No-tie Charity Ball

You can join an elite group of individuals fundraising for a difference in the global community – all without leaving your seat. This month, FINCA is hosting our first-ever no-tie charity ball. And you’re invited!

We believe in supporting low-income entrepreneurs with life-changing loans, so much so that nearly 96 cents of every dollar donated directly support our programs. We don’t believe in pomp and circumstance; we believe in results, and making a lasting impact where it matters.

By “attending” FINCA’s first no-tie charity ball, you’re standing with an organization dedicated to empowering individuals and improving the quality of life across all communities.

Change a life today; you can do it all without leaving your seat.

Thank you for your generosity.

Sincerely,
Soledad Gompf
Vice President FINCA

What I Learned From Futbol

Watching the fútbol festivities over the past month has taught me much and more about the power of sport – its ability to unite nations toward a common cause, create hope for the future, and celebrate the victories of others as one’s own.

What if these same responses – unity, hope for the future, and celebration of success – also happened each and every time a poor entrepreneur pulled herself out of poverty?

In Honduras – a player in this summer’s games – FINCA reaches nearly 20,000 individuals, and we consider each success akin to a game-winning goal. For Ana Osorio, that goal was receiving a FINCA loan for her cheese business, allowing her to buy greater quantities of milk at better prices. Initially clearing just US$2 in profit per day, Ana has nearly quadrupled her earnings, allowing her to better provide for herself and her family.

Join FINCA as we celebrate the success of Ana and the over one million other microentrepreneurs in 22 countries who have benefitted from FINCA loans – and show your support today.

Thank you for your generosity.

Sincerely,

Soledad Gompf
Vice President
FINCA

The World Turns South

As the world prepares for the Brazilian World Cup, attention is turning to South America. However, we hope you’ll see more than soccer – we hope you’ll see the individuals who live there.

Think about the people of Central and South America – individuals in countries like Ecuador, El Salvador and Guatemala. Despite the fact that you are a continent away, you can be the one who changes a person’s life forever.

The region is made up of people just like you – people with dreams of growing a business, of creating something of their own. They dream of sending their children to school, and of giving them a brighter future. And yet, for too many, poverty is holding them back – and sometimes these dreams seem impossible.

When you give a FINCA client a microloan, you can help make her dreams come true. You give her the tools to succeed, to feed her family, and to achieve her independence. Maria Lucia Potosi Ramirez, just one of our many clients from Ecuador, had this to say about her FINCA experience: “I’m so grateful because FINCA trusted me. Now I can improve my life and the life of my family.”

Today, turn your eyes South – and see more than soccer. Support a microentrepreneur today.

Thank you for your generosity.

Sincerely,

Soledad Gompf
Vice President
FINCA

Better Than Commerical Banks

Better Than Commercial Banks

We have always been proud of our FINCA (Foundation for International Community Assistance) clients and the success they achieve. After all, they have an astounding on-time loan repayment rate of over 98 percent – as good or better than many commercial banks expect.

But today, we’re writing to you with a very special message: Our client success is now the best we’ve ever seen!

When our over one million micro-entrepreneurs get the hand up they need, we never cease to be amazed at how far they go – entrepreneurs like Victoria Banda of Zambia. A 36-year-old woman who never finished primary school, she is now the main income earner for herself, her parents, and her two sisters. Starting with a loan of just $20, she now operates her own store and helps her younger sister through college.

That’s a lot to accomplish for someone who started with just $20!

We’re blown away by FINCA clients like Victoria – and hers is just one of many incredible success stories. They do the hard work to get ahead, but that first step towards success would never have been possible without people like you. When you provide an entrepreneur with a microloan, you are the turning point on their path to independence and opportunity.

Thank you for your generosity.

Sincerely,

Soledad Gompf
Vice President
FINCA

Families Need Food Now!

Families Need Food Now!

In some places, hunger isn’t just something that happens for a few hours, or even a few days. For some, hunger lasts a whole season – and we’re right in the middle of it.

