Women We Love

If being female in the male-dominated world of natural science wasn’t accomplishment enough, being the president of New York’s famed American Museum of Natural History is an amazing achievement. And when you’ve held that job for more than 15 years, as Ellen V. Futter has done, you deserve huge kudos!

Many busy women and moms can relate: preparing meals that taste good, are healthy, but don’t require much time seems like a fruitless proposition. But thanks to Annie Chun and her delicious line of healthful foods, it’s no longer an impossibility!

There is no other time in recent memory where the global nonprofit sector will see such an enormous demand in the services it provides, and will be weighted down by oppressive shortages in funds and resources. Faced with these dual daunting challenges, we salute Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO of the nonprofit venture capital firm she founded, the Acumen Fund. Acumen Fund applies business metrics to philanthropy, backing companies in Third World nations that aim for what the Fund terms a “double bottom line”—significant financial return along with meaningful social impact. Raising charitable contributions from individuals, corporations, and foundations, the Fund has invested more than $34 million in two dozen businesses in Africa, India, and Pakistan in order to build financially viable organizations that deliver affordable, critical goods and services to under-served groups in these regions. The Fund’s return on investment is only rivaled the progress these organizations have made in combating poverty, disease, and homelessness: The Fund’s many success stories include a drip irrigation program in India, a company that makes long-lasting anti-malaria bednets in Africa, and a group that provides housing for the poor in Pakistan.