Articles by Brian Murray

It’s hard to miss the swell of excitement surrounding the SoCap09, the upcoming Social Capital Markets conference in San Francisco from September 1 - 3.  If you haven’t hear about it, Acumen Fund partner, NextBillion has an excellent series of blog posts that will convince you that its a can’t miss opportunity - here, here and here.  And if need MORE reasons to attend, check out Change.org’s series of spotlights on the conference.   Acumen Fund agrees with most of these reasons and will be sending a team to participate in the conference.  It will be a great opportunity to meet us and learn about some of the exciting projects we’ve been working on.  Here’s a list of the panels that Acumen Fund team members will be sitting on:

• Breakout Session # 1 on September 1st @ 3:30 - Sangeeta Chowdry will be on the “Disruptive Innovation” panel.  Along with Sally Madsen from IDEO, she’ll be sharing her experience with the Ripple Effect project - an innovative initiative to use design and business strategies to tackle the challenges of transporting and storing clean water in India and East Africa.
• Breakout Session #1 on September 2nd @11:15 - Rob Katz will be speaking on the “Measuring Life at the Base of the Pyramid: Scale and Leverage for the $2 a Day Population plenary.  Rob is the founder of NextBillion.net and co-author of the Next 4 Billion report
• Plenary panel on September 2nd @ 10:00 - Brian Trelstad will be on the “True Tales of Amazement and Horror From the Fundraising Circuit” hosted by Stuart Davidson from Labrador Ventures.
• Plenary Address on September 2nd @ 4:15 - Brad Presner will be participating on the “From IRIS to GIIRS to New Money” plenary.   Along with B-Lab and Rockefeller Foundation, this will be an unique opportunity to learn more about the emerging social metrics standards and the money the industry is hoping to attract.

Finally, whether you are at the conference or not, make sure to check in with NextBillion, a conference media partner, as they tweet and blog about the conference from the BoP perspective.

We hope to see you there!

Reflections on the Dignity event: After a successful fundraising event on July 30, Michelle Mak of the Young Professionals for Acumen Fund reflects on the experience that raised over $24,000 and brought together a dynamic group of professionals.  Read her posts Part I and Part II.

Acumen Fund and Metrics: Kevin Jones, co-founder of SoCap09 Conference, in the Huffington Post and Nathaniel Whittemore from Change.org in a blog post highlight the panel for the upcoming Social Capital Conference on the  Global Impact Investing Rating System (GIIRS) and Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS).

Need a good overview of Acumen Fund? Acumen’s Rob Katz gives an interview with Latitude Responsable, a project filming many of the world’s social enterprises, where he discusses Acumen Fund and Acumen investee Global Easy Water Products (GEWP).

Thanks to Majid Mirza, a summer intern with our investee Micro Drip, we’d like to share some incredible unfiltered footage about what’s happening behind the scenes in Pakistan. Check out all of the videos at his blog here or on his YouTube channel.

The Ripple Effect team heads to Kenya for the second part of their project’s implementation.  The Ripple Effect project delivers hands-on innovation training, business expertise and a sense of urgency to a select group of companies and organizations that are developing solutions for the delivery and storage of clean water in India and East Africa.  Follow their blog to learn more.

Ripple Effect team in Kenya

Acumen Fund is co-sponsoring The Next: 2010 Case Writing Competition along with the William Davidson Institute and the World Resources Institute.  The case writing competition is open to students and faculty members at both the undergraduate and graduate level.  Case submissions must be on a social venture (e.g., VisionSpring) or a relevant base of the pyramid topic (e.g., the role of subsidies in social ventures).  Read more here.

Dial 1298 for Ambulance CEO Sweta Mangal was profiled on Young Turks on CNBC TV18, India last Friday.  The program profiles young entrepreneurs in India who will be the leaders of tomorrow.

On SocialEdge, CEO Sam Goldman of D.Light Design discusses his recent COO hire, Mandeep Singh, and some interesting revelations from their first trip to the field together.  Is it surprising that their products are also in demand from well off rural villagers?  Read more to learn more from Sam’s trip.

