Global Partnerships

Global Partnerships sources investments through a network of in-country due diligence professionals in Managua, Nairobi, and Bogotá. The firm also relies on referrals from existing portfolio organizations and multilateral development finance institutions active in financial inclusion and agriculture. The firm's 30-year track record and long-tenured regional teams create repeat deal flow from high-performing borrowers seeking follow-on capital.

No. Global Partnerships has structured its entire portfolio as debt — primarily senior secured loans, with occasional subordinated debt or convertible instruments linked to revenue milestones. This reflects a deliberate choice to target predictable cash flows and defined exit timelines rather than the indefinite holding periods associated with equity. The firm has publicly stated this debt-only discipline since its earliest funds.

GP Impact Investments is a wholly owned subsidiary and SEC-registered investment adviser created to manage certain pooled impact investment vehicles on behalf of the parent organization. While Global Partnerships itself is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, GP Impact Investments operates as the regulated entity handling fund management duties. This two-entity structure allows the organization to accept both philanthropic grant capital and for-profit investment capital within a single blended platform.

Foundations and development finance institutions supply catalytic first-loss capital and guarantees. Past and current providers include the Skoll Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Omidyar Network, and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. These concessional layers absorb initial losses on the portfolio, reducing risk for senior investors and enabling the fund to lend to higher-risk social enterprises in frontier markets.

Global Partnerships targets early-growth-stage social enterprises that have graduated beyond pilot phase but have not yet reached commercial bankability. Typical investees have 3-to-7 years of operating history, demonstrated unit economics, and revenues between $500,000 and $5 million. The firm deliberately avoids seed-stage startups — it requires audited financials and a track record of serving low-income customers before committing capital.

Global Partnerships does not invest in fossil fuel extraction, large-scale infrastructure, commercial real estate, or public equities. Within financial services, the firm avoids consumer lending in developed markets and payday lending models globally. The organization maintains an exclusion list updated annually by its impact committee, which screens out sectors inconsistent with its poverty-alleviation mandate.

Philanthropic grants flow to the parent 501(c)(3), which uses them for technical assistance programs, impact measurement, and subsidized due diligence. Investment capital flows into pooled vehicles managed by GP Impact Investments, the registered investment adviser subsidiary. The two capital streams are commingled only in structured first-loss tranches, where philanthropic capital explicitly sits in a junior position and is disclosed to all investors before fund close.