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BRAC
BRAC is a giant nonprofit development organisation that fights poverty in Bangladesh and other countries by running schools, clinics, microfinance loans, and businesses whose profits fund its social programs.
BRAC is one of the largest and most respected nonprofits in the world, and it does something unusual: instead of living off donations alone, it runs its own businesses to pay for its good works. It was founded in Bangladesh in 1972, right after the country's independence war, to help rebuild rural communities. Its founder, Fazle Hasan Abed, started small and built it into an organisation that reaches tens of millions of people across Asia and Africa.
The core of BRAC's work is helping poor people, especially women and children, build better lives. It runs schools for children who would otherwise go without, sends health workers door to door to teach mothers about nutrition and basic care, and trains women in farming and small business skills. It also lends small amounts of money, called microloans, to people who want to start a tiny business like raising chickens or running a shop. Those small loans are paid back and lent out again, so the money keeps working. The part that makes BRAC's finances interesting is its businesses. It owns and runs social enterprises that operate like normal companies but put their profits back into social work. BRAC Dairy collects milk from rural farmers, BRAC University teaches students, and BRAC Bank, one of Bangladesh's largest banks, was set up to serve small businesses the big banks ignored. BRAC Bank is itself a listed company, though BRAC the parent is a nonprofit, not a publicly traded stock.
BRAC's scale is what makes it remarkable: it employs a small army of staff and volunteers and operates in around a dozen countries. Money from donors like governments and foundations still funds much of its work, but its own businesses give it a sturdy base that most charities lack. It is a rare thing: a poverty-fighting machine that earns its own keep.
Saved answer · last researched 10 Nov 2026