Moderated by Caitlin Weaver, Chair of the Microfinance Club of New York

Panelists Include:
Camilla Nestor, Vice President of Microfinance, Grameen Foundation
Bill Abrams, President, Trickle Up
Beth Ellen Dunphe, Director of Development, Project Enterprise

While Mohammad Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his pioneering microfinance work in Bangladesh just three years ago, the popularity of providing the poor with collateral-free loans and other financial services to support their businesses is at an all-time high.  New microfinance models seek to make lending even more direct. Yet as the practice of microfinance has begun to mature and expand, so too have concerns over how to implement it most effectively. What are the implications when a nonprofit organization offers microfinance to an impoverished community but does not provide basic health or social services? Can a single microfinance model work on different continents? How might nonprofits, lenders and governments ensure that micro-loans lead to lasting change not just for the borrowers, but for their entire families and communities?

These are among the questions to be addressed at this panel discussion hosted by Mercy Corps’ Action Center to End World Hunger in Battery Park City.

Wednesday, August 5, 7:00PM
Mercy Corps’ Action Center to End World Hunger
6 River Terrace
Battery Park City, New York
(212) 537-0511
Contact: Embry Owen, eowen@nyc.mercycorps.org

"excellent visual aid" by Flickr user what not

Brian Murray is a summer associate in the Knowledge & Communications team.  He is a former PricewaterhouseCoopers consultant, ex-technology entrepreneur and a Returned Peace Corps volunteer currently pursuing his MBA at the Yale School of Management.  This is not him crying pictured at left.

Rob Katz, my colleague and BoP obsessive, joked to the New York summer associates that Acumen Fund is like the Eagles song Hotel California: “you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave”. While we laughed at the time, I now see the truth in his joking statement.

Acumen hopes to be (and in many ways, already is) more than an organization – it is a movement driven by the belief that now is the time to change the way people approach philanthropy and international development. Being a part of this movement, one that will make the world a better place, is a rare opportunity.

There were over 700 people who applied to work at Acumen this summer, demonstrating enormous interest in this field. However, this number also illustrates the challenges faced by those entering the social entrepreneurship sector and specifically the relatively young Impact Investing field. Simply put - supply greatly outweighs the demand. As outlined by Ashni Mohnot from PopTech in her article “Who’s in the Social Entrepreneurship Club – and who isn’t?” it is a problem that needs to be addressed.

Unfortunately, this is not going to be cleared up this year, or by the time you graduate or anytime in the near future. So, what should you do? Actually, since I’ll be in the same boat - graduating in the Spring of 2010 - what should you and I do?

I do not have all the answers to this question, but after my experience here at Acumen, I have a much better idea of where to start. I have developed a list of how I got started this summer and the activities that I plan to continue. I’m sure there are more ideas out there and I welcome you to share by commenting below.

- Start by getting yourself up to speed:

• Add nextbillion.net and their great blogroll to your Google Reader
  
• Download and read (or use as reference) the Next 4 Billion report
• Read this great Monitor report on Impact Investing
• Learn about the members of the ANDE network

- Join twitter and be a part of the conversation – get started by adding Social Edge’s top 100 tweeters in the social sector

- Start a blog and find your voice: what do you care about? Is it a country, region, sector? Is it measuring social returns? Is it just finding your voice in the function you are interested in? Good examples: Sasha Dichter, Luke Barbara Cashewman,

- Do a deep dive on a sector and a region. Begin doing research on water challenges in southern India (see: Ripple Effect) or agriculture issues in Western Africa.

- Travel and listen to people on the ground. What are their pain points? Where is the market not functioning for SGBs? 

- Learn the operational challenges of a Small and Growing Business here in the states, where can you contribute? Accounting? Marketing?

- If you are a student, start a group on campus to meet periodically and discuss new trends (i.e. social metrics, getting into the sector) - Start meetings with a TED Talk.

