Ceniarth 2024 Annual Report
07 Aug, 2025
Download our 2024 Annual Report
Managing Directors Letter
As we pen this 2024 retrospective, it is impossible to ignore the changes and uncertainty faced by the philanthropic sector given the current political moment in 2025. Internationally, many of our investees benefited either directly or indirectly from USAID grant programs and financing from the US Development Finance Corporation (DFC). There are now big unknowns as to when, if ever, those funding streams will reemerge and whether other international development dollars will contract.
Domestically in the United States, we invest heavily in sectors such as affordable housing, community development finance, and renewable energy that face significant uncertainty as to how both policy and subsidies will be reshaped. And in both global emerging and developed markets, macroeconomic and political volatility feels ever present.
As we navigate these challenging times, we harkened back to words we wrote in our 2020 Annual Report reflecting on the Covid pandemic: “We are still in the throes of a global crisis with no definitive end in sight. While we cannot predict the future, we can stand ready to continue using our capital to support resilient, high-impact funds and enterprises that are bravely and tirelessly weathering this storm.”
At that time, we articulated three pillars to our crisis response: (1) Stay in our lane and continue doing what we do best with impact-first capital – even when we observe other needs emerging, (2) Build bridges to somewhere – even when that means making hard choices about worthy interventions that might not survive, and (3) Pursue our work in the knowledge that crises come and go, but poverty and inequality are a persistent fact of life that will not have miraculous, systemic solutions.
In many ways, those pillars are more relevant than ever. In 2024, and this first half of 2025, we have doubled down on our existing partners and strategy, staying in our lane to provide additional capital to many investees facing uncertainty in funding streams and the policy environment. Many of these transactions will be featured in this report. This has also meant some amount of triage to focus on those organizations we feel are best positioned to be resilient in the years ahead.
Finally, we remain loud and undaunted in our efforts to encourage other foundations, family offices, and charitable vehicles to consider impact-first investing as a tool of their mission. Particularly in a world with uncertain government safety nets and support, philanthropy will need to be a funder of last resort in preserving opportunity and dignity for many vulnerable communities.