Your questions answered.

Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, and Togo.

Zayed Sustainability Prize Finalist (2018, 2023), Best Nonprofit to Work for (2018, 2019, 2024, 2025),Great Place To Work (2018, 2019), Humentum Operational Excellence Awards received by several staff (2015-2019), Nuru Nigeria: National Award for the Highest MSME Training and Empowerment in Northeast Nigeria, presented by the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (2025), Anthem Award Winner 2023 – Nuru Kenya Managing Director Pauline Wambeti, West Africa Acumen Fellow (2023) – Nuru Nigeria Managing Director Amy Gaman, 2022 Classy Award for Social Innovation, Adamawa State Humanitarian Ambassador of the year (2019) – Nury Nigeria Managing Director Amy Gaman, Excellence in Leadership and Humanitarian Services by Nigeria Achievers Awards (2019) – Nuru Nigeria Managing Director Amy Gaman, Acumen and IKEA Social Entrepreneurship East Africa Accelerator Program (2020) – Nuru Kenya COO Tom Kibet, cumen and IKEA Social Entrepreneurship East Africa Accelerator Program (2021) –  Nuru Ethiopia Cooperative and Agribusiness Manager Biruk Abayneh, ONE Campaign Nigeria Champion (2020) – Nuru Nigeria Managing Director Amy Gaman, East Africa Acumen Fellow (2018) –  Nuru Kenya Managing Director Pauline Wambeti, Climate Smart Agriculture Project of the Year Shortlist (2018) – Nuru Kenya

2008

Aerie Changala

Yes, Nuru is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

A world without cycles of unjust poverty, where resilience and hope are cultivated in the most marginalized communities.

Nuru is a global collective that enables inclusive and sustainable prosperity by identifying communities at the stability tipping point, strengthening rural livelihoods and market systems, and fostering stabilizing connections that repair social fabric and pave a pathway to peace.

The World Bank defines extreme poverty the state of a person living on less than $3 per day.

Nuru-supported agribusinesses are member-owned and maintained multi-purpose cooperatives that make measurable progress toward financial sustainability, efficient management, and strong leadership. Cooperative agribusinesses provide socio-economic benefits to their community with a foundation based on the seven cooperative principles. Find out more about Nuru’s climate-smart cooperatives here. 

Financial reports and most recent impact data are located here. 

You can make a tax-deductible donation, donate cryptocurrency, prepare your planned giving, or donate stock by visiting our donation page.

Nuru works with both farmers and pastoralists in  rural communities in Africa.

Stay updated on the latest from Nuru and hear directly from Nuru’s CEO when you sign up for our monthly newsletter.

Yes! We are so grateful for planned giving. Please contact us at development@iamnuru.org or 949.667.0796 to set this up.

Nuru International (now known as Nuru) was founded by Jake Harriman.

Nuru is a four-star (highest ranking) Charity Navigator charity, a Better Business Bureau accredited charity, and it has a Platinum Seal of Transparency from Candid.

No, Nuru works in fragile communities that are at a stability tipping point. These communities are in yellow zones. They are caught between two extremes: growing conflict, worsening poverty, and instability on one side (red zone), with the potential for peace and prosperity on the other (green zone).

Nuru is Swahili words that means “light” or “hope.”

Nuru has impacted over 456,000 people in Africa through 411 agribusinesses.

Extreme poverty is not simply about a lack of money or food. It is the intersection of fragile livelihoods, climate shocks, and insecurity that robs families of their choices and futures. We don’t just provide temporary relief. Instead, we equip smallholder farmers and their cooperatives with the tools, training, and market access they need to build thriving agribusinesses.

By strengthening climate-smart practices, connecting producers to reliable markets, and reinforcing locally-led institutions, we are tackling the systemic barriers that keep rural families trapped in cycles of vulnerability. Our approach turns communities at stability tipping points into places of resilience, so that communities facing the greatest risks can lead themselves out of poverty and into shared prosperity.

Nuru’s model was evaluated in this five-year Resilience Capacities Study. This study, completed in partnership with the Ray Marshall Center at the University of Texas, Austin, found that Nuru Nigeria significantly and positively contributes to farmer resilience. In comparison to their peers,  Nuru Nigeria-supported farmers are better equipped to face future unexpected challenges, like weather events, conflict, and financial shocks.

Nuru partners with third-party evaluators like the Ray Marshall Center at the University of Texas to evaluate its impact. Nuru tracks agribusinesses professionalism through SCOPEinsight, measures income increase (average 31% income increase across the Nuru Collective), yield increase, and monitors women’s participation by local organization. Learn more about Nuru’s impact here.

Yes! Partnerships are crucial to Nuru’s work. Nuru partners with individuals, and foundations as well as bilateral, multilateral and global partners. To explore partnership opportunities: development@iamnuru.org.

All organizations within the Nuru Collective are locally-owned and locally-led with locally-designed solutions built for driving long-term positive impact for communities.