FINCA Launches Lend A Hand
FINCA Launches Lend A Hand, A New Online Donation Client Sponsorship Initiative
WASHINGTON, DC, June 10, 2011 – FINCA International has launched an exciting new donor tool that lets donors directly sponsor the loans of FINCA clients through an easy-to-use, safe and secure online donation tool called Lend A Hand.
This new, peer-to-peer sponsorship program lets donors choose the client they personally want to help build, or expand, a small business. FINCA sends donations made through Lend A Hand to our local programs, where FINCA staff disburse and manage the loans to borrowers. Once the loans are repaid, the donations become part of the larger pool of local loan capital available to FINCA clients in that country and, as always, these funds continue rotating through the system, creating new hope and opportunity for more FINCA clients, into perpetuity.
The program will be announced and launched on NBC’s Access Hollywood! with the premier of the first two in a series of celebrity public service announcements featuring FINCA Ambassador of Hope Natalie Portman and celebrity supporter Zoe Saldana, as well as USA TODAY.com
Lend A Hand (www.lendahand.finca.org) is a virtual community managed by FINCA that invites the public to sponsor life-changing, small loans for low-income entrepreneurs struggling to escape poverty. Donations through Lend A Hand allow FINCA to provide small loans to FINCA borrowers, mostly women, looking to receive a hand up, not a handout. These borrowers invest their loans into their businesses so they can increase profitability, and improve their families’ living standards and future prospects. This added income makes it possible for borrowers to buy better food for their children, make improvements to their homes and, most important, pay fees for children to attend school, ensuring a better chance for a life free from poverty. Additional loans keep these small businesses going and growing, and often create jobs for other family members and neighbors. Sponsorship of a Lend A Hand borrower replenishes FINCA’s pool of loan capital, enabling its programs in 21 countries across the globe to continue providing additional loans to others in need.
ABOUT FINCA INTERNATIONAL
FINCA is a leading international micro-finance organization that provides financial services to the world’s lowest-income entrepreneurs so they can create jobs, build assets and improve their standard of living. For more than 25 years, FINCA has been committed to breaking the cycle of poverty by providing community-based credit and savings opportunities. Currently, FINCA operates with a distinctive, integrated business model that accepts donations and investment dollars, an approach that leverages available capital and promotes greater transparency, sustainability and higher standards of business practices. This has allowed FINCA to achieve balanced financial and social performance unmatched in the industry while opening the path to socio-economic development for the lowest-income citizens of the world. Based in Washington DC, with local operations across 21 countries serving more than 800,000 clients, FINCA’s outreach is among the broadest and most comprehensive of today’s microfinance networks. For more information, please visit www.FINCA.org.