- Get involved with Acumen

• In NYC? Join our Young Professionals group. Not in NYC? Our team is working on it: Stay tuned or post ideas in our comments section below.
• Are you currently in college? Contact one of our student leaders and find out how to assist their efforts or start a movement on your campus by emailing Acumen’s Aden Van Noppen
• Join us on Twitter, Facebook or follow us by email
• Encourage others to donate on your birthday through Facebook
• Send us an idea about how you can help us fundraise or raise awareness at ideas@acumenfund.org
• Learn about our portfolio

And because we all need some inspiration along our career journeys:

• Watch this brief Economist interview of Acumen CEO, Jacqueline Novagratz
• Read the New York Times article, “A Social Solution, Without Going the Non-Profit Route”:
• Watch Seth Godin inspire the student leaders
• TED: Jacqueline Novogratz
• TED: Katherine Fulton on the future of philanthropy
• TED: Iqbal Quadir says mobile fight poverty
• TED: Hans Rosling

If you take nothing away from this post except one thing it would be this - don’t wait for things to happen or fall in your lap - your energy and contributions are desperately needed. Just not in the traditional way… yet.

As the summer comes to a close, I can agree with my colleague’s use of “Hotel California”, except for one small change: “you can check out anytime you like but you won’t want to leave.”

7/24 UPDATE:  PREVIEW OF PHOTOS JUST RELEASED BY NURU PROJECT.  PLEASE CLICK FOR MORE!

There is only a week left to get your tickets for the Dignity Benefit event organized and run by the Young Professionals for Acumen Fund!  Although all of the early tickets are sold out, there are still some tickets available!

In attendance will be Acumen partners, Acumen alumni, current team members, Young Professionals for Acumen Fund,and a host of new faces.  Our events always attract a diverse group, from bankers to film producers,  and are a great opportunity to network and draw inspiration.

If you are really interested in getting a behind-the-scenes look at the exhibit and interacting with key members of the Acumen Fund team, we highly recommend purchasing VIP tickets.  VIP ticket holders will have the opportunity to meet with Sasha Dichter, Director of the Business Development team , and Yasmina Zaidman, Director of Knowledge & Communications as well as get a preview of the exhibition.  Photographers featured include Robert Capa Gold Medal winners  Susan Meiselas and  Steve McCurry, recent Dorothea Lange-Taylor Award winner Teru Kuwayama, and more. The collection was sourced from regions where Acumen Fund invests in, including India, Pakistan, and East Africa.

Thursday, July 30th
Main event: 7:30 to 10:30
VIP ticket reception: 6:30 to 7:30

Tribeca Cinemas Gallery
54 Varick Street

Music entertainment provided by DJ Dave Sharma
Open bar and refreshments provided

Purchase tickets to the Dignity Benefit

The event is run with the help of the Nuru Project.  The group leverages photography to act as an agent for social change in the developing world. To find out more about their mission, work, and photography, visit http://nuruproject.org/

The Acumen Fund Business Development team is currently looking for someone to join the team in New York, NY on a part-time basis (15 - 20 hours/week) for the Fall semester.

The right candidate should have a passionate commitment to Acumen Fund’s mission of solving the toughest problems of poverty, a strong entrepreneurial spirit and excellent attention to detail.

Put another way, you are a detail-oriented, hard-working, get-things-done kind of person who will get a kick out of doing something really valuable for our team, even if it’s not especially glamorous.  In exchange, you’ll learn a lot about what we do, both in Business Development and at Acumen Fund more broadly and there will be opportunities for stretch assignments if you can do a great job on your core responsibilities.

Business Development Team at Acumen Fund

The Business Development team is responsible for prospecting new donors, managing existing donor relationships (individual, foundation, corporate) and general contact and external relationship management at Acumen Fund. The Business Development Volunteer will be responsible for ensuring all data being tracked is up-to-date and assisting with supporting the team’s activities.

This position is un-paid and will require approximately 15-20 hours per week.  The position will last for the entire Fall semester (through December).

Click here for the full description

Location
New York, NY

To Apply
Send a cover letter and resume to emercer@acumenfund.org. Please include the job title “Business Development Volunteer” in the subject line. Deadline for applications is 5:00pm July 31st.

