Acumen Fund Chapters

• What is an Acumen Fund Chapter?
• How can I start a Chapter in my city?
• Do I have to be part of a Chapter to get involved with Acumen Fund?
• What’s the value in becoming an official Chapter?
• What happened to the Young Professionals for Acumen Fund (YPs)?

What is an Acumen Fund Chapter?

Acumen Fund Chapters are an integral part of our efforts to create a step change in terms awareness, excitement, and membership in our community of supporters and advocates - from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, and someday millions of people who believe that our model of patient capital has a central role to play in the global fight on poverty.

A Chapter is essentially what we’re calling an Acumen Fund volunteer group – a group of like-minded individuals who share a passion and interest in Acumen Fund’s work and our sector. The goals of a Chapter are to:

• Champion patient capital as an effective complement to traditional aid
• Serve as a key fundraising and communications resource for Acumen Fund
• And deliver on these objectives in a way that are consistent with Acumen Fund's brand and values

We currently have official chapter in New York City and San Francisco, but lots of local groups are starting up and putting plans in the works to become official.

How do I start a Chapter in my city?

To qualify as an Acumen Fund Chapter, a group needs to have demonstrated its commitment by organizing several successful networking and fundraising events.   The NY Chapter is a good example, having organized several educational events leading up to a successful fundraiser that raised $25,000 for Acumen Fund.

If you are thinking about building an Acumen Fund Chapter, this Community site is a great starting point for you.  Look under Groups to see if there is already a Chapter in your area.  All Chapters will have the word “Official” as part of their name.  Otherwise, go ahead and join an existing group and help them work toward official chapter status.  If you would like to start a new group, it helps to do some research of our existing community to see if there is interest from other members in your area.  Form a core group of people, start to brainstorm ideas for events/activities and pull together a plan with concrete milestones would lead to the formation of a Chapter.  When you are ready to share your plan with Acumen Fund, please reach out to Jo-Ann Tan (jtan@acumenfund.org).

Do I have to be part of a Chapter to get involved with Acumen Fund?

If a Chapter exists in your city we strongly encourage you to be a part of it.  Our experience has shown that when a community comes together its impact is often be amplified. 

However, we recognize that Chapters aren’t for everyone, which is why we started this Community site. Whether you are part of a Chapter or not, we hope that this site will allow individuals from all over the world find a community of like-minded people with whom to share the latest developments in patient capital and generate creative ideas that can be used to help Acumen Fund. 

What’s the value in becoming an official Chapter?

Not unlike Acumen Fund’s model of patient capital, Chapters are a key source of leverage for a small organization that is looking to punch above its weight and change the way the world tackles poverty.  Chapters allow us to identify our super-volunteers and in return, Acumen Fund is committed to investing in these leaders – educating them on our work and our approach, and supporting their activities to the best of our abilities.  While we strive to educate and support all our volunteers, the Chapter model enables us to make use of our limited resources to achieve a wider impact.

What happened to the Young Professionals for Acumen Fund (YPs)?

The YPs have effectively become Acumen Fund’s New York Chapter.  The leadership team and its activities were largely New York-based, but its volunteer base was becoming increasingly diverse.  Thus, we made the decision to re-brand the YPs as Acumen Fund’s NY Chapter and give the opportunity for volunteers from other regions to set-up and lead Chapters of their own.   We already have a formal SF Chapter kicked off, and volunteer groups have sprung up in Dubai and London.

This Community site will replace the YP blog.  This transition will happen between now and January 2010, so we encourage everyone who is currently on the YP email list to sign up here.