Author Guide · Memoir & Social Change
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In 1976 a teenage Jacqueline Novogratz gave a blue wool sweater, with two zebras on the front and her name on the tag, to Goodwill. In early 1987, out jogging in Kigali, Rwanda, she saw a boy wearing it; she turned down his collar and found her name. By then she had left a job as a credit analyst at Chase Manhattan Bank to work on small loans for women in Africa. In 2001 she founded Acumen, a nonprofit fund that invests what she calls patient capital in businesses serving people on low incomes. She has written two books about that work: a memoir and a set of practices. This guide covers her two key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 2 key books · 2009–2020 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Jacqueline Novogratz has written two books: The Blue Sweater (2009), a memoir of her years in banking, Rwanda and the founding of Acumen, and Manifesto for a Moral Revolution (2020), a set of practices for people who want to build something that serves others. Start with The Blue Sweater; the later book draws on the stories it tells.
Where to Start with Jacqueline Novogratz
If you want her story
→ The Blue Sweater (2009) — from Wall Street to Rwanda and the founding of Acumen.
If you want to understand microfinance and impact investing from the inside
→ The Blue Sweater (2009).
If you want a practical guide to leading change
→ Manifesto for a Moral Revolution (2020) — the practices she drew from three decades of work.
If you want something to give a graduate
→ Manifesto for a Moral Revolution (2020) — she has described it as a letter to the next generation.
2 Jacqueline Novogratz Books, in Order
The Blue Sweater
A memoir that runs from her job at Chase Manhattan Bank through work in West Africa and Rwanda, where she co-founded Duterimbere, a lender making small loans to women, to the founding of Acumen and its investments in South Asia and Africa. She began writing it in 1996 to tell the stories of Rwandan women she had known before the genocide, among them Prudence, Agnes, Liliane and Honorata, whose lives the genocide divided. Published by Rodale in February 2009; Stanford Social Innovation Review reviewed it warmly, while Publishers Weekly found the personal storytelling weaker than its questions about aid and markets.
Manifesto for a Moral Revolution
A shorter book of practices drawn from about thirty years of work on poverty, illustrated with stories of entrepreneurs and leaders Acumen has backed and her own mistakes. Among the practices: cultivating a “moral imagination”, holding opposing values such as markets and inclusion in tension, partnering with humility and audacity, listening to unheard voices, and redefining success away from money, power and fame. Published by Henry Holt on 5 May 2020 (272 pages).
In What Order to Read Jacqueline Novogratz
Read them in publication order. The Blue Sweater is the story: the sweater, the years in Rwanda before and after the genocide, and how Acumen came about. Manifesto for a Moral Revolution is the lesson drawn from that story, and it refers back to people and episodes that are told in full in the memoir.
If you want the ideas without the life story, the Manifesto stands on its own and is the shorter read; each chapter is built around one practice, so it can be read in pieces.
A reading path
1. The Blue Sweater (2009)
2. Manifesto for a Moral Revolution (2020)
The years · 1961–2020
Quick facts about Jacqueline Novogratz
- Known for
- Novogratz is known for founding Acumen in 2001 and for helping build the idea of impact investing: putting long-term, patient capital into businesses that serve people living in poverty.
- 1961
- Born in the United States
- 1983
- Credit analyst at Chase Manhattan Bank
- 1987
- Sees her old sweater in Kigali
- 2001
- Founds Acumen
- 2009
- The Blue Sweater
- Born
- 15 March 1961; eldest of seven children of an army officer
- Education
- University of Virginia (economics and international relations); MBA, Stanford
- Early career
- Chase Manhattan Bank from 1983, then the World Bank and UNICEF in Africa
- Rwanda
- Co-founded Duterimbere, a microfinance lender for women
- Acumen
- Founder and chief executive, from 2001
- Honours
- Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Entrepreneurship (2016)
- Family
- Married to Chris Anderson of TED; siblings include Michael Novogratz
The red mark is 2009: The Blue Sweater, her memoir of Rwanda and the founding of Acumen.
How Jacqueline Novogratz Writes
Novogratz writes from cases, not theory. The Blue Sweater is built around named people: the Rwandan women she worked with at Duterimbere, and the entrepreneurs Acumen later backed, from internet kiosks in rural India to irrigation in the Pakistani desert. Arguments about charity, interest rates or markets come out of what happened to them.
She is open about her own failures. Of her early work in Rwanda she writes that “we were getting our feet wet and didn’t know exactly what we were doing”, and the Manifesto draws on her own hard experiences as well as other people’s successes. That candour is part of the case she makes: that serving the poor well takes listening and long time horizons more than good intentions.
Her later writing moves from memoir to instruction. The Manifesto is organised as practices with short, quotable lines (“moral imagination”, “humility and audacity”) that come from her talks at TED and Aspen; it reads more like a handbook than a story.
Watch
Jacqueline Novogratz in Conversation with Chris Anderson
Jacqueline Novogratz talks with TED’s Chris Anderson about her book Manifesto for a Moral Revolution, in a 2020 event hosted by RJ Julia Booksellers. From the official RJ Julia Booksellers channel.
Frequently asked questions about Jacqueline Novogratz’s books
How many books has Jacqueline Novogratz written?
Two: The Blue Sweater (2009) and Manifesto for a Moral Revolution (2020).
What are Jacqueline Novogratz’s books in order?
The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World (2009), then Manifesto for a Moral Revolution: Practices to Build a Better World (2020).
Where should I start with Jacqueline Novogratz?
With The Blue Sweater, her memoir. It tells the story behind Acumen and introduces the people the Manifesto later draws on.
What is Jacqueline Novogratz’s most famous book?
The Blue Sweater (2009), named after the sweater she gave away as a teenager and found eleven years later on a boy in Kigali.
Is The Blue Sweater a true story?
Yes. She received the sweater in 1973, gave it to Goodwill in 1976, and in early 1987 saw a boy in Kigali wearing it with her name still on the tag. The rest of the book is a memoir of her work in banking, Rwanda and Acumen.
What is Acumen?
A nonprofit investment fund Novogratz founded in 2001. It invests patient capital, money that expects long timelines and modest returns, in companies that bring services such as water, health care, housing and energy to people on low incomes.
What does Novogratz mean by moral imagination?
In her words, “the humility to see the world as it is and the audacity to imagine what it could be.” It is the first practice in Manifesto for a Moral Revolution: seeing others as equals and starting from their experience rather than your own.
Is Jacqueline Novogratz related to Mike Novogratz?
Yes. The investor Michael Novogratz is her brother; she is the eldest of seven children. She is married to Chris Anderson, who runs TED.
Is Jacqueline Novogratz still alive?
Yes. She was born on 15 March 1961 and is best known as the founder and chief executive of Acumen.
Footnotes
- Jacqueline Novogratz — Wikipedia
- Tightly Knit: An African Odyssey — O, The Oprah Magazine
- A Sweater Altered It All — Roll Call, 2009
- The Blue Sweater — Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2009
- Manifesto for a Moral Revolution — Next Big Idea Club
- Jacqueline Novogratz — U.S. International Development Finance Corporation
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Moral imagination starts by daring to see others as equals, not above or below us.”
— Jacqueline Novogratz, on Manifesto for a Moral Revolution, Next Big Idea Club (2020)
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