Mission and History

Mission

Peru Opportunity Fund links smallholder farmers to the information, simple technologies and capital they need to enhance their productivity and make informed choices about their land, their crops and their livelihoods.

History

Peru Opportunity Fund stems from its founding family’s deep personal connection to rural Peru.

The family's ties to Peru began when young German shipping merchant Juan Gildemeister opened an export trading company in Lima, Peru more than 160 years ago. What set him apart, even in the mid-1800s, was his willingness to take risks to achieve his vision while offering a helping hand for others to achieve theirs.

After years as a successful trader, Juan came into possession of a large sugar plantation. It grew to be the largest sugar plantation in the world, Casa Grande. Juan’s descendants, including the family of Peru Opportunity Fund founder Sabina Cournoyer Gildemeister, continued to work the plantation. It was ahead of its time in resource management and technical innovations.  Every bit of the plant and land was maximized. For instance, careful planning ensured the fields would mature one at a time so that the cane could be processed by the mill within optimum time. The fibrous part of the cane was dried and pressed into solid squares that served as fuel for the boiler and to generate electricity. The dregs of the sap were used as a sticky spray to keep the dust on the unpaved roads from asphyxiating pedestrians.

To this day, the founders are admired for their effective use of techniques that may have been known by others but were rarely used so comprehensively.

It is from these roots that Hampshire Foundation was created in 2000, allowing the third and fourth generation Gildemeisters to continue to foster the vision of their ancestors and give back to the country of their origin. From the start, the majority of the family’s giving has focused on helping to improve the lives of people in rural Peru.

Creation of Peru Opportunity Fund

The family’s broad experience and interest in Peru led to the creation in 2007 of a distinct initiative within the Hampshire Foundation called Peru Opportunity Fund. The Fund concentrated its work on three areas:

• Agriculture
• Workforce and enterprise development
• Housing

An Evolution in Strategy

After nearly a decade of funding projects throughout rural Peru in these three programmatic areas, the trustees started thinking about how they could focus the foundation’s energy and have more impact. In 2011, after several months of reflection, information gathering and discussion, the board of trustees concluded that small-scale farming was a topic of global significance and deep importance in Peru, as well as of personal interest to board members. The Fund’s board voted to focus the bulk of its grantmaking on one area: sustainable agriculture for rural Peruvian farmers.

The new focus is a natural extension of the Fund’s work in the past; some 54 percent of our grant and loan funds have been allocated to agricultural projects. Peru Opportunity Fund’s new strategic goals address the impediments to farmers increasing their productive and economic capacity.

Click here to learn more about Peru Opportunity Fund’s focus.