m-cause

Geneva has gotten COLD again before we roll into the Easter weekend, but I am staying warm with Doris and we are watching a German state TV (ARD) documentary on the violence in Tibet. German state TV is really pitiful normally, but one thing they do REALLY well is make documentaries. German reporters seem to find their way into every nook and cranny on the planet. When there is an interview with a crazy world leader in an odd part of the world…normally he or she is German (or British).

So I am now starting to make good on my previous post where I promised to profile Fast Companies social capitalist winners. The Acumen Fund was near the top of the list, so I had a quick look into the company tonight. The Acumen Fund is a slick, well managed non-profit venture fund that believes “pioneering entrepreneurs will ultimately find the solutions to poverty”. Basically, the Acumen Fund supports social entrepreneurs…but they do not give grants. Instead, they give loans or equity that yield financial returns. Of course as a non-profit, they recycle their earnings back into new investments.

The Acumen Fund is focused on supporting entrepreneurs who deliver critical services - water, health, housing, and energy - at affordable prices to people earning less than four dollars a day. Their goal is to raise 100 Million USD by the end of the year.

I am quite impressed with the management team assembled at The Acuman Fund…plenty of Harvard-Stanford MBAs and socially engaged people. The fund also has a sexy advisory board with tech stars like tech star Niklas Zennstrom (Skype) and marketing guru Seth Godin. Really an “in-crowd”.

The Acumen Fund looks like they are at the top of this new venture philanthropy game…certainly a non-profit to watch in the future.