MICROCAPITAL STORY: MicroLoan Foundation USA (MLF USA) to Establish Poverty and Microfinance Education Program for the Youth in 12 Boston-area Schools

The London-based charity, the MicroLoan Foundation (MLF), is currently expanding its fundraising programs in both the United States and Australia, and in the former, will also be targeting the youth through educational programs conducted by the newly formed MicroLoan Foundation USA (MLF USA) in the Boston, Massachusetts area. As reported in The Boston Globe, “Small Change, Big Changes” is the name of the program and it will be taught once a week by volunteer college students from Boston College (BC) and possibly Boston University (BU) and Northeastern University (NU) as well.

After studying the MLF USA curriculum, students will then form microfinance clubs and conduct fund-raising activities followed by loans to a group of 10 to 18 female entrepreneurs in Malawi, where MLF has been active since 2002. As stated in the source article, “students will decide what types of loans to make.” A junior at BC, Lauren Galinsky, is currently recruiting both schools and students for the project and her alma mater, Daniel Hand High School in Madison, Connecticut is the pilot school for Small Change, Big Changes.

MLF USA, a nonprofit based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is headed by Executive Director David Rice and organizational development specialist, Brian Smith. According to Rice, who is also the Founding Director of Cambridge-based consulting firm Strategic Policy Concepts (SPC), “…we want to turn students into fund-raisers, and we hope they, in turn, become educators for their parents.” MLF USA will allow American donors to make fully tax-deductible contributions.

Prior to founding SPC, David Rice worked with the World Markets Research Centre (WMRC), the World Economic Forum (WEF), two US governors (Democrat Howard Dean of Vermont and Republican Bill Weld of Massachusetts), the Snelling Center for Government at the University of Vermont, and the US Army. He is currently an Adjunct Professor of International Relations at Suffolk University and Fitchburg State College, an Adjunct Scholar at the Center for American Progress, and a Tutor of International Affairs at Harvard University’s Kirkland House. Rice completed his Master’s degree at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, speaks French, and has extensive travel experience.

Brian Smith has spent the past 25 years conducting capacity building for nonprofits in Asia, Eastern Europe, and the US and has helped raise millions of dollars for projects across the US through his fund-raising consulting work.

Founded in the late 1990’s by Chiswick businessman Peter Ryan, MLF is most active through its Malawi-based microfinance institution (MFI), MicroLoan Foundation Malawi (MLF MWI), and its partnership with the Philippines Self Help Foundation (PSHF), but is working to expand in Zambia and Namibia. According to its web site, MLF MWI has lent to approximately 7,000 women in more than 150 groups and maintains 9 branch offices in central and northern Malawi. MLF MWI reports to the MIX Market, the microfinance information clearinghouse, that 100 percent of its borrowers are women. Loan groups are required to undergo six weeks of business training and groups repay loans collectively. Financial information was not available for MLF or MLF MWI.

Established in 1987, the PSHF is a non-governmental organization (NGO) working to empower the poor through loans to small businesses. With a repayment rate of over 90 percent, the PSHF has made over 2,000 loans which are usually no more than PHP 4,000, or USD 93, according to its web site. Financial information for the PSHF, which does not report to the MIX Market, was not available.

By Anthony Busch, Research Assistant

Additional Resources:

Boston College: Home

The Boston Globe: Home, “Seed Money: MicroLoan Foundation USA Plans to Make Big Changes by Teaching Students about Poverty and Microlending”, by Sacha Pfeiffer, May 12, 2008

Boston University: Home

Daniel Hand High School: Home

Manila Standard Today: Home, “A Hand Up, Not a Hand Out”, by Dinna Chan Vasquez, May 10, 2007

MicroLoan Foundation: Home, Peter Ryan, Zambia, Namibia, How MLF Works, “The MicroLoan Foundation Starts Fundraising in the US”, January 25, 2008

MicroLoan Foundation Malawi: Home, MIX Market Profile

MicroLoan Foundation USA: Home

MIX Market: Home

Philippines Self Help Foundation: Home

Strategic Policy Concepts: Home, About

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