Stores of food from last year’s harvest have run low in Mali, Guatemala, and Lesotho, but next year’s crops aren’t ready to eat or sell. There’s no money left to buy more food. Children are getting more and more hungry. Many parents are desperately trying to make what food they have stretch for just a few more days.

Because if they can’t – if the food won’t last until the crops come in – their children might not survive. These families need food now.

This is the worst time of year for hungry families. But right now, we have a special opportunity to fight back: from now until August 29, every single dollar you give will be matched, so you can fight back twice as hard against hunger.

Your donation can help CARE provide relief to a hungry child and help eliminate the hungry season for good. Donate today and your gift will be matched – everything you give will be doubled.

To fight hunger right now, CARE is providing immediate nutritional assistance, including bags of corn, sorghum, millet, or rice, and emergency therapeutic foods to treat malnourished children. It costs just $7 to feed a person in crisis for an entire week.

But we don’t believe in temporary solutions to big problems, and I’m sure you feel the same way. That’s why CARE isn’t just fighting the hungry season this year – we’re also working to break the cycle, to prevent a hungry season next year. And every year.

The cycle of hunger is a vicious one: Families sell shares of their upcoming harvest at rock-bottom prices just to get food to eat today, leaving them less to sell at fair prices the following season and reducing the amount they will earn. Worse yet, in moments of desperation, they’ll even eat seeds meant to plant next year’s crop, leaving them with less to grow next year.

To fight hunger in the future, CARE is taking long-term steps. We’re working with communities to improve farming techniques to make fields more productive. We’re also setting up savings and loan groups so families can diversify their sources of income by taking out loans and investing the capital in ventures like sewing or animal husbandry.

We can’t accomplish any of that without the support of people like you.

Your support can feed a child right now, and can help a family stay nourished for all of next year.

Donate now, and help CARE work towards ending the hungry season for hard-working families – this year and forever.

Thank you for all that you do.

Sincerely,

Helene D. Gayle, MD, MPH
President and CEO, CARE

50,000 People

Dear Gabriel,

What do 140 Boeing 747s, Yankee Stadium, six square miles of Los Angeles, and FINCA Ecuador all have in common?

Each includes 50,000 people!

As we all know, innovation is the key to lasting, sustainable, and successful development. That’s why FINCA is pioneering an innovative health insurance plan in Ecuador, where over 50,000 FINCA clients and their families—some 200,000 people in all—are automatically provided with health insurance as part of their FINCA loan packages.

Their benefits include:

Access to a network of primary, private health care providers
Affordable generic medications provided through a network of 150 pharmacies
A 24/7 telephone service for health consultation – great for families with children
Hospitalization coverage with a daily cash benefit compensation in case of severe illness
During our Matching Gift Challenge, your generosity will be multiplied – impacting more clients, families, and communities.

Be part of this holistic approach of providing hardworking microentrepreneurs a hand up to a brighter future. Give today and make change happen for families struggling in poverty.

Sincerely,

Soledad Gompf
FINCA Vice President

Real Life Superwomen

Dear Gabriel,

This summer, we will ooh and aah over comic book heroes in the movies – supermen and superwomen who use their fantastical powers to affect the lives of others, for good or for evil.

While we know these superheroes are fictional characters, there are, in fact, heroes walking among us. Meet FINCA’s Superwomen, the next generation of superheroes.

Catarina Yolanda Yac de Leon (Guatemala) – Born without a right arm, Catarina was taunted by other children who called her “good for nothing.” As she grew older, Catarina began making beaded belts to help earn additional income for her family. With a FINCA loan, Catarina has learned from other entrepreneurs, been able to buy more materials, and has sold almost all the belts she has made to date!

Berna Naiga (Uganda) – Berna has been a rock of support for her family. Living with HIV/AIDS has not kept her from supporting 10 orphaned nieces and nephews, children of siblings who have died of AIDS. Thanks to a FINCA loan, Berna has maximized her many entrepreneurial talents, from raising cattle, to running small businesses, to managing rental properties. All while caring for her children!

While these women may argue that they’re “normal,” their strength of character and wills of iron in the face of adversity prove otherwise. FINCA is proud to stand with the next generation of superheroes – women around the world who are lifting themselves out of poverty.

