Acumen Fund (acumenfund.org) seeks to improve the lives of the world’s poor by investing in groundbreaking social enterprises and ideas. Founded in 2001, the organization provides investments, not grants, to entrepreneurs who aim to bring affordable basic services to the developing world. The fund deploys what it calls “patient capital,” or long-term investments, to enterprises that deliver quality health care, safe water, and affordable alternative energy to millions of poor consumers. Its investments include a company that uses rice husks to fuel village power plants in India and another that produces insecticide-treated wall linings to curtail the transmission of malaria. Over the past decade, the fund has invested more than $75 million in 69 enterprises throughout Africa as well as in India and Pakistan.
Each charity we feature has earned a four-star overall rating from Charity Navigator, which ranks not-for-profit organizations on the strength of their finances, their control of administrative and fund-raising expenses, and the transparency of their operations. Four stars is the group’s highest ranking.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The Louvre’s security measures are in hot water after a major heistIn the Spotlight Millions of dollars in jewels were stolen from the museum
-
Is the job market frozen or faltering?Today's Big Question Layoffs raise alarms while young workers eye law school
-
Pentagon unable to name boat strike casualtiesSpeed Read The Pentagon has so far acknowledged 14 strikes
