WHAT WE DO

New Profit brings together the catalytic principles of venture capital with deep experience in social impact to drive breakthroughs in social problem-solving.

Why We Exist

The founding of New Profit was inspired by a question:

“Why don’t the best social innovations scale like companies and commercial innovations do?”

We were among the first organizations to try to bridge that gap with a venture philanthropy model that provides social entrepreneurs who are developing promising models with the same type of support that for-profit companies can access to grow.

Our Approach

We provide our grantee-partners with unrestricted growth capital and strategic advice to help them build the capacity of their organizations, collaborate with others, and take aim at changing the larger systems in which they operate.

BREAKTHROUGH LEADERS

Using our industry-leading investment selection and due diligence process, we identify high-impact organizations across the country led by visionary social entrepreneurs. Since 1998, we have invested over $130 million in unrestricted growth capital to more than 100 path-breaking organization to scale their impact. In addition to New Profit partners serving as close-in advisors to social entrepreneurs, our groundbreaking collaboration with Deloitte Consulting LLC has provided Fortune-500 caliber strategic support to 30 New Profit grantee-partners, totaling over $10M in pro bono support since 2013.
Systems Change Initiatives

Because no single organization or approach can create large-scale change on its own, we convene the boldest social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and other leaders from across sectors to do together what none of us could do alone. We find the underinvested areas and pressure points in big systems impacting issues such as early learning, K-12 education, and workforce development and serve as a backbone organization to systems change initiatives that address them with a dynamic mix of programs, policy ideas, partnerships, and public engagement.

What Makes Us Different?

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

We are dedicated to making our organization and the philanthropic sector more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. New Profit’s accelerator program has supported dozens of early stage entrepreneurs from underrepresented communities, including women, people of color, and entrepreneurs affected directly by the criminal justice system.

Capacity Building

Our in-house capacity building and measurement and evaluation team helps translate industry-leading knowledge on nonprofit management into real-time solutions for organizations in our portfolio, helping them to maximize their impact and sustainability.

Advocacy

Our nonpartisan policy initiative, America Forward, unites a coalition of 70+ social entrepreneurs with policymakers to advance a public policy agenda that champions innovative and effective solutions to our country’s most pressing social problems.

National Convener

Through our field leadership efforts, we convene and engage a diverse community of innovative leaders from across sectors to forge connections, spark ideas, align strategies, and shape initiatives that unlock the potential of social innovation to expand opportunity for all Americans.

Track Record

We were early backers of breakthrough organizations—including KIPP, Year UP, Health Leads, Citizen Schools, Teach for America, Jumpstart, Youthbuild USA, and BELL—and breakthrough initiatives such as the Pathways Fund and Reimagine Learning Fund.

Reach

In 2017, New Profit portfolio organizations served 3.9M beneficiaries across 39 states. 86% of portfolio organizations reported the growth of their organization’s geographic footprint over their investment period, either to new sites or to new states.

Our Impact

Over half of portfolio organizations broke the $10M annual expense mark during their investment period, and on average, portfolio organizations grow the number of beneficiaries served by 28% during their investment period with New Profit.
The America Forward coalition has leveraged $1.7 billion in government funding for social innovation to achieve measurable results, while positively impacting 14,500 communities and eight million lives.
As an inaugural grant recipient of the Social Innovation Fund, New Profit’s Pathways Fund strengthened the bridge between education and workforce development, helping over 250,000 low-income youth gain the skills, knowledge, and networks to lead healthy lives and engage in meaningful work.
New Profit’s Reimagine Learning Fund has helped the learning revolution take root in communities across America, with an aim of catalyzing the creation of K-12 learning environments that support the diverse learning needs of all students, particularly those who have been underserved in our current education system.
New Profit’s grantee-partners have touched 10M+ lives since 2007, serving 3.9 million alone in 2017.

“New Profit has always been a partner that I felt was more willing than most to buck convention, which is so important because the pull of philanthropy is almost always towards the conventional. Without our community, who will be there to change the game in terms of advancing diverse leaders and building capacity for innovation and systemic impact?”

John Rice

Founder & CEO, MLT
“They reduce the sense that you’re alone as a leader. The coaching that I’ve gotten that I’ve gotten through the people that I’ve met at New Profit has been exceptional. KIPP would not be where it is today had I not received that coaching. It was transformational.”

Richard Barth

CEO of Kipp Foundation
“One of the hallmarks of my time in the New Profit portfolio was the degree to which the New Profit team and community challenged me to always think bigger and more strategically. Boldness is always at the root of big change”

Wendy Kopp

CEO & Co-Founder, Teach For Al
“There are a small handful of foundations and investors that I have worked with that really see their role holistically as an investment in our success, rather than just writing a check. New Profit’s menu of support is comprehensive and it really helps to have both a place to go where people are willing to engage on a wide range of leadership issues, as well as a cohort of other entrepreneurs who are facing the same challenges.”

Laura Weidman Powers

Co-Founder and CEO, CODE2040
“Having access to New Profit’s leadership and being embraced by their community of change agents has been critical as we take LEAP Innovations to the next level. By asking the hard questions and providing invaluable strategic insights, New Profit is helping us see how to build our organization.”

Phyllis Lockett

CEO, LEAP Innovations

Want to Learn More?

If you are interested in becoming part of our community of social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and other bold changemakers, click here to join our mailing list or reach out to us at info@newprofit.org to connect and learn more.