Creates a chain reaction of lending between large banks, its 52 microfinance partners, and poverty-stricken individuals seeking to start businesses. Its goal: to move 50% of recipients out of poverty within five years of getting their first loan.
Grameen's network of microfinance partners works with 2.2 million families. Its Technology Center has helped create 6,000 telecom businesses in Rwanda and Uganda.
Links national corporations and local nonprofits to fuel volunteer efforts in community service projects. For big companies, Hands On Network can provide the employee-service equivalent of an IT contractor or office-supplies vendor--a partner that delivers consistent service to multiple locations under a single contract. Hands On volunteers coordinate work on the ground, make sure things happen on schedule, and report back on results--including data on which employees volunteer most.
Last year, Hands On marshaled 168,000 employee-volunteers from 51 companies to work more than 1.4 million hours, valued $TK million, at 48,538 projects--a 65% increase from 2002.
Supplies livestock and training to help farmers in 50 poor countries thrive. Recipients "pass on the gift" by sharing the offspring of their livestock with others. Heifer also gets involved in community development, addressing HIV/AIDS, gender equity, and environmentally sound farming practices.
Heifer has served more than 7.5 million families since 1944. In fiscal 2004, it placed 384,000 animals; 203,000 livestock offspring were passed on to other families.
Makes construction loans at below-market rates, bringing creativity and speed to the layered work of affordable housing development. With Merrill Lynch, it has created an insurance company and a securities firm that offers mortgages financed through tax-exempt bonds, and started up an informal venture reserve fund.
The network's 87 member organizations have created 11,000 affordable homes, insure 37,000 rental units, and improve the lives of 150,000 low- to moderate-income people.
Addresses dual problems: a shortage of adults working in preschools and the lack of early education in low-income communities. It recruits college students to work in preschools nationwide, giving children thousands of hours of individual and group attention.
Jumpstart has grown by 30% per year. Its 3,100 college students will teach 12,000 preschoolers this year. Twenty percent of graduating corps members become full-time teachers.
Fights poverty in sub-Saharan Africa by selling low-cost technology that dramatically raises farmers' crop yields and incomes. Irrigation pumps--the $95 Super MoneyMaker and the $35 Hip Pump--account for 90% of sales.
Farmers earn $4 for every $1 they invest in pumps, lifting average income to $1,100 annually, from $110. As a result, 225,000 people no longer live in poverty.
I tend to see things going this way as well. I'm certain this won't stop at drug use and party behavior (which is actually a ridiculous qualifier as some of the best employees I've seen partied hard on the weekends). What happens when you're denied a job because of some political or religious views you espouse on blog that the HR person doesn't agree with? You know, the kind of information they aren't allowed to ask you in an interview setting. If it can't be asked in an interview they shouldn't be allowed to go looking for that info online. But, I guess you can always make your profiles private so only people you want to see them can.
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Recent Comments | 8 Total
August 20, 2009 at 6:30am by Jesica Semon
I tend to see things going this way as well. I'm certain this won't stop at drug use and party behavior (which is actually a ridiculous qualifier as some of the best employees I've seen partied hard on the weekends). What happens when you're denied a job because of some political or religious views you espouse on blog that the HR person doesn't agree with? You know, the kind of information they aren't allowed to ask you in an interview setting. If it can't be asked in an interview they shouldn't be allowed to go looking for that info online. But, I guess you can always make your profiles private so only people you want to see them can.