CONSIDER THIS:

• Microcredit projects usually revolve, impacting more and more lives with re-generated cash flow and earned interest.
• Success is based on sustainable increases in borrowers’ income and better quality of life for their families, not just repayment rates.
• The best programs couple microloans with counseling, business and skills training, health care and providing a safe living environment.
• A loan of $200 is enough to launch a tortilla business that provides ongoing support for a family of 10.
• In 2005, our clients invested $2.6 million in 46 microcredit projects, impacting 151,925 lives at $17.04 per Life Changed.
• A loan as small as $50 can help fuel and expand a business selling fruit on a street.
• Economic empowerment for individuals has an immediate effect on families and communities.
• Worldwide, microfinance loans generate a 97 percent repayment rate.
• For the first time in history, more people live in urban areas than rural environments.
• The fastest growing cities are in the developing world, and the fastest growing parts of many cities are slums.
• 1 billion people in the world live on less than $1 a day.
• Another 2 billion live on just $2 a day.

Overview

Half of all people in the world today exist in desperate poverty, on less than $2 per day. War, natural disasters, corrupt governments and disease keeps them there. Despite charitable efforts over the last 20 years, the number of those caught in extreme poverty continues to rise.

Our stance is that a sustainable solution to poverty is not more aid. It’s new wealth, new jobs, and new income possibilities for the world’s economically poor. We focus on opportunities that stimulate local, productive enterprise. This includes microfinance, catalytic grants, and loans to both small and medium-sized enterprises.

Economic empowerment means championing the work of grass-roots enterprises, creating opportunities.

Sector Performance 2006

• Projects Funded: 83
• Expected Lives Changed: 251,048
• Client Investments Managed: $3,585,816
• Cost per Life Impacted: $14.28

Active Funds

• North Haiti Environment and Economic Empowerment
• West Africa Women's Economic Empowerment