Support Seattle Microfinance Startups with Your Holiday Giving

In the early stages of a nonprofit, your choice to give is not based on a track record or a proven idea. It’s based on a belief in the people behind it. This holiday season, three local microfinance nonprofit startups are offering gift opportunities–and the people behind these nonprofits are the most compelling reason to give.

Lumana

I first met Sammie Rayner (pictured above) at one of our Microfinance and Microbrews events. She was a senior at the University of Washington and had just returned from Ghana, where she was working with a local development organization. That experience, along with her involvement in the Global Social Entrepreneurship Club at UW, hatched an idea. Why not partner with the Ghanaian development organization to offer credit to rural women? The result is Lumana. To learn more or to make a donation: Click HERE.

Vittana

Kushal Chakrabarti is the Energizer Bunny. One minute he’s doing a triathlon, the next minute training guide dogs. And those are his hobbies. His passion is to provide the same access to education in the developing world that we have in the United States. Vittana.org is a student loan microfinance facilitator that he and two others created to respond to that need. Much like Kiva links individual lenders to individual borrowers, Vittana links students in need of loans to people willing to lend the money. Just yesterday Kushal and Vittana were featured in the New York Times. They are offering a gift certificates for all you holiday shoppers out there. To purchase a gift certificate: Click HERE.

SaveTogether

Would it surprise you to learn that as many as 10 million households in the United States do not have a bank account? A variety of factors conspire to keep these households away, but the result is to be in a constant state of financial limbo. Dylan Higgins first learned about this financial exclusion not long after returning from Africa as a Kiva Fellow. A successful attorney, Higgins took a dramatic turn in his career. Rather than returning to law, he decided to take on the challenge of helping poor Americans become savers. The idea is simple: donors match the savings of low income individuals who have recently opened savings accounts. In some cases, local governments and foundations will match the match, resulting in three dollars saved for every dollar the saver deposits. In study after study, these matched savings programs work. They provide financial stability, develop good savings habits, and are passed on to the next generation. To purchase a gift certificate or to learn more: click HERE.