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Webinar: Year-End Wrap Up
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
12:00-1:00PM EST
Join Alex Counts, President & CEO and Jennifer Meehan, CEO, Asia Region, for the latest updates on Grameen Foundation's accomplishments over the past year, plans for 2011, and how our work in Asia is making a difference in the lives of the poorest.
We've Moved! Please update your address books with our headquarters' new address:
1101 15th Street NW, Washington, DC 20005.
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Is the For-Profit Business Model Good for Microlending?
 Alex Counts, president, CEO, and founder of Grameen Foundation, faced Vikram Akula, chair and founder of SKS, the largest microfinance institution (MFI) in India, in an Oxford-style debate on Oct. 25 at the Asia Society in New York City. SKS went public this summer in a hugely successful IPO – becoming only the third MFI to do so. But, like other for-profit MFIs in the south of India, SKS has recently been caught up in controversy surrounding allegedly questionable lending and collection practices, most notably in the state of Andhra Pradesh.The two discussed whether or not SKS’s for-profit approach to microfinance represents an ideal model for the poor worldwide. Vikram argued that the MFI’s growth since 2005, when it converted to a for-profit model, could be directly connected to its increased access to capital markets, which then enabled it to lend to more poor people. Alex explained that Grameen Foundation is not opposed to the for-profit model, but added that the real issue is the rub between a single-bottom-line approach, which focuses only on financial results, and double-bottom-line approach, which focuses on financial and social results. If an MFI is going to say it has a social mission, he said, then the MFI needs to use such tools as the Progress out of Poverty Index™ to prove that it’s fulfilling that mission.
"Microfinance organizations can be classified into three categories: unethical, ethical and profit-maximizing, and ethical and social purpose-driven," Alex said. The MFIs that are ethical and social-purpose driven measure their affect on poverty reduction, encourage ratings or impact studies from external organizations, limit private benefit for internal and external stakeholders, and encourage ownership and financial benefits for clients – not just for shareholders.
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Tricia Bridges to Be Honored with Susan M. Davis Lifetime Achievement Award
 As Tricia Bridges, the former advancement director for the University of Dallas, sat in her office on a sunny day in July 2005, she had no idea that a phone call was about to dramatically change the direction of her career, and her life. The caller – a recruiter with a national search firm – asked Tricia if she would have coffee with him to discuss an opportunity with his client in Mexico. Over coffee, he told Tricia about the Mexican town of Chiapas, a microfinance institution called AlSol, and Grameen Foundation. He asked Tricia if she was interested in running The Chiapas Project, an organization that raised funds to provide microloans. Though there would be no office for her and no staff, the recruiter dangled one perk in front of Tricia that made her heart flutter. “This group gives hope to women that have never had hope,” he told her. “They give the women a hand up to allow them to take a first step up and out of extreme poverty.Those words transported Tricia back to a day in November 1950 filled with an unusual mix of despair and hope. Three-year-old Tricia, malnourished and ill, stood helpless in the middle of a room in an orphanage. Her mother had turned Tricia and her sister over to the state because she could no longer care for them. As Tricia played with the frayed skirt of her only doll, a smiling woman walked up to her. “You seem to be in need of a new mother,” the woman said, lifting Tricia’s chin, “and it seems that I need a little girl.” The woman reached for Tricia’s hand and asked, “Could I be your new mom?"
Remembering the day her adoptive mother offered “a hand up and the opportunity for a better life,” Tricia’s interest in the recruiter’s proposition went from nonexistent to incredibly enthusiastic. “I was now excited to meet the Chiapas Founder, Lucy Billingsley, and the incoming chair,” she said. “How quickly my thoughts had turned from, ‘I’m not looking,’ to ‘Oh please, I hope they like me … I want to work with these women.’”
In just five years, Tricia has grown The Chiapas Project from a volunteer group to Chiapas International, a full-fledged nonprofit organization that has helped provide more than 47,000 loans to poor women. Chiapas International raised $3.3 million to support Grameen Foundation’s 2008 $9.9 million campaign to fund microfinancing programs throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, helping to give 186,000 new borrowers access to microfinance services and moving 93,000 families out of poverty by the end of that year.
