Grameen Foundation USA Announces Record Gifts For Microfinance Programs to Help World's Poorest People Become Self-Sustaining Entrepreneurs
Grameen Foundation USA (GFUSA) today announced two record-breaking gifts totaling $9 million to support its mission of providing microloans and financial services to help poor people – mostly women – start self-sustaining businesses to escape poverty. Wall Street veteran Janet McKinley & her husband George Miller and Omidyar Network (established by eBay founder, Pierre Omidyar)lead contibutions. $1 million also comes from the Northern California-based venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Washington, D.C. (PRWEB via PR Web
Direct) June 8, 2005 -- Grameen Foundation USA (GFUSA) today announced two
record-breaking gifts totaling $9 million to support its mission of providing
microloans and financial services to help poor people—mostly women—start
self-sustaining businesses to escape poverty.
Janet McKinley, the
recently retired chair of The Income Fund of America, and her husband George
Miller, the retired head of The American Balanced Fund, are contributing $5
million to the non-profit foundation. They are joined by Omidyar Network,
established by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife, Pam, with a
contribution of $4 million. The gifts are the largest private philanthropic
contributions ever made to support microfinance programs, which are the focus of
the Grameen Foundation USA's vital mission in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and
the Americas.
In addition to the McKinley/Miller and Omidyar Network
gifts, GFUSA today announced another gift totaling $1 million from the Northern
California-based venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield &
Byers.
GFUSA has impacted nearly 4.4 million of the world's poorest
people in 20 countries. Loans typically range from $40 to $200, with an
extremely high repayment rate: 99 percent. These record gifts to GFUSA are
especially timely, because the United Nations has declared 2005 to be “The
International Year of Microcredit.”
“It is time to dramatically scale up
the delivery of financial services to poor women and their families,” said Ms.
McKinley, who resides in San Francisco. “They have proven to be good customers,
who through access to credit, insurance, and savings accounts can improve their
lives with dignity.”
“Grameen Foundation USA understands the tremendous
leverage donor investments can have,” continued Ms. McKinley. “They are proving
the wisdom of investing in microfinance and creating an attractive environment
to generate the billions of dollars that will be needed from global financial
markets to meet the growing demand from the world's emerging
microentrepreneurs.
Pierre Omidyar, who changed the face of Internet
commerce when he started eBay in 1995, said, “Microfinance isn't just about
offering small loans to the poor. Microfinance is a financially self-sustaining
model for empowering the poor to create their own profitable businesses and a
better life for themselves and their families. Omidyar Network is proud to
support GFUSA in its effort to accelerate growth and sustainability in the
microfinance industry. Together we can have a greater impact in fostering
economic opportunities to the world's poorest people."
Alex Counts,
president of Grameen Foundation USA, said these gifts strengthen the
organization's ability to assist the world’s poorest people. “Grameen Foundation
USA's goal is to reach five million of the world's poorest families with
microfinance, and to ensure that at least half cross the poverty line by 2009,”
said Mr. Counts. “I hope that this groundbreaking generosity will inspire other
leaders in the world of business and finance to support Grameen Foundation USA
and the microfinance sector. By combining the power of philanthropy with our
initiative to tap capital markets for social investment capital, we hope to
stimulate a major injection of funds into microfinance. ”
About Grameen
Foundation USA
Grameen Foundation USA (GFUSA) is a global non-profit
organization that combines microfinance, technology, and innovation to empower
the world's poorest people to escape poverty. Founded in 1997, GFUSA has
established a global network of 50 partners in 20 countries and has impacted an
estimated 4.4 million lives in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Middle East.
The Foundation sprang from the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. Grameen Bank
was started in 1976 by an economics professor, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, who was
convinced that women could break through poverty by taking tiny loans to start
or expand tiny businesses. Today, Grameen Bank serves nearly 4 million
borrowers, with 10,000 families escaping poverty every month. As strategic
global partners, GFUSA and Grameen Bank share a common vision, knowledge and
success models to accelerate the microfinance industry's impact on the world's
poorest people. Dr. Yunus, the founder and director of Grameen Bank, is a
founding and current board member of GFUSA. For more information on Grameen
Foundation USA, please visit www.gfusa.org.
About Janet McKinley and George
Miller
George Miller, now retired after a 35 year career in the
investment business, was Chairman of Capital Research Company and head of The
American Balanced Fund. Janet McKinley recently retired as Chairman of The
Income Fund of America. Both managed global mutual fund assets throughout their
careers.
About Omidyar Network
Founded on the simple core belief
that every individual has the power to make a difference, Omidyar Network seeks
out investments that are "of the people, by the people, for the people." The
organization's broad portfolio includes for-profit, nonprofit and public policy
efforts. Since June 2004, the Network has funded organizations in a number of
areas: microfinance, citizen journalism, open source, intellectual property,
voting, software, and transparency in government. Using a diverse and
collaborative approach, Omidyar Network intends to foster an environment where
individuals can effectively pursue their passions, connect with others who share
their interests, and discover their own power to make good things happen. To
learn more, please visit http://www.omidyar.net.
Contact:
Michelle
Tennant
828-749-3200
e-mail protected from spam bots
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb249349.htm