FMO cites Global Partnerships’ focus on microfinance-plus programs, social impact

Seattle, WA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 04/15/2011 -- Global Partnerships (GP), a Seattle-based nonprofit that invests in microfinance and other sustainable poverty solutions, and the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO), a leading European development bank, announced today that FMO has invested $4.4 million in GP's Social Investment Fund (SIF 2010). SIF 2010 is a $25 million fund (including FMO's investment) that makes loans to exceptional microfinance institutions in Latin America.

"We are honored by FMO's participation in our fund, which reflects our combined leadership in expanding opportunity for people living in poverty," said Mark Coffey, chief investment officer for GP. "Thanks to this investment, we will be able to increase our support of outstanding, mission-aligned organizations that in turn will be able to provide more microloans and other tools to help people progress out of poverty."

"FMO is very pleased to participate in this fund. SIF 2010 helps fill the financing gap for smaller Latin American microfinance institutions, for which funding remains scarce despite large inflows in the microfinance sector at large," said FMO's chief investment officer, Jurgen Rigterink. "The fund has the high level of social impact we look for in our investments, as it seeks out institutions that provide 'microfinance-plus' programs. This way, both the client and the community benefit."

Social Investment Fund 2010 (SIF 2010), Global Partnerships' fourth fund, is a five-year debt fund that makes affordable loans to select microfinance organizations (MFIs) and cooperatives in Latin America. With this fund, GP has prioritized organizations that reach people most in need of credit, such as the rural poor, and which provide borrowers with not just microloans but "microfinance-plus" services such as preventive health care, business education and agricultural training. Seventy-five percent of organizations funded by SIF 2010 must provide borrowers with non-financial services beyond microloans.

FMO joins 39 other socially motivated investors that have invested in SIF 2010, including two U.S. development banks, foundations, faith-based institutions and accredited individual investors. Investors receive moderate, fixed-income financial returns, as well as high social returns, over the life of the fund.

As of March 31, 2011, Global Partnerships had disbursed $9 million of the fund's capital to 11 organizations in seven countries, including five new partners to GP. GP is on track to disburse all of SIF 2010's capital to up to 25 partners by early 2012. It will fund an estimated 300,000 microloans over its five-year lifespan.

About Global Partnerships
Global Partnerships (GP) is a Seattle- and Managua-based nonprofit that expands opportunity for people living in poverty. As of December 31, 2010, GP had $37.9 million in capital invested in 27 microfinance partners, which serve 874,000 borrowers. Find out more at http://www.globalpartnerships.org. Also see this backgrounder (pdf) on SIF 2010.

About the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO)
FMO is the international entrepreneurial bank of the Netherlands. FMO invests risk capital in companies and financial institutions in developing countries. With an investment portfolio of EUR 5.3 billion, FMO is one of the largest bilateral private sector development banks worldwide. Thanks in part to its relationship with the Dutch government, FMO is able to take risks which commercial financiers are not - or not yet - prepared to take. FMO's mission: to create flourishing enterprises, which can serve as engines of sustainable growth in their countries.

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Global Partnerships’ Social Investment Fund 2010 makes first loans to six partners

Seattle, WA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/18/2011 -- Global Partnerships (GP), a 16-year-old nonprofit that supports microfinance and other sustainable solutions to poverty, announced today that it has invested $4.5 million of its new $20 million social investment fund in six outstanding microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Latin America. Three of the partners are new to GP.

"We are delighted that our investors' capital is being put to work in organizations so committed to serving people living in poverty," said Mark Coffey, Global Partnerships' chief investment officer. "Amid recent negative news about commercial microfinance in Asia, the exemplary work of these mission-focused microfinance organizations is worth highlighting."

The Global Partnerships fund, Social Investment Fund 2010 (SIF 2010) is a five-year debt fund that provides affordable loans to a select portfolio of MFIs that have met GP's rigorous financial and social criteria. The MFIs being funded range in size and business model, but are similar in their focus on reaching people in underserved markets in Latin America and combining loans with "microfinance-plus" services such as business education, health services and agricultural training.

For example, COMIXMUL (Mixed Cooperative of United Women) is a cooperative in Honduras that serves more than 11,000 women with microcredit and services including financial education, training on specific trade skills like baking and access to preventive health education. COMIXMUL was started in 1986 by a group of 12 women market vendors who could not access capital from traditional banks.

Crediflorida is a cooperative in central Peru that provides rural, small-scale coffee farmers with credit at interest rates significantly lower than commercial alternatives. It also offers clients training in growing and diversifying crops and access to higher-profit specialty markets.

