Impact-First Growth Fund

Global Partnerships (GP) has been a true pioneer in the impact-first investing movement. Founded in 1994, GP is a non-profit fund manager dedicated to expanding opportunity for people living in poverty. Over the years, GP and its affiliated funds have deployed over $500M to 160 microfinance and social enterprise partners across 31 countries.

With COVID creating significant challenges in the developing economies where GP operates, the firm moved to launch a successor vehicle in 2021, the Impact-First Growth Fund (IFGF) with the aim of providing supportive capital to grow out of the crisis. This time, we provided $3M in first loss capital that, in collaboration with a similar commitment from the Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund, provided the catalytic tranche necessary to unlock another large $37.5M commitment from the DFC. The funding is not only focused on supporting post-covid resilience, but also has a particular emphasis on lending to women and aligns closely with the DFC’s 2X Initiative.