Founded 1997 Website www.canopusfund.org | Headquarters Freiburg (Germany) | |
Type Private charitable foundation Industry Providing energy access for low income communities in Africa, South Asia, and South America | ||
The Canopus Foundation is a registered private charitable institution under German jurisdiction founded in 1997 by Wolfgang Heller and Dr. Peter W. Heller.
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Management
Executive Director of the foundation is Dr. Peter W. Heller. Members of the Board of Trustees are Micaela Heller, Julia T. Heller and Dieter Heller.
Staff
The foundation employs 2 permanent staff and 4 freelancers (status: 2014). The yearly operating expenses are approximately 300.000 Euro.
Office
The foundation is legally registered in Dreieich, Germany. The office is located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
History
The initial focus after the establishment of the Canopus Foundation in October 1997 was set on the development of a specific entrepreneurial profile for the organization. Between 2000 and 2008 Canopus gained valuable practical experience while working with social entrepreneurs in less developed and emerging countries. During this time, the foundation supported among others the project "The Sun Shines for All" of IDEAAS (Brazil) providing low-income families in Paranà and Rio Grande do Sul with solar power-generated electricity; assisted SELCO Ltd. in Bangalore, India, in certifying their solar systems as “Certified Emission Reduction” (CER) projects; advised the Barefoot College in Tilonia, India, on the establishment of a manual production line of solar lanterns, and cooperated with Grameen Bank, Grameen Shakti and Grameen Cybernet in providing three village schools in Bangladesh with thin-film solar modules for the local power generation.
In 2008, in cooperation with Ashoka, the Canopus Foundation launched the Solar for All Initiative. The objective of the global initiative is to make solar energy affordable to 1.3 billion people without access to electricity. In 2010, the Indian company Greenlight Planet was awarded with the Solar for All Innovation Prize at Intersolar North America in San Francisco. In 2010 the foundation initiated the development of an energy access Social Impact Investment Fund, the conceptual work was partly funded by the European Investment Bank. In 2011 the Canopus Foundation handed the concept over to Bamboo Finance, Geneva, an investment management company specialised in micro credit and other social impact funds. In 2014 the foundation started the project "re.Mini" in close collaboration with iiDevelopment, Frankfurt / Germany, to foster the implementation of renewable energy powered village grids in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Mission
According to its Charter, the core activities of the foundation are poverty mitigation, the protection of climate and environment (international projects in Asia, Africa, South America), and the advancement of scientific research and education on sustainable development (projects in Europe and Germany). Over the last 14 years the foundation has focused its project work on the promotion of private social investment and social enterprise in order to fight poverty and environmental degradation, and the provision of business development assistance for social entrepreneurs in developing countries working in the field of clean energy technologies and energy access.
Approach
As a family foundation Canopus pursues the venture philanthropy model which transfers the method and tools of venture capital to the social sector, responding to its growing demand for advanced financial engineering. The foundation promotes the long term allocation of philanthropic risk capital to early stage social enterprises, laying the ground for financial self-sufficiency and the expansion of their social and ecological impact. Towards this end the Canopus Foundation provides additional technical expertise, management skills and market intelligence where needed. Since 2008 the foundation is a member of the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA).
Cooperating Partners (Selection)
Ashoka, Bamboo Finance S.A., IDEAAS (Fabiò Rosa), SELCO Ltd., Elea Foundation for Ethics in Globalization