Why philanthropic investing?

Philanthropic investing may at first sound like a contradiction, but it actually stands for a consistent approach: start-up financing and growth financing for a long-term, constantly increasing, and measurable impact on the fight against absolute poverty. elea directly invests in the development of impact ventures in emerging economies whose activities provide people affected by absolute poverty with new sources of income. These investments are predominantly done in the form of shareholding and loans. They integrate impacted people into global value chains either as a client, producer, or distributor rather than as an aid recipient, thereby helping them to benefit from these value chains on a long-term basis. We support locally based entrepreneurs that implement economically sustainable, scalable, and innovative models focused on the maximization of positive social impact.

We act with the attitude, processes, and methods of a professional investor. As an active philanthropic investor, we accompany our portfolio ventures along the path of economic sustainability. We work with them on a gradual, systematic development of professional structures and systems. The goal is that these impact companies can finance themselves in the long term and do not permanently rely on transfer payments. In this way, we are constantly creating new opportunities for communities that live in absolute poverty.

With our investment-oriented approach to entrepreneurial philanthropy, we operate at the intersection of public benefit, venture capital, and impact investing: 

As a tax-exempt charitable foundation, we can focus on the creation of public added value, i.e., the social impact of our investments. elea's funders expect high, sustainable impact rather than a financial return for themselves.

We can help innovative ventures on the road to success in cases where commercial investors consider them to be too risky. 

elea stands for a philanthropic approach to impact investing: in the long-term, our portfolio ventures combine social returns with economic returns. As a strategic investor, we support impact ventures on a step-by-step basis to obtain access to impact capital markets. If a venture is successful, we can also realize a financial return from our investment; in such cases, all returns remain in the Foundation, they are reinvested, and the perpetuation of charitable benefit is thereby ensured.