Many well-intentioned development initiatives remain small, fragmented, and dependent on ongoing aid, despite decades of investment. 

This is where Action on Poverty comes in. We turn locally led breakthroughs into scalable, evidence-based solutions that take millions of people out of poverty – permanently.

Who We Are: A Venture Philanthropy Accelerator

Action on Poverty is a venture philanthropy specialist, and a high impact accelerator dedicated to effective, scalable, and measurable solutions to global poverty.

We help supporters get the greatest impact for your money – by directing capital, evidence and technical expertise to the projects which will lift people out of poverty forever. We’ve been doing it for 60 years. Our track record speaks for itself.

We work across three interconnected domains:

• Economic Empowerment
• Food, Water and Climate Resilience
• Health and Inclusive Development

Our ambition is bold and measurable: to enable one million people each year to break the cycle of poverty by 2030, by identifying and scaling the ‘Big Bets’ that can transform entire regions.

Why Action on Poverty: From Charity to Catalytic Accelerator

Most development funding focuses on projects. With Action on Poverty, you build enduring solutions.

With your funding we move beyond one-off interventions to create complete, scalable solution packages combining proven evidence of impact, robust delivery systems, strong governance and financial controls, and continuous performance measurement. 

This allows successful initiatives to transition from grassroots pilots into lasting structures embedded in markets, institutions, or public policy.

Our Role and Value Add

We choose and strengthen solutions with potential for meaningful scale by: 

• Identifying high-potential initiatives in the most disadvantaged communities 
• Providing the funding, technical and governance support required to ensure success 
• Convening different stakeholder groups to work on mutual goals, sharing evidence and learning 
• Co-creating investment pathways that align your philanthropic ambition with real-world conditions

The Power of Blended Finance

A hallmark of our venture philanthropy model is strategic leverage.

By combining private capital with institutional funding, we extend the reach of every donation – and mitigate risk. This blended approach ensures outcomes remain effective, scalable, and measurable. 

Your dollar plays a catalytic role. Philanthropic capital is vital, because it absorbs early risk, funds innovation and adaptation, and unlocks institutional capital.