Join the Young Professionals for Acumen Fund on July 30 for a photography auction and exhibition presented by Nuru Project, complimentary wine & beer, and raffle prizes! Nuru Project’s JB Reed will be hosting an exclusive VIP preview which includes a private tour of the exhibition and networking with Sasha Dichter and Yasmina Zaidman, senior executives at Acumen Fund! Don’t miss out on this opportunity to meet other socially responsible young professionals and see an exclusive exhibition featuring 30 prints donated by renowned photographers including Robert Capa Gold Medal winners Susan Meiselas and Steve McCurry, recent Dorothea Lange-Taylor Award winner Teru Kuwayama, and more. The collection was sourced from regions where Acumen Fund invests in, including India, Pakistan, and East Africa.

Thursday, July 30th
Main event: 7:30 to 10:30
VIP ticket reception: 6:30 to 7:30

Tribeca Film Gallery
54 Varick Street

Music entertainment provided by DJ Dave Sharma
Open bar and refreshments provided

Purchase tickets to the Dignity Benefit

Nuru Project leverages photography to act as an agent for social change in the developing world. To find out more about their mission, work, and photography, visit their website.

Many thanks to our generous sponsors:

Acumen Fund is seeking a partner(s) to market, implement, and support the Pulse software system, a flexible social metrics tool built to integrate with the Impact and Investment Standards (IRIS) (www.iris-standards.org).  Pulse and IRIS are supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, B-Lab, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Skoll Foundation, Salesforce.com Foundation, Kellogg Foundation, Lodestar Foundation, and others.   The Pulse tool, originally developed in partnership with engineers from Google, has recently been re-built as a  Salesforce.com application that is being piloted by a select group of social investors and grant makers.  We anticipate a full launch of the application this Fall, and there are over 50 institutions that have seen and tested the system.    Acumen’s partner(s) will be in a unique position to be a first mover in the field of social and impact investing with the support of leading institutions and companies.

The ideal partner(s) will be equipped to build upon nearly three years of work by Acumen Fund to help bring Pulse to the next level of becoming a sustainable, evolving industry standard tool to measure and track social impact.

Please contact Brad Presner at bpresner@acumenfund.org for more information and to request a copy of the RFP.

Jacqueline Novogratz, Acumen’s founder and CEO, will be speaking at The Paley Center for Media in New York City on July 8, 2009 to discuss the challenges of leveraging social media networks to transform how people think about—and act on—problems of poverty.  If you missed her speak with the Young Professionals of Acumen Fund a few weeks ago or will not be able to attend her appearance at 92YTrebeca on June 24th, this is a perfect opportunity to catch her in person.

In addition, this will be a wonderful opportunity to learn how Acumen Fund has been leveraging social media to share, promote and listen to our extended network of investments, donors and community members.  For more information, please follow us on Twitter, sign up for our newsletter, or join our Facebook group in advance of the talk.

Click for directions to the The Paley Center.

To reserve tickets for the event, please visit the Paley Center web site

And as a final reminder, Jacqueline will be speaking this Wednesday at the 92nd Street Y in conversation with Matthew Bishop of The Economist. Hope to see you there!

For those who missed Jacqueline’s book reading of The Blue Sweater with the Young Professionals of Acumen Fund a few weeks ago, we are happy to share that Jacqueline will be making an appearance at 92YTrebeca, 92nd Street Y’s new arts and entertainment venue,  in New York City on June 24th.  She will be participating in 92YTribeca’s ongoing “The Business of Giving Series” where she will talk with Matthew Bishop of The Economist about the dramatic events in her book and how they changed her view of how best to help people in the world’s poorest countries

Matthew is the Chief Business Writer for The Economist and the author of Philanthrocapitalism. His series “The Business of Giving” in partnership with the 92nd Street Y has included onstage interviews with leading figures in the philanthropic world including President Clinton, Vartan Gregorian, Eli Broad and more.

92YTribeca is located at 200 Hudson Street at the corner of Canal and Hudson Streets in New York City.

To reserve tickets for the event, please visit the 92Y web site