However, no superhero is an island – everyone needs someone in his or her corner. Root for superwomen like Catarina and Berna today. Give a FINCA loan, and fly high with modern-day heroes.

Sincerely,

Soledad Gompf
Vice President
FINCA

Tailoring Tradition In Afghanistan

Tailoring Tradition to Create Opportunities
From FINCA

Cultivating a sense of community isn’t always easy, especially when you can’t freely move around your neighborhood without a man accompanying you, or when you’re faced with the possibility that explosions can happen anywhere, any time. But that doesn’t keep FINCA Afghanistan client Nafisa from sharing her tailoring expertise with 20 students, eager to learn her secrets for success, and building a thriving business, both at home and abroad, that’s opening new doors for her daughter.

Nafisa is 50 years old and has decades of experience designing and sewing traditional Afghani dresses. Her expertise and attention to detail are well known in Mandavi, where she lives with her husband, daughter and two sons. But her tailoring skills are known beyond the confines of her community, as she sells her creations to five shops in Kabul, as well as filling orders that come in from Canada and the US.

Today, Nafisa’s 20 students not only learn from her, they help her produce the orders that continue to increase her business. And while she takes great pride in their accomplishments, her greatest sense of pride comes from the fact that her 22-year-old daughter is in college, studying to be a nurse, opening up a whole new career path that wouldn’t be possible without the support she’s received through FINCA loans.

“Without FINCA’s loans,” Nafisa says, “my family, and especially my daughter, would not have the kind of life we have today. I am so grateful that we’re looking at a brighter future.”

Read more stories of FINCA clients >>

FINCA + YOU

Dear Gabriel and Colleagues,

When you think of FINCA, what comes to mind – microcredit, entrepreneurship, sustainability? When you think of FINCA +, what do you envision? We see FINCA + You, working together to change the world.

FINCA + You = Microcredit and other financial services for the world’s lowest-income entrepreneurs, so they can work their way out of poverty, create jobs for others, and improve their families’ standard of living.

FINCA + You = Microenergy, a pilot project we’re running in Uganda and seek to expand elsewhere in Africa and eventually throughout the 21-country FINCA network, helping deliver clean, affordable energy technologies to FINCA clients and their families.

FINCA + You = the possibility for improving the health of our clients. Healthcare emergencies are one of the leading reasons families that climbed out of poverty fall back into it. So FINCA is exploring ways to help our over one million clients create “rainy day” saving funds and access insurance services to protect themselves in the event of serious illness or other calamity.

Join us as we create hope and opportunity to help change lives in 21 countries around the world.

Sincerely,
Soledad Gompf
Vice President, FINCA

PS: Don’t forget, FINCA is part of a $1 million challenge grant to fight hunger around the world. Donate today, and your support will be partially matched!

Good Small Things

Dear Gabriel,

They say the best things come in small packages. At FINCA, we think so, too. That’s why we believe in the power of our small loans. Time and time again, we’ve seen poor women transform a loan into a life-changing opportunity. It doesn’t take a lot to make a difference in someone’s life – just a small act of faith.

Did you know that, within a year, one single donation to FINCA can fund as many as three loans to hardworking women? Did you know that $50 is enough capital for a hardworking mother to buy more materials for her small business so she can send provide for her children? Small loans like these have unlimited potential to support FINCA clients all over the world. Small loans for big change – that’s our mission, and it wouldn’t be possible without your support.

Bit by bit, we can help break the cycle of poverty that grips many of the world’s working poor. FINCA’s clients are doing their part by using their loans to build self-sustaining businesses that transform their families and their communities. Their repayment rates are remarkable – as soon as one FINCA woman repays her loan, another deserving entrepreneur is given a chance. Every small loan counts. The more loans we can give, the faster the progress, the bigger the success story. No matter how small or large your donation is, it will leave a mark much bigger than you can ever anticipate.

Help us write the world’s success story today, and support small FINCA loans for big change. Support hard work, the human spirit, and resilience. Donate today, and join the global fight against poverty.

Thank you for your generosity,

Soledad Gompf
Vice President,
New Business Development