Using "Honor" Gifts to Advance FINCA's Mission
Ferenc Molnar and his wife Jan made their first gift to FINCA at the end of 2022. They always have sent special gifts to family and friends at year end for Christmas. But as the years went by, it was increasingly difficult to come up with original and meaningful gift ideas. “We had been resisting the habit of giving things wrapped in boxes,” Ferenc explained. “It was getting harder and harder to come up with original ideas. Frankly, few of our intended recipients really needed anything.”
Jan and Ferenc decided that the best thing that they could do was donate to impactful causes in honor of their loved ones. They had donated to food banks, environmental and human rights groups in the past. Then they learned about FINCA. They quickly decided that FINCA would be the organization they would support in honor of their family and friends.
The Molnar’s have a deep understanding and an informed view on international development. Jan is the daughter of a Foreign Service Officer. Ferenc, now retired, was a multilateral development finance institution official with the World Bank for almost 30 years. For them, FINCA was the perfect organization to partner with. FINCA’s mission to eradicate poverty and “its emphasis on microfinance to support development initiatives and small entrepreneurs in less advantaged settings around the globe (especially women) really resonated with my professional background and my wife’s interests,” says Ferenc.
Since Christmas 2022, Ferenc and Jan have made thirteen separate “honor” gifts to FINCA. The recipients’ responses to these gifts were amazing. Everyone thought it was a great cause. Several recipients wondered how and why they didn’t think of something like this on their own.
Ferenc also noted that on one of his and Jan’s recent trips to central Asia that they were astonished to see a FINCA bank branch in a very remote part of Kyrgyzstan. He recalls this as “a serendipitous highlight of our trip (even though it didn’t chirp or fly)!!!”
We at FINCA International will like to thank Ferenc and Jan for their continued support to improve so many lives around the globe! With people like them spreading the word of FINCA’s mission and impact we know that we can continue to make meaningful changes in the world. To make your own “honor” gifts, visit FINCA.org/honor.
Photo: Ferenc standing beside the yurt in which he and Jan stayed while in Kazakhstan’s Tau Kum Desert.
