New York · Nonprofit
ACUMEN FUND INC
ACUMEN FUND INC (New York) receives grants from 137 organizations whose IRS filings report $131,220,385 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($21,965,790). 86 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $46M
- Funders on record
- 137
- Grants received
- $131M
- Net assets
- $204M
What Acumen Fund Inc does
Mission
Acumen's mission is to change the way the world tackles poverty by investing in companies, leaders and ideas.acumen is a global force of entrepreneurs, investors, philanthropists, and social innovators working together to build a world based on dignity. We were founded by jacqueline novogratz on the radical idea that business, when cultivated with moral imagination, can break the cycle of poverty. We invest in transformational companies, build sustainable markets, and prepare leaders with the tools they need to create a more just and inclusive future. Since 2001, we have scaled companies and shaped markets in some of the hardest-to-reach communities on the planet, impacting over half-a-billion lives.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Investing and portfolio management:we invest across the capital continuum to help transformational companies grow from seed to scale. Acumen invests patient capital in business models that deliver critical, affordable goods and services to the world's poor, improving the lives of millions. Since 2001, acumen has invested in businesses that provide access to healthcare, energy, education, water & sanitation, housing, financial services, and agricultural services to low-income customers. Our investments are addressing the problems of poverty in east and west africa, south asia, latin america, and the united states. [see continuation on schedule o]acumen made 32 new and follow-on investments in 2024, reaching a cumulative $185 million invested in 201 businesses serving people living in poverty. We also pool capital to scale strategic solutions to problems of poverty in specific sectors and geographies, using blended finance. Our four sponsored funds, currently managed under acumen capital partners include: kawisafi ($67m aum), focuses on clean energy and climate mitigation in east africa; acumen resilient agriculture fund ($58m aum), focuses on climate resilience for smallholder…
$17,807,016 spentof which $3,440,171 as grants$1,304,878 earned by the program67% of program spendingInsights & impact:the goal of the insights and impact teams at acumen is to support the mission of solving problems poverty through data-driven strategies. We do this by building models, sharing the insights from our work and holding ourselves and our peers accountable. Our impact measurement and management framework helps us define and measure our impact, including breadth and depth of impact. Through 2024, acumen has reached over 719 million lives impacted through our patient capital and for-profit investments.
$4,455,318 spentof which $750 as grants$76,382 earned by the program17% of program spendingFellows & leadership programs:we prepare leaders with the tools, capital and community they need to build scalable solutions to poverty. Our recently launched-learning engagement platform offers a full-service space for entrepreneurs and fellows to engage with each other. Acumen academy's has grown to more than 1800 fellows, has awarded 99 early-stage grants to foundry members and facilitated over 1.3 million online course sign-ups. Through academy organizations and companies, we have reached 71 million lives impacted.
$4,239,334 spentof which $1,028,433 as grants$124,150 earned by the program16% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $26,501,668.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $151M to $187M (+24%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 7% · 2018 1% · 2019 10% · 2020 6% · 2021 8% · 2022 2% · 2023 5% · 2024 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of ACUMEN FUND INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (96% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Jacqueline Novogratz
CEO & director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 31 funders to 52 funders, grant income rose $7.3M → $28M.
32 of 137 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 46% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of ACUMEN FUND INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 137 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
ACUMEN FUND INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
50% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund ACUMEN FUND INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 31% · 2018 26% · 2019 22% · 2020 12% · 2021 18% · 2022 32% · 2023 36% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
53% of ACUMEN FUND INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
52% of ACUMEN FUND INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $60M arriving through sponsors registered in 18 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
ACUMEN FUND INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 363 international nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 363 international nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding ACUMEN FUND INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5.0M on record.
- Agency for International Development$5.0M
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like ACUMEN FUND INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
77%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 14 states
Part of a family of 23 related entities
- Acumen Capital Markets Investments LLC · disregarded
- Acumen Resilient Agriculture Capital Investments LLC · disregarded
- Acumen Capital Partners (Araf) Ltd · disregarded
- Acumen Capital Partners (Ea) Limited · disregarded
- Acumen America LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ACUMEN FUND INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds ACUMEN FUND INC?
- ACUMEN FUND INC (New York) receives grants from 137 organizations whose IRS filings report $131,220,385 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($21,965,790). 86 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ACUMEN FUND INC have?
- IRS filings report 137 organizations giving $131,220,385 in grants to ACUMEN FUND INC, 86 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ACUMEN FUND INC?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $21,965,790 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ACUMEN FUND INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 137 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing