Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World

The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World

By Jacqueline Novogratz

Eleven years after donating her blue sweater to Goodwill, Novogratz spotted a young boy in Africa wearing that very sweater. In that moment, she realized how all people are connected, which set the author on a lifelong course to fight poverty worldwide.

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Book Information

Publisher: Rodale Books
Publish Date: 03/03/2009
Pages: 262
ISBN-13: 9781594869150
ISBN-10: 1594869154
Language: English

What We're Saying

March 27, 2009

Jacqueline Novogratz has one of the best stories behind the title of a book I've ever heard (but, I'll let her tell it below). Novogratz is the founder and CEO of Acumen Fund and author of the recently released book, The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World. It was our good friend, Seth Godin, who first suggested Jacqueline Novogratz to us, and like everything Seth recommends and supports, this book is pure gold. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

January 27, 2010

In an effort to bring awareness to the wonderful work that Acumen Fund continues to do around the world, Seth Godin and 800-CEO-READ have created a special offer. We are going to give you a free copy of Jacqueline Novogratz's (the founder and CEO of Acumen Fund) The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World when you buy two copies of Seth's latest book, Linchpin. Not to sound too much like an infomercial, but this offer really is only available while the stock (of around 200) we have here lasts, and Seth already announced it this morning, so hustle up and get in on it. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

June 06, 2011

➻ Cory Doctorow has laid out an interesting chronology of intellectual property rights since the first part of the 20th century for The Guardian's Comment Is Free interview series. Arguing that Every pirate wants to be an admiral, he tells a story that begins with sheet music composers and ends with the Internet about how elements of every innovation are seen as piracy until they become the mainstream, at which time they begin accusing the next generation of innovators of piracy. Stating at the beginning of the video that "The way to increase the health of the cultural realm is to allow more people to participate in it in more ways," he ends with anxiety that, for the first time in history, lawmakers may end up on the wrong side of the debate between the so-called "pirates" and supposed "admirals. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

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For the first 5,000 copies of The Blue Sweater purchased, a $15 donation per book will be made to Acumen Fund, a nonprofit that invests in transformative businesses to solve the problems of poverty.

The Blue Sweater is the inspiring story of a woman who left a career in international banking to spend her life on a quest to understand global poverty and find powerful new ways of tackling it. It all started back home in Virginia, with the blue sweater, a gift that quickly became her prized possession--until the day she outgrew it and gave it away to Goodwill. Eleven years later in Africa, she spotted a young boy wearing that very sweater, with her name still on the tag inside. That the sweater had made its trek all the way to Rwanda was ample evidence, she thought, of how we are all connected, how our actions--and inaction--touch people every day across the globe, people we may never know or meet.
From her first stumbling efforts as a young idealist venturing forth in Africa to the creation of the trailblazing organization she runs today, Novogratz tells gripping stories with unforgettable characters--women dancing in a Nairobi slum, unwed mothers starting a bakery, courageous survivors of the Rwandan genocide, entrepreneurs building services for the poor against impossible odds.
She shows, in ways both hilarious and heartbreaking, how traditional charity often fails, but how a new form of philanthropic investing called "patient capital" can help make people self-sufficient and can change millions of lives. More than just an autobiography or a how-to guide to addressing poverty, The Blue Sweater is a call to action that challenges us to grant dignity to the poor and to rethink our engagement with the world.

About the Author

Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder and CEO of Acumen. She has been named one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy , one of the 25 Smartest People of the Decade by the Daily Beast, and one of the world's 100 Greatest Living Business Minds by Forbes , which also honored her with the Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Entrepreneurship.

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