The GiveWell Blog

When donations and profits meet, beware

David Roodman raises the concern that Kiva capital could be effectively “padding profits” at a profitable microfinance institution. He concludes, If social investors provide capital at prices below commercial rates to enterprises with “double bottom lines” (profit and social benefit), how do the investors assure that their cheap capital isn’t being used to boost just…

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Two charities, one microfinance institution

We’re looking for a good option for U.S. donors interested in supporting microfinance. We’ve been examining the largest, most prominent U.S.-registered charities in this area: Grameen Foundation, Unitus, Accion, Women’s World Banking, Opportunity International and FINCA. All of these are large organizations that list a variety of “partner” microfinance institutions. One thing that might surprise…

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My greatest fear about microfinance

How much of microfinance’s popularity in the world of philanthropy comes straight from this story? I was shocked to discover a woman in the village, borrowing less than a dollar from the money-lender, on the condition that he would have the exclusive right to buy all she produces at the price he decides. This, to…

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If microsavings is more needed, why does microcredit get more attention?

Portfolios of the Poor tells a story you won’t hear from a typical microfinance charity: Sankar was a landless, illiterate rickshaw driver, whose wife had Grameen membership. They had borrowed from Grameen Bank a few times – in fact one loan had helped him buy his rickshaw. Suddenly his wife told him they would have…

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Evaluating microfinance charities

When we think about microfinance, we don’t ask “which person” or “which story” to fund; we think about which organization to fund. As explained at our discussion of microfinance myths, we don’t think the traditional story donors are told is accurate. We do think microfinance could be helping people in other ways – or hurting…

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Microfinance where access already exists

A key argument for supporting microfinance is that “Millions of families are … without access” to financial services. Families may often lack access to credit, but they don’t always – and microfinance institutions may not always be clear on which situation they’re dealing with. A 1999 paper by Brett Coleman (PDF) aims to examine the…

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