Our History

Crystal Fund was established as a non-governmental and not-for-profit organisation in 2004 on the basis of the small business development program implemented by the local non- governmental organization – Charity Humanitarian Centre Abkhazeti (CHCA) focused on internally displaced people.

Crystal Fund implemented microfinance activities and until 2007 operated as a specialized microfinance fund to promote the self-reliance of vulnerable groups and to contribute towards poverty reduction in Georgia. In particular, Crystal Fund provided support to micro, small and medium-sized businesses and provided small entrepreneurs with easily accessible, fast and high-quality financial services. The target group was Georgia’s low-income, economically active population, which was particularly in need of effective financial support.

Since 2007 Crystal Fund has gone through restructuring having transferred its microfinance business to JSC MFO Crystal and focused on educational, social and community development goals.

Since 2009 Crystal Fund has been focused on increasing the role of new technologies in enhancing access to financial services. In 2010-2013, Crystal Fund implemented the IFAD-funded project Reaching Georgia’s Rural Poor through Mobile Remittances aimed at improving financial inclusion of Georgia’s rural population. 

In 2013-2015 Crystal Fund expanded the scope of its activities. The initial steps were taken to build a UK-Georgia initiative. Financial Literacy, Peacebuilding, Rule of Law, Policy Dialogue, Youth Entrepreneurship and Road Safety initiatives were launched.

The Board was joined by prominent independent members from the UK, while grant management, reporting and transparency standards were enhanced.

Since the end of 2015, with the support of international organizations and in cooperation with local partners, Crystal Fund began implementation of large-scale projects and activities to put these new initiatives into action, among them:

• Three-year project of Crystal Fund Supporting Youth Entrepreneurial Skills for Advancing Employability and Income Generation in Georgia (YES-Georgia) received support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID);
• Young Entrepreneurs School was established within the YES-Georgia project;
• Crystal Fund supported the Business and Economic Center (BEC), which operated under the auspices of the UK-based Enterprise and Parliamentary Dialogue International (EPDI), as an independent platform for legislative dialogue. The initiative recommenced its activities in the Parliament of Georgia, and soon received support from the USAID Government for Growth (G4G) in Georgia and other donors;
• Complex initiatives were undertaken with the involvement of British experts to study systematic rule of law and human rights violations as well as development of appropriate policy options;
• Private and civic society actors interested in supporting financial education in Georgia were mobilized under the Coalition for Financial Literacy;
• A small grant component was developed for the purpose of supporting social investments to promote confidence building with the conflict regions of Georgia; among them, initiatives of socially vulnerable groups were funded to improve the financial and economic integration of the population of conflict regions;
• Mechanisms and practices were developed supporting educational and advocacy activities to improve the quality of road safety in Georgia.

Since 2019 women economic empowerment has been added to the priority areas of Crystal Fund. The program – Supporting Youth and Women Entrepreneurship in Georgia (YES-Georgia), implemented by Crystal Fund has received support from the Women Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) initiative.