Strategic Philanthropy
How We Accelerate Social Entrepreneurs
Overview
Annually, we allocate a portion of our assets to convene and build partnerships with social enterprises and provide support to organizations working on gender equality and the economic advancement of women. We have a particular focus on the global $2.4 trillion fashion industry (McKinsey 2016) and the women that make up the majority of its manufacturing workforce who are often especially vulnerable to low wage levels due to the persistent gender pay gap (Boston Consulting 2016).
We are excited to support passionate leaders with ground-breaking vision and scalable, revenue-generating, sustainable business models. Biannually, we invite prospective partners to submit an application for a one-time grant, typically between $10,000 and $50,000. Committed to our 3Cs approach—Connect, Convene, Catalyze—we seek to engage our partners beyond the dollar.
Our Grantee Partners
Community Development
Active Grants
The Central Park Conservancy restores, manages and enhances Central Park in partnership with the public.
Friends of Orphan’s empowers, rehabilitates and reintegrates former child soldiers, abductees, child mothers, orphans, and combats the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Cheer NY is an all-volunteer LGBTQ+ and ally cheerleaders, using their athletic and philanthropic abilities to empower and affect change in our communities.
The Madison Square Park Conservancy restores, manages and enhances Madison Square Park in partnership with the public.
Fair Trade USA cultivates a more equitable global trade model that benefits farmers, workers, consumers, industry and the earth.
Matured Grants
Spark Microgrants enables communities to design and launch their own social impact projects.
TECHO facilitates collaboration between families living in extreme poverty and youth volunteers to overcome poverty in slums.
Uganda Hands for Hope aims to alleviate poverty and facilitate lasting change in the lives of the most vulnerable children and families living in urban slums in Uganda.
Economic Opportunity
Matured Grants
The International Center for Social Franchising replicates successful social impact solutions to achieve sufficient scale to adequately address social problems.
Selfhelp is a family of two credit unions, a nonprofit loan fund and an advocacy group with a mission to expand opportunities for underserved communities.
Jibu equips African entrepreneurs to launch drinking water franchises.
Rebuild Globally offers comprehensive job training and education programs in Haiti with a pipeline to guaranteed employment.
Ecosystems
Active Grants
Canopy works to protect the world’s forests, species and climate by creating sustainable supply chains and fostering innovative solutions to environmental challenges.
ImpactAssets provides products and educational resources to support individuals and advisors looking to engage in impact investing.
CARE Social Ventures works to grow social enterprise ventures that alleviate poverty worldwide.
StartingBloc is a global community of leaders committed to an equitable, collaborative, thriving world.
Fashion for Good is the global initiative that’s here to make all fashion good.
Matured Grants
Cradle to Cradle educates and empowers manufacturers of consumer products to become a positive force for society and the environment.
The United States Global Leadership Coalition advocates the importance of development and diplomacy throughout U.S. foreign policy and the national security strategy.
Echoing Green works to find rare and exceptional leaders, forge a community of global pioneers and accelerate these leaders to impact the world.
The Unreasonable Institute educates, trains and supports social entrepreneurs to launch businesses and non-profit organizations.
Encore.org is building a movement to tap the skills and experience of those in midlife and beyond to improve communities and the world.
Education
Active Grants
CASE i3 is Duke University’s intellectual hub for impact investing, the practice of investing for social and environmental impact as well as financial return.
The Under-Told Stories Project works to expand, sustain and improve coverage of the world outside America in broadcast, print and emerging new media outlets.
Lynn University’s Social Impact Lab is an experiential learning space where students and professionals can leverage the power of business to generate positive impact both locally and around the world.
NYU’s Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation Program in Social Entrepreneurship attracts, encourages and trains a new generation of public service leaders.
Matured Grants
The Amani Institute, through a new model of higher education, develops professionals who create social impact.
Educate! works to infuse a practical, skills-based entrepreneurship curriculum into national education systems across Africa.
Move This World provides online tools for educators and school leaders to foster the emotional wellbeing of themselves and their students.
The Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley develops leaders who redefine how we do business.
Ashesi University is a liberal arts university in Accra, Ghana educating a new generation of African leaders.
The Center for Social Impact Learning is an action learning and research institution focused on the social impact of business and financial investment.
Pencils of Promise creates schools, programs and global communities around the common goal of education for all.
Watson University develops the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs.
