Acumen Fund

Acumen Fund "is a non-profit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty. We 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. Our investments focus on delivering affordable, critical goods and services – like health, water and housing – through innovative, market-oriented approaches." 

"Acumen Fund was incorporated on April 1, 2001, with seed capital from the Rockefeller Foundation, Cisco Systems Foundation and three individual philanthropists." 

Listed as a partner of the Global Fairness Initiative and a project partner of GlobalGiving.

Acumen Fund Partners
Leadership Circle ($1,000,000+)
 * The Alexander Family Foundation* • Blood Family Foundation • C. Hunter and Pamela T. Boll* • Cisco Systems Foundation* • Andrea Soros Colombel and Eric Colombel* • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation • Google.org • Mike Novogratz and Sukey Caceres* • Raj Rajaratnam • The Rockefeller Foundation* • The Sapling Foundation* • Skoll Foundation

Keystone Partners ($500,000+)
 * Anonymous* • Apex Foundation* • Cisco Systems, Inc. • W.K. Kellogg Foundation* • Catherine S. Muther* • Phalarope Foundation* • Amy and Larry Robbins • Woodcock Foundation

Sustaining Partners ($250,000+)
 * Anonymous • Diana Barrett • Peter and Devon Briger Foundation • KL Felicitas Foundation • Nike Foundation • The Sigrid Rausing Trust* • John L. Thornton • TOSA Foundation* • George W. and Patricia A. Wellde*

Senior Partners ($100,000+) for others
 * Herb Allen III • Jeffrey and Deborah Brewer • Nina Brown • Peter Cain • The Coca-Cola Company • The Cohn Family • DCD Capital • Jerry Hirsch* • Tim Hodgson and Linda Netten • Jill and Ken Iscol • Charles and Roberta Katz Family Foundation* • David and Anita Keller Foundation • Alison Lawton • Sheryl S. Leach and Howard Rosenfeld • Willam E. Mayer • Jennifer R. McCann* • The MCJ Foundation • Miles Morland • The Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, Inc. • Lindsay and Brian Shea* • Jay Walker • Harriet Mouchly-Weiss

Directors
Accessed May 2008:


 * Margo Alexander (Chair)
 * Angela Glover Blackwell
 * C. Hunter Boll
 * Andrea Soros Colombel
 * Stuart Davidson
 * William E. Mayer
 * Catherine S. Muther
 * Robert H. Niehaus
 * Jacqueline Novogratz
 * Michael E. Novogratz
 * Ali J. Siddiqui
 * Joseph E. Stiglitz

Directors (accessed June 2007)
Source
 * Margo Alexander - Chair
 * Angela Glover Blackwell
 * David Blood
 * C. Hunter Boll
 * Andrea Soros Colombel
 * Stuart Davidson
 * Catherine S. Muther
 * Jacqueline Novogratz
 * Michael E. Novogratz

Advisory Council (accessed June 2007)

 * The Honorable Bill Bradley, Chair, Acumen Fund Advisory Council
 * Margo Alexander, Chair, Acumen Fund Board of Directors
 * Syed Babar Ali, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan
 * Chris Anderson, The Sapling Foundation
 * Diana Barrett, The Fledgling Fund
 * Carol Bellamy, World Learning
 * Seth Berkley, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative
 * David Blood, Generation Investment Management
 * C. Hunter Boll, Thomas H. Lee Partners
 * Louis Boorstin, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
 * Peter Briger, Fortress Investment Group
 * Tim Brown, IDEO
 * Niko Canner, Katzenbach Partners LLC
 * Andrea Soros Colombel, Trace Foundation
 * Stuart Davidson, Labrador Ventures
 * Bill Drayton, Ashoka
 * Maria Eitel, Nike Foundation
 * Jed Emerson, Generation Foundation, Generation Investment Management
 * Seth Godin, Author
 * Peter Goldmark, Environmental Defense Fund
 * Allen Grossman, Harvard Business School
 * Allen Hammond, World Resources lnstitute
 * Jill Iscol, IF Hummingbird Foundation
 * Dr. G.K. Jayaram, Institute of Leadership and Institutional Development
 * Charly Kleissner, KL Felicitas Foundation
 * Geraldine Laybourne, Oxygen Media LLC
 * Susan Meiselas, Magnum Photographer
 * Catherine S. Muther, Three Guineas Fund
 * Rohini Nilekani, Akshara Foundation and Arghyam Trust
 * Michael E. Novogratz, Fortress Investment Group
 * Dean Ornish, M.D., Preventive Medicine Research Institute
 * Sally Osberg, Skoll Foundation
 * Jan Piercy, ShoreBank Corporation
 * Tino Puri, Management Advisor
 * Dr. Anji Reddy, Dr. Reddy Laboratories Limited
 * Tom Reis, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
 * Amy Robbins, Glenview Capital
 * Anna Deavere Smith, Actor
 * Gayle Smith, Center for American Progress
 * Craig Stewart, Apex Foundation
 * John L. Thornton, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
 * Daniel R. Toole, Office of Emergency Programmes, UNICEF
 * George Wellde, Goldman Sachs & Co.
 * Tae Yoo, Corporate Philanthropy, Cisco Systems, Inc.

Portfolio Advisory Panel - Health (accessed June 2007)

 * Kathleen Cravero, Director, Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, UNDP
 * Donald P. Francis, President and Co-founder, VaxGen
 * Allen Hammond, CIO and Senior Scientist, World Resources Institute
 * Richard Satava, Professor of Surgery, Washington Medical Center
 * Michael Singer, Ophthalmologist, San Antonio, Texas

Portfolio Advisory Panel - Housing (accessed June 2007)

 * Ashok Gupta, Senior Energy Economist, National Resource Defense Council
 * Ammar H. Hanafi, Vice President/General Manager, New Business Ventures, Cisco Systems, Inc.
 * Shahid Hafeez Kardar, Former Minister of Finance, Government of the Punjab
 * Henry Day Lanier, Community Development Finance Consultant, Forsyth Street Advisors
 * Cameron Sinclair, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Architecture for Humanity

Portfolio Advisory Panel - Water (accessed June 2007)
Source
 * Jennifer Davis, Ford International, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Urban Studies & Planning, MIT
 * Ganesh Pangare, Technical Director, World Water Institute, Pune, India
 * Laura Parkin, Executive Director, Wadhwani Foundation
 * Isha Ray, Assistant Professor, Energy & Resources Group, University of California at Berkeley

Contact

 * Web: http://www.acumenfund.org

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * Brian Trelstad - Chief Investment Officer
 * Jake Beinecke
 * Sasha Dichter
 * Jon Yates
 * Anne Wade
 * Biju Mohandas - East Africa Director