Greater Share announces successful close of its first Education Fund
Greater Share’s first fund raised $52 million from more than fifty individual investors and organisations across the world
In partnership with leading private equity firms, the Education Fund will provide long-term sustainable funding to high-impact NGOs working to achieve greater education equity
London, 10 December 2024 – Greater Share, an innovative philanthropic investment platform connecting the world’s top-performing private equity funds with high-impact NGOs, today announced the successful final close of its Education Fund (“the Fund”) at $52 million. The Fund received contributions from more than fifty individual investors and organisations across the world and marks Greater Share’s first fund since its launch in 2022.
The Fund will provide sustainable funding over the next decade to eight high-impact NGOs focused on achieving greater education equity in underserved communities across the world. Greater Share’s portfolio of NGO partners is deliberately global and collectively spans cradle to career, representing organisations committed to developing bespoke, equitable and effective education models to provide holistic support for children.
Greater Share launched its innovative philanthropic investment model to support NGOs working to address systemic global issues. The Fund’s investment model provides additional long-term, sustainable and unrestricted funding to high-impact organisations through its investments in best-in-class private equity funds and donations from its private equity partners. Bain Capital, Cinven, Hg Capital, Lexington Partners, Nautic Partners and Permira are among the group of leading private equity firms partnering with Greater Share on its Education Fund.
Funding generated through Greater Share’s investment returns and the donated fees and carry of its private equity partners ensures long-term capital support for Greater Share’s NGO partners, allowing them to remain focused on their core missions and achieving their full potential. The eight selected education NGOs are aeioTU, AllChild, CAMFED, Kaivalya Education Foundation, KIPP Foundation, London Early Years Foundation, National Institute for Student Success and Teach For All. An initial tranche of donations from the Fund has already been distributed to these NGOs to support their critical work.
Paul Fletcher, Co-Founder and Chair of Greater Share, said: “At the heart of Greater Share’s unique philanthropic model is the ability to provide long-term sustainable funding to organisations tackling some of the most challenging issues of our time, starting with education equity. We are deeply grateful to our partners for their continued support. Securing such strong backing for our first fund underscores investors’ growing interest in advancing philanthropy through private markets, and we hope Greater Share’s unique model sparks a new way of making philanthropic investments.”
Graham Elton, Chair of Greater Share’s Investment Committee, said: “One of the most valuable components of Greater Share’s model is the way that it makes the money work. The world’s leading private equity firms are partnering with us to provide access to top-performing funds. These generate returns for our investors, of which half, along with the funds’ fees and carry, are donated to our NGOs, creating a multiplier effect. The long-term funding is only possible because of our private equity partners, and it enables the NGOs to do what they do best – create effective education models, transform communities, and scale their impact – without having to rely on resource-intensive incremental fundraising.”
Dr. Liesbet Steer, Chair of Greater Share’s Education Committee, said: “We are facing a crisis in education today, with hundreds of millions of children out of school and even more without basic secondary-level skills. There is a need to transform the way we educate children and to increase the availability and quality of education, especially for those from disadvantaged groups. Our NGO partners share our theory of change and represent education models that are child-centered and led by the community. At Greater Share, we want to create a stream of unrestricted funding that NGOs can rely upon to make the long-term investments they need to drive systemic change.”
About Greater Share
Greater Share is a new philanthropic investment platform that aims to connect the world’s top-performing private equity funds with high-impact non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Greater Share invests in best-in-class private equity funds screened for ESG criteria with a pledge to share at least 50 percent of the gains with high-impact education NGOs with general partners also donating 100 percent of their associated fees and carry. Its first vehicle supports eight NGOs that have missions to close the education equity gap for students from cradle to career in underserved communities around the world. To learn more about Greater Share, please visit https://www.greatershare.com/
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