Funded groups: Elective fund
Acumen Fund www.acumenfund.org
Acumen Fund is a non-profit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty. They seek to prove that small amounts of philanthropic capital, combined with large doses of business acumen, can build thriving enterprises that serve vast numbers of the poor. Acumen's investments focus on delivering affordable, critical goods and services – like health, water, housing and energy – through innovative, market-oriented approaches.
Ashoka www.ashoka.org
Ashoka is a global association of social entrepreneurs. Its mission is to shape a global, entrepreneurial, competitive citizen sector. To fulfil this mission, Ashoka has a three-pronged approach: a/ they support individual social entrepreneurs—financially and professionally—throughout their life cycle; b/ they bring communities of social entrepreneurs together to help leverage their impact, scale their ideas, and capture and disseminate their best practices; and c/they help build the infrastructure and financial systems needed to support the growth of the citizen sector and facilitate the spread of social innovation globally.
CIDA Foundation UK www.cidafoundationuk.org
CIDA Foundation UK supports CIDA City Campus, South Africa's first virtually free university for those who have the talent but not the financial means to access higher education. Founded in 2000, CIDA City Campus now has over 1,300 students studying a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, where they can specialise in finance and investments or human resources and marketing. CIDA established the Branson School of Entrepreneurship at CIDA to help its students become entrepreneurs. It also has a School of Investments and an ICT (Information and Communication Techonology) Academy where students can earn an additional certificate in areas such as Cisco networking and Java programming. CIDA's unique model includes the requirement for students to return to their communities between terms to teach what they have learned, and having students help run the campus to keep costs at a minimum.
KickStart www.kickstart.org
KickStart is a non-profit organization that develops and markets new technologies in Africa. These low-cost technologies are bought by local entrepreneurs and used to establish highly profitable new small businesses. They create new jobs and wealth, enabling the poor to climb out of their poverty forever.
Institute for Philanthropy www.instituteforphilanthropy.org.uk
The Institute for Philanthropy is a non-profit making organisation which was established in 2000 to develop a greater understanding of philanthropy and its place in modern society, and ultimately to allow philanthropy to thrive. They do this by: a/Providing donor education and advice and building donor networks for individuals and corporations; b/increasing awareness and understanding of philanthropy; and c/ developing new models for promoting philanthropy.
Pro Mujer www.promujer.org
Pro Mujer is a women’s development and microfinance network that provides Latin America’s poorest women with financial services and business development training to initiate or improve their small businesses, as well as health education and linkages with health services to avoid illness and maintain their health and the health of their families.
Room to Read www.roomtoread.org
Room to Read partners with local communities throughout the developing world to establish schools, libraries, and other educational infrastructure. They seek to intervene early in children’s lives in the belief that education will empower people to ultimately improve socioeconomic conditions for their families, communities, countries, and future generations.
Trickle Up www.trickleup.org
Trickle Up provides business training, seed capital grants and support to help people who are unable to access microloans launch a microenterprise. Because they work with the extreme poor, Trickle Up offers its microentrepreneurs grants, not loans. They also focus on women and people with disabilities. Every year, Trickle Up starts or expands over 10,000 businesses. They identify the entrepreneurs with whom they work by partnering with over 80 local organisations working on the ground.
