Organizations

ACCION International

Structure/Governance:

-Management Team, Board of Directors,

-President’s Council: friends of ACCION: Regular briefings from senior staff, special opportunities to visit our worldwide programs, attendance at an ACCION Board meeting every year

Timeline: Look under History.

Assets:

Contribution and Grants: $14,886,784

Interest and Dividend Income: $4,523,780

Management Fees: $990,673

Contract Revenues and Training Fees: $2,904,771

History:

-Began as a student-run volunteer effort in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1961, and grew to a worldwide network of lending partners in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the US

-1960s: Law student, Joseph Blatchford, raised $90,000 from private companies to start a community development effort to “help the poor help themselves”

-1970s: Became ware that their projects did not address the major cause of urban poverty in Latin America, lack of economic opportunity; coined program UNO to began issuing small loans, created 1,386 new jobs

-1980s-1990s: Started microfinance programs in 14 countries in Latin America, allowed for small, short-term loans that built confidence and credit record, site visits replaced paperwork

-1990s: in 1991, concerned about growing income inequality and unemployment in the US, brought microlending model program to Brooklyn, New York

-2000: began working in partnership with microlending organizations in sub-Saharan Africa, in 2006, launched a landmark partnership with Ecobank, leading regional bank in West Africa

Purpose:

-private, nonprofit organization with the mission of giving people the financial tools they need to work their way out of poverty

-provide “micro” loans, business training, and other financial services to poor men and women who start their own businesses to help them build up the economic ladder

-pursues a vision in which all people have access to a range of high-quality financial services that enhance their economic...