Dear Friends,
Ten years ago, the Acton Institute released Poverty, Inc. From the very beginning, the film challenged the status quo of foreign aid and charity by asking a simple but often overlooked question: does this actually help people flourish? Too often, the answer was no. By undermining local ownership and initiative, well-intentioned aid created dependency instead of opportunity.
A decade later, those lessons have taken root in ways few could have predicted. The film sparked global debate, from boardrooms and classrooms to policy circles and Capitol Hill. Many have credited Poverty, Inc. with helping frame the thinking behind the recent revamp of the U.S. Agency for International Development, encouraging a shift toward partnership, entrepreneurship, and dignity-based development. While we can’t know our exact influence, we are humbled to know that Acton’s ideas have helped shape a more sustainable approach to aid.
That same spirit now animates our next major project, a new feature-length documentary on domestic poverty in America. Just as Poverty, Inc. reframed the global conversation, this film aims to do the same for our own backyard, exposing misguided welfare policies and pointing instead to the role of faith, family, and freedom as the true engines of human flourishing.
In this issue of Spire, you’ll hear from people carrying this work forward: an international accelerator helping entrepreneurs bring transformative ideas to life, a university professor using Poverty, Inc. to form the next generation of economists, and a donor couple who has made the film central to their church’s outreach and ministry. Their stories show the ripple effect of Acton’s work and the enduring power of ideas rooted in freedom and virtue.
At its heart, Poverty, Inc. is about more than aid; it’s about human dignity, creativity, and freedom. That is the Acton mission, and it is as vital today as ever. Thank you for standing with us as we continue to shape the next chapter of this story, one that begins not with dependency, but with hope.
Very truly yours,
