Acumen Fund is a non-profit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty

Poverty

Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...

. Its aim is to help build financially sustainable and scalable organizations that deliver affordable critical goods and services that improve the lives of the poor. Acumen Fund is a 501(c)(3) organization headquartered in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, with regional offices in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

 and Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

.

History

Acumen Fund was incorporated on April 1, 2001, with seed capital from the Rockefeller Foundation

Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...

, Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...

 Foundation and three individual philanthropists. Acumen Fund’s investors and advisors have grown to include a wide range of individuals and organizations including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It is "driven by the interests and passions of the Gates family"...

, Google.org

Google.org

Google.org is the charitable arm of Internet search engine company Google.The organization has committed over $100 million in investments and grants as of May 2010. To fund the organization, Google granted them 3 million shares during their initial public offering. As of August 2011, Google.org's 3...

 and the Skoll Foundation

Skoll Foundation

The Skoll Foundation is a social entrepreneurship foundation based in Silicon Valley, California, with a mission to drive large-scale change by investing in, connecting, and celebrating social entrepreneurs and other innovators dedicated to solving the world’s most pressing problems...

. Jacqueline Novogratz

Jacqueline Novogratz

Jacqueline Novogratz is founder and CEO of Acumen Fund, a non-profit global venture capital fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty. Acumen Fund has invested over $50 million of patient capital in 50 businesses that have impacted more than 40 million...

 is the founder and CEO of Acumen Fund.

Investments

Acumen Fund uses patient capital

Patient capital

Patient capital is another name for long term capital. With patient capital, the investor is willing to make a financial investment in a business with no expectation of turning a quick profit...

 to build transformative businesses. The fund makes disciplined investments – loans or equity, not grants – that yield both financial and social returns. As of June 30, 2008, Acumen Fund had approved $34m in investments in the following countries: India, Pakistan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, the United States and the United Kingdom.
According to its website, it supports 26 thriving enterprises, helping over 36 million people. Investments are separated into five portfolios: Water, Health, Housing, Energy and Agriculture. Acumen Fund commitments range from $300,000 to $2,000,000 in equity or debt with a payback or exit in roughly five to seven years.

In Pakistan, Acumen Fund started its work in 2006 with a $1 million initial investment. They used the fund to provide capital to enterprises providing critical goods and services to the poor, with a focus on high-risk social enterprises. In the aftermath of the 2010 flooding, the Pakistan chapter increased its capacity to $11 million.

Goals

Acumen Fund has set a goal of making $100 million in investments, touching 50 million lives. Additionally, it seeks to set the global standard for how to effect wide-reaching social change in poverty alleviation and private sector development by:

• Identifying extraordinary social enterprise
  Social enterprise
  A social enterprise is an organization that applies business strategies to achieving philanthropic goals. Social enterprises can be structured as a for-profit or non-profit....
  
  s with innovative approaches to serving the world’s poor in the areas of health, water, and housing;
• Supporting these enterprises to become financially sustainable and scalable with equity and debt financing and intensive support;
• Creating the standard for measuring the social and financial returns of these investments and establishing a position of thought leadership based on these successes;
• Building a global community of professionals (staff and Fellows), donors, institutional partners and social entrepreneurs capable of deploying financial, human and intellectual capital to solve some of the most intractable problems of poverty.

Fellows Program

The Acumen Fund Fellows Program selects young professionals each year and provides them with the chance to work with Acumen portfolio organizations in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, India and Pakistan. The Fellows spend one year, starting in September, working with the Acumen team and local entrepreneurs.

Chapters of Acumen Fund

Acumen Fund is a pioneering not-for-profit venture fund that is changing the way the world addresses poverty. Cities around the globe are joining these efforts through volunteer-run chapters which support Acumen's mission by actively championing the Fund’s innovative model.

Official Chapters include: Chicago for Acumen; New York for Acumen; Dubai for Acumen; and San Francisco for Acumen.

Seed Chapters include: Toronto for Acumen; DC for Acumen; London for Acumen; Pakistan for Acumen; Silicon Valley for Acumen; and Vancouver for Acumen.

External links

• Acumen Fund website
• Acumen Fund blog
• Investing in the World's Poor Stanford Graduate School of Business, May 2007
• Philanthropy and Development in Emerging Markets, Business Week, March 2, 2009
• Hard Lessons Learnt in the War on Poverty, Financial Times, February 24, 2009
• Developing Entrepreneurship among the World's Poorest The McKinsey Quarterly, March 2009
• The Patient Capitalist The Economist, May 21, 2009