Echoing Green - History

History

Echoing Green was founded in 1987 by the leadership of General Atlantic, LLC, a private equity firm focused on using entrepreneurial practices to work a towards social aims.

Since 1987, Echoing Green has invested $27 million to help more than 450 social entrepreneurs create positive change in 40 countries. Echoing Green has helped to launch model organizations working in education, youth development, health care, housing, environmental justice, human and civil rights, economic and social justice, the arts, and immigration. A recent study found that Echoing Green Fellows’ organizations have raised close to $1 billion in additional funding, delivering a return on investment (ROI) of approximately 44 times Echoing Green’s seed funding. Echoing Green helps fellows raise more money, more quickly than their peers: 46 percent of fellows’ organizations have budgets over $100,000 by year two, while only 20 percent of peer organizations reach that mark. Sixty-five percent of organizations launched by Echoing Green Fellows are still in existence and 85 percent of Echoing Green Fellows stay in leadership positions in the social sector.

Echoing Green has helped fund many nonprofits, including Teach For America, Embrace, the Empowering Spirits Foundation, City Year, College Summit, Genocide Intervention Network, Disaster Accountability Project, Mental Disability Rights International, One Acre Fund, Mercado Global and many others.