Social enterprises seeking Global Partnerships funding are approaching one of the original impact-first fund managers: founded in 1994 after a 1992 El Salvador microfinance visit by co-founders Bill and Paula Clapp, Global Partnerships (GP) practices impact-first investing — seeking "the highest possible social impact, while seeking to preserve capital for investors" — a deliberate distinction from both return-first investing and philanthropy, and a model it has refined for over three decades. It creates and manages funds that make loans and early-stage investments in social enterprises delivering market-based products and services across Latin America, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa.

Thesis and focus areas

Sectors: economic opportunity, education, energy, food, health, housing, sanitation and water. Investment initiative themes include women-centred finance, rural-centred finance, smallholder farmer market access and inputs, housing finance, health clinics, clean water, cookstoves, productive asset finance and microentrepreneur growth finance. GP runs 15 active investment initiatives.

Scale

Active portfolio (June 30, 2026): $167M of impact-first capital across 86 social enterprise partners in 28 countries. Cumulative: $938 million deployed to 217 social enterprise partners, reaching an estimated 41 million lives in 34 countries.

Portfolio and track record

All listed on its active portfolio page: Babban Gona (Nigeria) — smallholder farmer inputs; Good Nature Agro (Zambia) — smallholder farmer market access; Coop Chirinos (Peru) — coffee cooperative; Pro Mujer (Nicaragua) — women-centred finance with education and health; Penda Health (Kenya) — health clinics; Tugende (Uganda) — productive asset finance — plus Habitat for Humanity El Salvador/Guatemala, FINCA Peru, Friendship Bridge and EcoSafi (cookstoves).

People behind the fund

Bill Clapp — co-founder and Seattle philanthropist — died May 29, 2026; Paula Clapp is co-founder; Mike Galgon is CEO.

How to apply for funding from Global Partnerships

Social enterprises engage via GP's regional offices — Seattle (1201 Western Ave, Suite 410), Bogotá and Nairobi — or by email at [email protected] / +1.206.652.8773 (contact page: globalpartnerships.org/contact/). The fit is specific: market-based social enterprises serving people in poverty, with a loan or early-stage equity need and measurable impact.

Why it matters for founders

Three decades in, $938M deployed and 41 million lives reached, Global Partnerships remains the reference case for impact-first fund management — returns are the constraint, impact is the objective. For social enterprises in its regions with a fundable unit economics story, the regional offices in Bogotá and Nairobi are the practical front door. Lead with impact data, not just the business model.