impact News

Hey, it's easy to talk about helping people out of poverty, but really hard to actually do it in a serious, sustainable way. The folks at the Acumen Fund find ways to get that done.

Read Post

Jacqueline Novogratz Talks Pakistan And Aid On CNN

Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Roshaneh Zafar, Christiane Amanpour CNN, Mosharraf Zaidi, Acumen Fund, Jacqueline Novogratz, Kashf Foundation, Christiane Amanpour, Impact News

Acumen Fund founder and HuffPost blogger Jacqueline Novogratz appeared on CNN International today alongside Pakistani journalist Mosharraf Zaidi and R...

Read Whole Story

The Blue Sweater Challenge: Inspiring Social Change in Kenya

Jacqueline Novogratz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Acumen Fund, Tedx, Kenya, The Blue Sweater Challenge, The Blue Sweater, South Carolina, Ted, Anne Dunlap, Sandor Teszler, Kibera, Book Clubs, Wofford College, Spartanburg, Nairobi, Ben Dunlap, Impact News

Young organizers from the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, will identify and award three local groups who are doing the most to effect positive social change in their communities.

Read Post

The Goldman Sachs Investment You Haven't Heard About Yet

Dan Silverstein | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Women Entrepreneurs, Goldman Sachs, Community TeamWorks, 000 Women, 10, Egyptian Americans, Women for Women International, Acumen Fund, Women in Development, Vital Voices, Endeavour, Business News

Of all the possibilities this storied bastion of testosterone production might have selected, educating women entrepreneurs surely qualifies as one of the more astounding.

Read Post

The New Recruits: Can Capitalism Save the World?

Andrea Chalupa | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: The New Recruits, d.light, Heide Kraul, WalletPop.Com, Acumen Fund, Daniel A. Miller, Seth Kramer, Rainn Wilson, Jeremy Newberger, Acumen Fellows, Ironbound Films, Andrea Chalupa, Heidi Krauel, Business News

Social entrepreneurism isn't charity; it's business as usual, tailored to those in high-need, and the subject of an upcoming documentary, The New Recruits: Can Capitalism Save the World?

Read Post

Fighting Poverty with Acumen

Marc Gunther | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Rwanda, d.light, LED Lights, Acumen Fund, Jacqueline Novogratz, Water Health International, The Blue Sweater, Business News

The Acumen Fund provides "patient capital" to for-profit businesses around the world that help people climb out of poverty.

Read Post

Moving Day in Mathare Valley

Jacqueline Novogratz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Jamii Bora, Poverty, Acumen Fund, Mathare Valley, Kenya, Nairobi, Mathare-Valley-Slum, Mathare-Valley, Political Humor, Kaputei, Mathare Valley Slum, Slum, Nairobi-Kenya, World News

I came to Mathare Valley to see if I could better understand the trajectory of people moving from this desperate slum to Jamii Bora's development of $4,000 houses in Kaputei.

Read Post