I’ve been investing in off-grid solar systems for more than a decade; in lighting, for nearly two. That means meeting hundreds of individuals representing hundreds of millions who previously lived in the dark, relying on dirty, expensive, dangerous kerosene for light.
I remember a woman named Rebecca in Kenya. When we met in 2023, she had just installed a solar system. She told me she used to live in fear — fear of snakes or men when she used the outdoor toilet at night. Now, she said, “I feel safe. My children and I can read at night. We can watch television and be connected to the world. We can feel free.”
Rebecca paid for her system with hard-earned income. Her electricity didn’t come from a humanitarian program but from a for-profit solar company backed by patient investment — and what made that investment patient, a critical ingredient for companies operating in tough markets, was philanthropy.
My organization, Acumen, recently celebrated a milestone: nearly $250 million raised to bring light and power to 70 million people across 17 of Africa’s most underserved markets. With celebration, the announcement sparked an unexpected reaction: some assumed that because such large sums were involved, Acumen must no longer need philanthropy. The opposite is true: philanthropy made it possible.
Of the $250 million, more than $80 million was philanthropic. That early, risk-taking capital helped design the fund, test new models, and prove that businesses could thrive in places once dismissed as too hard to reach. Those grants built the foundation for investment and will help build markets that had not previously existed and make them work for low-income people.
A misunderstood first mover
Philanthropy is often misunderstood, dismissed as a relic of dependence or as too small to matter in a world that prizes scale. But when deployed boldly, it becomes the first mover that makes progress possible.
This conversation comes at a moment of transition for giving itself. In the United States, 81% of affluent households donated to charity in 2024, down from 91% in 2015, according to a recent study by Bank of America and the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Yet among those who give, more than 40% now report having a formal giving strategy — evidence that while fewer people are giving, those who do are giving with greater intention.
That shift reflects what I hear from donors: a desire for their money to do more. I’ve spent decades working with entrepreneurs building solar companies, affordable housing, education, healthcare or climate-resilient farms in fragile markets where capital rarely flows. The most transformative ventures start with someone willing to take a risk others won’t. That’s what catalytic philanthropy does best: it takes the first risk, absorbs early uncertainty and clears the path for others to follow.
Recently, some donors have told me they are shifting from philanthropy to impact investing, wanting their dollars to do more. I understand the instinct, but it’s not an either-or choice. If you want your capital to have lasting impact, catalytic philanthropy — especially through blended-finance models like Acumen’s Hardest-to-Reach — may be the best use of it.
The need for this kind of philanthropy is growing. Aid budgets have become volatile, even for trusted partners. In places like Colombia, where aid cuts ripple through rural economies, mission-driven investors are helping smallholder farmers move up the value chain. It’s in these moments that flexible, risk-tolerant philanthropy proves its worth — steadying the course when public budgets shift.
Patience and partnership are key
The best philanthropy today is not just about charity or dependency; it’s about self-reliance. It underwrites experimentation, funds technical assistance, and backs the patient work of building local capacity. Throughout Africa and South Asia, our philanthropy-backed patient capital investments have helped entrepreneurs prove that solar home systems could be viable even in remote communities. Once those businesses — like d.light, our first solar investment in 2007 — proved viable, institutional investors followed, enabling them to scale. Today, d.light has impacted more than 200 million lives.
If the past decades of development were defined by aid, the next chapter must be defined by partnership between philanthropy, business, government, and civil society. That partnership demands what some call “big bets”: bold attempts to solve problems at their root, built on innovation, unlikely alliances, and a relentless focus on outcomes.
Big bets begin with moral imagination — the belief that people in the hardest places deserve the same chance to shape their own futures as anyone else. The problems we face, from climate resilience to systemic inequality, require both compassion and capital. They require courage from those willing to go first, knowing there may not yet be returns except in human self-reliance and potential. Philanthropy, at its best, is that act of courage. Without it, we risk losing the very spark that has driven so much important investment and progress around the world.
Every great movement begins with someone willing to take a risk. That’s what philanthropy is; private resources and initiative to help solve public problems. And it’s why the world still needs it now more than ever.
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