News Archive

August 2008: Second Annual Gala Dinner in Chicago on October 2!

We hope you will join us at The Ritz-Carlton Chicago on October 2nd at 6:00pm for the Second Annual Gala Dinner to benefit One Acre Fund! We hope to build on the success of last year's event, which netted $20,000 for our farm families in Africa. One Acre Fund founder Andrew Youn will discuss the program's accomplishments over the past year, which include reaching over 2,000 farm families. For more information, see our press release.

February 2008: One Acre Fund article in American Magazine

American Magazine ran an article on One Acre Fund in their February 2008 issue, discussing the One Acre Fund model and approach, and Andrew's work in the field.

December 2007: One Acre Fund article in Northwestern alumni magazine

The Northwestern alumni magazine ran an article on One Acre Fund in their Winter 2007 issue, chronicling our development and progress.

November 2007: One Acre Fund fundraiser dinner in Chicago a huge success!

One Acre Fund hosted a gala fundraising dinner at Spiaggia in Chicago on November 1, with delicious wine pairings donated by Candid Wines. 115 friends of One Acre Fund attended, raising more than $20,000 toward helping our Kenyan and Rwandan farmers.

September 2007: One Acre Fund begins expansion to Rwanda

One Acre Fund recently kicked off an exciting pilot project with 40 farmers in Rwanda, our first expansion outside of Kenya. The pilot is designed to prove the effectiveness of One Acre Fund's poverty-elimination model in a new agricultural and political context. If successful, we hope to rapidly expand our operations to serve thousands of families over the coming years. Stay tuned for our progress!

June 2007: One Acre Fund opens new district

One Acre Fund recently opened its second district of operations in Kenya, bringing our total farm families served to 550. We are in the early stages of a rapid rollout, and expect to grow at least 5 times in size next year.

June 2007: One Acre Fund wins Mulago Social Investments Grant

Mulago Social Investments awarded One Acre Fund a $100,000 grant this summer. The Mulago Foundation systematically chooses the best high-impact, scalable nonprofit solutions in the developing world.

March 2007: One Acre Fund featured in Minneapolis Star Tribune

Feature article chronicles One Acre Fund's early success and future promise.

January 2007: One Acre Fund wins Draper Richards Grant

The Draper Richards Foundation carefully funds the best early-stage nonprofit organizations, and just awarded One Acre Fund $100,000 per year for three years! The rigorous application process involved a panel of twelve top agricultural leaders and references, who all believed in our basic program model of investing in farmers to end poverty. The grant serves as a call to action, providing the overhead and capacity for significant program expansion - we need core program funds more than ever to accomplish our work!

December 2006: One Acre Fund in Glamour Magazine!

One Acre Fund's work with inspiring farm women is briefly highlighted on page 95 in Glamour's monthly column: "How to be a Hero in Five Minutes."

October 2006: One Acre Fund on TV!

One Acre Fund's founder is interviewed on CBS-Chicago's Saturday morning show.

September 2006: One Acre Fund on Chicago Public Radio

One Acre Fund is featured in a fifteen minute interview at noontime, on the Worldview show with Jerome McDonald

September 2006: Harvest increases more than 4 times

We have just finished our first complete harvest cycle! Our farm families grew 4.3 times more food vs. last year, and 98% repaid program fees to One Acre Fund.

August 2006: One Acre Fund farmers begin passion fruit trials

Passion fruit is a round little fruit with a hard shell and a syrupy inside. There is high market demand in both Uganda and Europe for this bizarre, sour fruit - creating the potential for our farmers to earn enormous profits (4x their current farm income) and improve their livelihoods. We just began trials on 5 acres of land with 25 farmers.

July 2006: One Acre Fund featured in BusinessWeek Online

One Acre Fund's founder talks about a "day in the life" of One Acre Fund.

May 2006: One Acre Fund wins an Echoing Green grant

One Acre Fund was one of 12 young "social start-ups" selected by the Echoing Green Foundation, out of 850 applicants, for a two-year startup grant.

May 2006: One Acre Fund wins two major social business plan competitions

One Acre Fund won first prize in both the Yale and Stanford social business plan competitions, out of approximately 30 and 60 competing teams, respectively.