Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
GRASSROOTS BUSINESS PARTNERS INC
GRASSROOTS BUSINESS PARTNERS INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $43,237,488 to it, the largest being MASTERCARD FOUNDATION ($42,737,488). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.5M
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $43M
- Net assets
- $2.7M
What Grassroots Business Partners Inc does
Mission
Grassroots business partners, inc. Does business as grassroots business fund. Grassroots business fund strives to create a world where economic opportunity reaches everyone. Our mission is to grow viable businesses that generate sustainable earnings or savings for people with low incomes in africa, asia, and latin america.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Grassroots business fund (gbf) is heavily involved in building the field around impact investing by working closely with partner organizations, piloting new initiatives, and contributing lessons learned to a broad audience. As part of the partnership building, gbf is a member of numerous working groups including those around impact assessment, the development of impact funds, and careers in impact investing. As the organization grows, a continued effort towards external dissemination of information on the successes and lessons learned relating to impact investing will be critical for our advancing of the field.
$1,858,058 spent$162,031 earned by the program98% of program spendingGrassroots business fund (gbf) works with high-impact businesses (hibs) that are typically small or mid-sized by international standards, but economically engage large numbers of the poor. Gbp manages an investment fund, grassroots business investors fund I, lp (gbi-I). Over its life, gbi-I committed united states dollars forty-one point nine million (usd 41.9m) across thirty-three (33) high impact businesses through sixty-five (65) transactions (including multiple rounds with certain investees). These investments targeted high impact but high-risk opportunities that were unlikely to attract commercial funding in the near term. Against this, the fund has recovered from investees united states dollars thirty-fife million eight hundred thousand (usd 35.8m). Under the jinue growth program, gbf has partnered with the mastercard foundation for a 5-year program that commenced in november 2022. The program aims to reach 225,000 micros, 4,500 small enterprises and employ 500,000 youths.
$38,153 spent$4,138 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,896,211.
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 2022 to 2023, from $3.9M to $19M (+397%).
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: 2021 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
89% of GRASSROOTS BUSINESS PARTNERS INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (97% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 9 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
Harold Rosen
Chief executive officer
Board chair
Mary Houghton
Chairman of the board
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $150k → $17M.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 GRASSROOTS BUSINESS PARTNERS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
GRASSROOTS BUSINESS PARTNERS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 99% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
99% 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 GRASSROOTS BUSINESS PARTNERS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2020 99% · 2021 79% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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.
Where its funders are
GRASSROOTS BUSINESS PARTNERS INC draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 1 state in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $50k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
GRASSROOTS BUSINESS PARTNERS INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 718 international nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 718 international nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like GRASSROOTS BUSINESS PARTNERS 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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
65%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Gbf Gp I LLC · disregarded
- Gbi Master Fund I LP · partnership
- Grassroots Business Investors Fund I LP · partnership
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for GRASSROOTS BUSINESS PARTNERS 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 GRASSROOTS BUSINESS PARTNERS INC?
- GRASSROOTS BUSINESS PARTNERS INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $43,237,488 to it, the largest being MASTERCARD FOUNDATION ($42,737,488). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does GRASSROOTS BUSINESS PARTNERS INC have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $43,237,488 in grants to GRASSROOTS BUSINESS PARTNERS INC, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GRASSROOTS BUSINESS PARTNERS INC?
- MASTERCARD FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $42,737,488 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GRASSROOTS BUSINESS PARTNERS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 3 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing