Recognition for Impact

In 2019, Village Enterprise was honored to be one of the ten Drucker Prize finalists chosen from over 400 applicants. The Drucker Institute’s mission is to strengthen organizations in order to advance society. Since 2007, they have worked with leaders from major corporations, nonprofits, and government agencies to help them be more effective—that is, as Drucker defines it, “doing the right things well.” According to Zach First, Drucker Institute’s Executive Director, “The 2019 finalists for The Drucker Prize demonstrate through their work the boundless innovative opportunities for organizations of all kinds.”

In 2018 Founders Pledge endorsed Village Enterprise as a top charity for women’s empowerment. Founders Pledge is an organization through which company founders and investors commit to donating a percentage of their personal proceeds to a charity following a successful exit. From a list of 163 women’s empowerment charities, Village Enterprise was selected as one of only four endorsed by the organization. According to the Founders Pledge report, “Village Enterprise excels at improving the lives of women, and has strong 3rd party evidence that its model is an effective way of addressing extreme poverty.”

Village Enterprise earned the highest ranking from ImpactMatters to recognize our cost-effectiveness and positive, sustainable impact on our entrepreneurs and their families’ lives. Village Enterprise has was also named one of ImpactMatters’ Top Poverty Nonprofits in 2020.

Founded by Yale economist Dean Karlan and his former student Elijah Goldberg in 2015, ImpactMatters helps donors identify high-impact nonprofits with a donor-facing site that issues independent ratings of the social impact of over 1,000 nonprofits. Charity Navigator recently acquired the organization to scale ImpactMatters analysis to millions of donors.

The Sea Grape Foundation, a family foundation, has selected DREAMS for Refugees, a project led by Village Enterprise in partnership with Mercy Corps as the recipient of its $2 million award. DREAMS for Refugees was also awarded an additional $8 million by an anonymous donor in the ICONIQ network.

The award was facilitated by Lever for Change’s partnership with ICONIQ Impact, ICONIQ Capital’s platform for collaborative philanthropy.

Village Enterprise is one of only 23 top nonprofits worldwide recommended by The Life You Can Save. The Life You Can Save believes that living an ethical life involves donating a portion of our wealth and resources to improve the lives of those living in extreme poverty. The Life You Can Save is based on the Effective Altruism philosophy of Peter Singer, and helps donors find effective charities with high-impact interventions that provide the “most bang for your donation buck.”

Village Enterprise was selected in 2020 as a new member of the Million Lives Collective! This initiative is hosted on the Global Innovation Exchange and recognizes organizations that have touched over one million lives. We attained Vanguard member status, recognizing our transformative impact on the lives of over one million individuals previously living on $1.90 or less per day.