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CEE – Russia – Unlocking local resources
The Mott Foundation made its first grantmaking forays into Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Russia in the early 1990s. We quickly recognized that it was not enough to support information provision, training and other …
REDF – the evolution of a ‘venture philanthropy’ fund
The Roberts Enterprise Development Fund (REDF) was not created as a venture philanthropy (VP) fund. We simply evolved our practice of philanthropy in order to meet the needs of our non-profit partners. It wasn’t until …
Learning to ride a bicycle built for two
Running a non-profit social purpose enterprise is akin to riding a bicycle on a high wire while juggling. With the right amount of determination and skill it can be done, but at the end of …
Three reasons for supporting the NESsT Venture Fund
The Mott Foundation has been supporting NESsT – the Nonprofit Enterprise and Self-sustainability Team, one of the pioneers of venture philanthropy in Central Europe[1] – since 1998. There are three key reasons for this. Expanding …
Digital Partners – utilizing the digital economy to benefit the poorest
Digital Partners (DP) is a ‘social venturing’ non-profit whose mission is to empower a new generation of social entrepreneurs working for poverty alleviation through the tools and market mechanisms of the global digital economy.[1] We …
Integrating a VP approach into a grants programme
The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) has been supporting environmental NGOs in the region for the past 12 years. This support is mostly delivered in the form of traditional project grants; …
Can venture philanthropy work in Argentina?
Compartir FCI was the first community investment fund to be launched in Argentina. Though the attempt to constitute the fund was ultimately unsuccessful, the experience was nevertheless very rich. Although this model seems to fall …
Social venture capital – an idea whose time has come
In 1946 one man had a vision to combine the capital, disciplines and practices of commerce with the charitable objective of meeting human need. Back in those post-war years in the UK, Quaker philanthropist Cecil …
Avoiding the Belgian Congo road
I have always believed that most living creatures need to be nurtured for the early period of life and then left to fend for themselves. Gifts and grants to my non-profit organization, the Population and …
Bank guarantees for development
Founded in Geneva in 1996, the International Guarantee Fund (IGF) aims to help in a different way: instead of giving money, it guarantees loans, thus making it possible for its Southern partner organizations to take …