Jasmine Social Investments
Jasmine Social Investments is a New Zealand-based private foundation started by the entrepreneur Sam Morgan in 2006 following the sale of his company Trade Me to Fairfax Media. Their goal is to engage in high impact philanthropy, i.e., donate to high impact charitable organizations and also help guide other high net worth individuals achieve greater impact with their donations.
Operations
Criteria for funding organizations
Jasmine Social Investments aims to be impact-focused. They look for three things in the organizations they fund: an outstanding social entrepreneur, a compelling model, and measurement of true impact. Their criteria somewhat resemble those of the Mulago Foundation, though there are differences in the details.
Organizations funded by Jasmine
As of August 2012, the portfolio of Jasmine Social Investments contains 18 organizations. These include Bridge International Academies (a company focused on low-cost private schools in the developing world), Living Goods, KOMAZA, mothers2mothers, Root Capital, and VisionSpring.
Partnerships
Jasmine Social Investments partnered with the New Zealand embassy in South Africa through a matching agreement for aid delivery in Africa.
Reception
Charity evaluator GiveWell described Jasmine Social Investments as an "impact-focused" grantmaker (alongside the Gates Foundation, Skoll Foundation, Children's Investment Fund Foundation, Mulago Foundation, and Peery Foundation). GiveWell stated in 2011 it would consider the organizations in the Jasmine Social Investments portfolio as part of its list of charities to review to see if they qualified for GiveWell's highest ratings.
Media coverage
Sam Morgan and Jasmine Social Investments were covered in the Sydney Morning Herald, an Australian newspaper.
Similar resources
- Acumen Fund
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- Good Ventures
- Mulago Foundation
- Omidyar Network
- Peery Foundation
- Skoll Foundation