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HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, Chairman of Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation, that is Vice Chaired by his spouse HH Princess Ameerah Al Taweel, donated $100,000 to Acumen Fund.

Acumen Fund is a non-profit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty. It seeks to prove that small amounts of philanthropic support, combined with large doses of business acumen, can build thriving enterprises that can help the poor. Their investments focus on delivering affordable, vital goods and services – such as health, water and housing – through innovative, market-oriented approaches.

The donation to Acumen Fund was invested in Kashf Foundation’s innovative Home Improvement Loan Program, one of the first housing micro-finance programs of its scale for the poor in Pakistan. It enabled Kashf to originate more than 850 home improvement loans. These loans enable the unbanked clients to increase their wealth by adding to the value of their home, which often is the largest asset for low-income families. This will enable households to raise their standard of living and potentially to increase their source of income, as many clients work out of the home.

HRH through Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation-Lebanon has donated to many philanthropic projects globally including, $131,000 to Alfanar’s Vocational Training and Loans Program for underage children working in the quarry sector and their families in Egypt; $500,000 to alleviate the suffering of Bangladesh cyclone Sidr victims; $200,000 to the Islamic Development Bank for a project that aims to provide basic health care in Malawi; $100,000 to the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Millennium Villages Project; $104,327 to The Susie Reizod Foundation, New Shoes Donations to Children in Need in Catastrophe Areas of Africa and Asia Project; $687,500 to the Cambodian Muslim Community Development, Revolving Leadership Program; $500,000 to Turquoise Mountain, Afghanistan; $806,607 to Leadership University College, Bangladesh; and a $1 million donation to The Right to Live Society’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Down Syndrome in Gaza.

HRH donated over 100 housing units with a total of SR5 million to victims of the run down slum areas in Cairo, a $235,282 donation to Oxfam, Increase Market Access for Women in Senegal Project; and a donation of $356,500 to Deworm the World Initiative. The initiative was presented by Young Global Leaders (YGL) Education Taskforce at the Davos World Economic Forum. In 2007, HRH made a $360,000 donation to SOS Children’s Village in Indonesia and a substantial emergency donation to Indonesia's flood victims.

In 2006, HRH made a donation for the Yemen landslide victims and in the same year donated $1 million through the United Nations World Food Program (UNWFP) to the drought-ravaged people of Kenya. His Highness had made a SR20 million donation to Pakistan’s earth quake victims in 2005.

Other major donations made by HRH included $19 million to South East Asia's Tsunami victims, $830,000 donation to the families of the Egyptian train fire victims, 80 tons of supplies to the Algerian quake victims, $500,000 to the Jammeh Foundation for Peace in The Gambia to fund a diagnostic center, one million Egyptian Pounds (LE) in support of Mrs. Susanne Mubarak’s campaign for the treatment of children suffering from cancer, $5 million to assist in the rescue and rebuilding efforts in the wake of floods in Morocco, $5 million to support The Carter Center Peace and Health programs in Africa, and $7 million for the rebuilding of Zayzoon village in Syria after it was wiped by floods caused by the collapse of a dam.

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