On Nov. 11, Grameen Foundation will honor Tricia with the 2010 Susan M. Davis Lifetime Achievement Award. Named for Grameen Foundation’s past chair, the award honors individuals whose life achievements exemplify excellence in microfinance and a commitment to the underserved and ending poverty. “I am humbled and honored to have even been considered for such a meaningful award,” Tricia said. “I accept it for 11-year-old Sloane who gave me her Christmas money, for 81-year-old Virginia who wrote dozens of fundraising letters, and for the fifth graders of Akiba Academy who made and sold bracelets, donating $500 to us for loans.”
You Can Help Grameen Foundation and Qualcomm Win the 2010 Partnership Award — Vote by Friday!
 The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Business Civic Leadership Center has named Grameen Foundation and Qualcomm Wireless Reach as finalists for its 2010 Partnership Award. The Center is honoring the partnership for our work in Indonesia with the social business RUMA, providing the poor with an opportunity to sell pre-paid telephone air minutes in small amounts. Through the initiative, we’ve helped RUMA create more than 2,500 entrepreneurs – mostly women – who serve more than 100,000 customers in their communities.Our work is one of five nonprofit projects competing for the award. The general public will vote and decide the winner, which will then be recognized at the BCLC's annual Corporate Citizen Awards ceremony in November 2010.
With your help, we took home the $200,000 top prize in the Members Project® competition. Can you help us win again with the Partnership Award?
Please help us spread the word! Tell your colleagues, friends, and family to cast their votes and help us gain recognition for our work providing business opportunities to the poor in Indonesia.
CGAP Study Demonstrates the Value of Microsavings Services
 Hundreds of millions of the world’s poorest people have taken out microloans. But the idea of microsavings—deposit accounts that enable the poor to save small amounts of money—has not gotten as much attention. Although just a little savings can mean the difference between eating and going hungry for a poor family during an emergency, some financial institutions believe the expense and effort involved in offering savings to the poor is not worth the benefit.However, a study of two MFIs in the Dominican Republic and Uganda revealed that MFIs can generate enough profits to justify offering microsavings products if they package this service with loans and other products. The study, released by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), an independent policy and research center housed at the World Bank, also said that ATMs can further reduce costs and boost savings.
Think small savings don’t add up? Think again. A Ugandan man recently walked into an MFI and dropped a dirty cement bag on the counter — filled with 2.1 million shillings (US$950) in coins. Grameen Foundation knows that although poor families have limited funds to provide for their families, they do actually save. One of our newest initiatives, the Solutions for the Poorest program, is working to ensure that the world's poorest people have access to reliable financial services, including savings. Our goal is to help MFIs in Africa and Asia get 1.45 million poor people saving within three years.
Black Friday Special: A $27 Life Changer
 On Black Friday, the Friday immediately following Thanksgiving, people are usually trolling the malls, department stores, and their favorite retail Web sites for the best deals on anything from clothing, to appliances, to electronics. What kind of Black Friday deal can you find online for $27? Maybe a very low-end flat screen TV on a $27 monthly plan?But what if for $27 a month, you could change lives for the better? In 1976, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus took $27 from his pocket and loaned it to 42 poor women in Bangladesh. This moment of spontaneous generosity spurred the entire movement of microfinance, which has become a revolutionary method to combat poverty. Money well spent!
On Black Friday, pass up that TV and change lives instead. Your $27 a month could be a life changer for poor women seeking a hand up – not a handout – to pull their families out of poverty and set a strong example for generations to come.
We’ve Moved: Grameen Foundation’s Headquarters Has a New Address
 Grameen Foundation headquarters’ new address is: 1101 15th Street NW, Washington, DC 20005. Please update your records so that we can continue to keep you informed about the latest trends in microfinance, technology, and the fight against poverty.
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