Ashoka U catalyzes social innovation in higher education through a global network of entrepreneurial students, faculty and community leaders.
Millennium Campus Network supports students promoting sustainable international development aligned with the Millennium Development Goals.
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) Foundation supports UCSB’s objectives of teaching, research and public service.
Healthcare
Matured Grants
Possible Health delivers high-quality, low-cost healthcare to the world’s rural poor.
VisionSpring works to reduce poverty and generate opportunity in the developing world through the sale of affordable eyeglasses.
Human Rights
Active Grants
GFEMS brings together the global anti-slavery community, unifying efforts to end modern slavery and bringing in the resources to get it done.
Restore works to end sex trafficking in New York and restore the well-being and independence of foreign-national survivors.
Transparentem advances the well-being of workers and communities by exposing hard truths to those with the power to transform industries, and a goal to eradicate human rights and environmental abuses in global supply chains.
Matured Grants
Asylum Access empowers refugees in Africa, Asia and Latin America to live safely, work, send children to school and rebuild their lives.
The Fund for Global Human Rights finds and funds local human rights heroes who often work at great personal risk to bring global attention and resources to their struggles.
International Bridges to Justice provides competent legal representation to protect the basic legal rights of ordinary citizens in developing countries.
Research
Active Grants
Evrnu fiber technology transforms textile waste into pristine new fiber. Evrnu has invented the only regenerative fiber made from post-consumer textile waste.
Women & Girls
Active Grants
The Afghan Institute of Learning invests in building local education, health resources and skills training.
The Empowerment Plan seeks to permanently elevate families from the generational cycle of homelessness.
Ms. Foundation for Women is building women’s collective power to realize a nation of justice for all.
Remake is building a conscious consumer movement to use shopping dollars to improve and shape the lives of people who make our clothes.
Stand Up educates Sri Lankan garment workers about their rights, provides vocational training and has set up a social security system for its members.
The Bottletop Foundation empowers disadvantaged young people to take control of their lives through health education and vocational training projects; in turn supporting their wider communities.
Visit Site
Fondo Semillas works to improve women’s lives in Mexico.
Nest is committed to the social and economic advancement of the fashion and home industry’s informal workforce who comprise the complex supply chains outside of factories.
Resonate offers a customized storytelling for leadership training to build the capacity of impact groups focused on women’s skills-building and education.
VARAS aims to bridge the developmental gap between rural and urban Ghana through projects in education, health, women’s empowerment, and rural entrepreneurship.
Dandelion Africa works to improve the health and economic livelihoods of women and youth in marginalized areas in Mogotio, Rift Valley, Kenya.
Indego Africa empowers artisans with market access and job skills that enhance their long-term earning potential.
Nomi Network creates jobs for survivors of trafficking or women at risk by creating demand for its “Buy Her Bag, Not Her Body” product line.
Spark is a philanthropic network of young professionals that aims to increase the overall investment in women’s organizations around the world.
Women’s Microfinance Initiative establishes village-level loan hubs, administered by local women, to provide capital, training and support services to rural women.
Matured Grants
The Akilah Institute for Women offers market-relevant education that enables young women to achieve economic independence and obtain leadership roles.
Girl Rising is a global campaign for girls’ education and empowerment.
LivelyHoods creates job opportunities for youth and women in urban slums to earn an income and gain the necessary skills and experience for employability.
Pro Mujer provides microfinance, business training and healthcare support for poor women in Latin America.
Sustainable Health Enterprises is addressing girls’ and women’s lack of access to affordable menstrual pads.
Freedom from Hunger brings innovative and sustainable self-help solutions to the fight against chronic hunger and poverty.
Grameen PrimaCare provides underserved women with high-quality, affordable primary care and health promotion programs.
Mothers2Mothers seeks to improve reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health.
Ripple Effect Images harnesses the power of photography and film to tell the stories of aid organizations changing the lives of women and children globally.
GenteGas is a high-impact social enterprise dedicated to improving the quality of life of families in Guatemala.
Krochet Kids provides holistic education, one-on-one mentorship and access to micro-finance for vulnerable women in the developing world.
The Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project is working on behalf of HIV/AIDS orphans in rural Uganda to end systemic deprivation, poverty and hunger.
Shining Hope for Communities combats gender inequality and extreme poverty in urban slums by linking tuition-free schools for girls to holistic social services for all.