Family offices Ceniarth and A to Z Impact invested $1.8 million in INNOVA Health Supplies, a procurement service created by Fòs Feminista, an international alliance of nearly 200 reproductive health organizations.
INNOVA aggregates orders from alliance organizations and purchases contraceptives on their behalf. It buys directly from companies like Pfizer and Bayer, eliminating middlemen, securing bulk pricing and cutting delivery times from 13 months to as little as three.
INNOVA “speaks to the power of economies of scale and the ability to negotiate,” Fòs Feminista’s Meradith Leebrick told ImpactAlpha.
Preserving grant capital
Major donors have cut at least $600 million from global reproductive health budgets in the past year. That includes losses from the gutting of USAID and to the UN Population Fund.
As donor budgets shrink, nonprofits that once relied almost entirely on grants are rethinking how to cover the costs of operating clinics and delivering care.
“Every dollar of philanthropy right now is super precious,” A to Z’s Alex Evangelides said.
Structured as patient debt, the $1.8 million investment gives INNOVA time to distribute the stockpiled products and collect revenue before repayments begin.
“It lets them avoid choosing between using a couple million dollars of grant money to buy inventory, or using it to hire staff or test a new initiative,” Evangelides said.