Other microfinance organizations that have received loans from SIF 10 as of December 31, 2010, include D-MIRO in Ecuador, FONDECO in Bolivia (another new partner), FONDESURCO in Peru, and FRAC in Mexico (GP's second loan to Mexico). Together, these MFIs serve 94,000 borrowers, 72 percent of whom live in rural areas and 63 percent of whom are women. GP is on track to disburse all of the fund's capital by the end of 2011.

About Global Partnerships
Global Partnerships (GP) is a Seattle- and Managua-based nonprofit that expands opportunity for people living in poverty. As of December 31, 2010, GP had $37.9 million in capital invested in 27 microfinance partners, which serve 874,000 borrowers. Find out more at http://www.globalpartnerships.org.

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Social Investment Fund 2010 will provide capital to 20 MFIs across Latin America

Seattle, WA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/30/2010 -- Global Partnerships (GP), a 16-year-old nonprofit that supports microfinance and other sustainable solutions to poverty, announced today that it closed its fourth social investment fund at $20 million. Over the next five years, Social Investment Fund 2010 (SIF 2010) will provide much-needed loan capital to up to 20 select microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Latin America.

"By investing in MFIs that are having exceptional impact, this fund will help hundreds of thousands of people living in poverty earn a brighter future for their families," said Rick Beckett, President and Chief Executive Officer of Global Partnerships. "The fact that we raised $20 million in a challenging economic climate is a testament to the strength of our model."

Like GP's three previous funds, SIF 2010 is a five-year debt fund that will provide affordable loans to a select portfolio of MFIs that are financially sustainable and that reinvest profits in programs that benefit people living in poverty. With this fund, GP has sharpened its social criteria even further, prioritizing MFIs that reach people most in need of credit, such as the rural poor, and that provide innovative "microfinance-plus" programs, including preventive health services, business education, and assistance related to rural economic development.

Forty-one investors have contributed to SIF 2010, including the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Overseas Private Investment Corp (OPIC), which both invested in two previous GP funds. Other investors include Linked Foundation and Perls Foundation; Seattle University; faith-based institutions including the Mercy Partnership Fund; and 23 accredited individual investors. The law firm Strasburger & Price provided pro bono assistance to establish the Fund.

Investors cite a range of reasons for their interest in the fund, including the combination of well-managed risk and moderate returns, the excellence of GP's fund management and the fund's focus on social impact.

Elizabeth Littlefield, President and CEO of OPIC, which invested $6.9 million in SIF 2010, said, "OPIC's longstanding collaboration with Global Partnerships has yielded impressive and sustainable results for MFIs by providing vital capital to the small business owners and farmers who serve as the engine of economic activity in emerging markets."

Elizabeth Boggs Davidsen, principal investment officer of IDB's Opportunities for the Majority Initiative, which invested $5 million in SIF 2010, said: "We've been very impressed with Global Partnerships' approach to social investment. By working with microfinance institutions to offer additional services, they are helping to bring microfinance to the next level."

Seattle University has invested in SIF 2010 and GP's 2006 fund because of the alignment with the University's mis¬sion and GP's rigorous due-diligence processes. "It's a win-win. We're doing the right thing, seeing a social return, and still getting a financial return on our invest¬ment," said Ron Smith, Seattle University's Vice President for Finance and Business Affairs. "The more you learn about GP the more impressed you are."

GP will begin disbursing loans to new MFI partners in October of 2010. MFIs to receive initial loans include Pro Mujer in Mexico, which serves women borrowers with an integrated package of microcredit and health services and education; Fondesurco, an MFI in southern Peru that provides loans and technical assistance tailored to their agricultural clients; FRAC, a World Vision affiliate that works in some of the poorest areas of Mexico; and Comixmul, a savings-and-credit cooperative in Honduras that serves very poor women with financial and non-financial services, including training in specific trade skills and access to basic health services.

Out of the 48 million people in Latin America who could benefit from access to microcredit, only an estimated 15 percent, or 9 million, are being reached. Microfinance, especially when combined with other high-impact services, can improve the lives of borrowers who use the profits from their business to improve the living conditions for their entire household. GP estimates that over the five-year lifespan of SIF 2010, it should fund more than 200,000 microloans.

About Global Partnerships
Global Partnerships (GP) is a 16-year-old nonprofit organization that expands opportunity for people living in poverty by supporting microfinance and other sustainable solutions in Latin America. As of June 30, 2010, GP had $37.7 million invested in 27 microfinance institutions, which in turn provide microcredit and other services to more than 845,000 borrowers. Find out more at http://www.globalpartnerships.org.

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