25 non-profits using business acumen to solve social problems to be featured in the magazine's January 2006 issue
Issue serves as an "investor's guide" for donors who want highest possible social return for their charitable gifts
NEW YORK (Dec. 8, 2005) -- A book broker, a fair-trade advocate, a video activist network and an agricultural innovator are among the 25 winners of the 2006 Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist Awards.
The program honors non-profits, or "social entrepreneurs," who combine creativity and ingenuity with business-solutions to address the most challenging social problems today, ranging from poor healthcare in developing nations to unequal education access, homelessness, unemployment and substance abuse in the United States.
The Social Capitalist Awards winners will be featured in Fast Company's January 2006 issue, appearing on newsstands on December 27.
The 2006 Social Capitalist Awards winners are*:| ACCION International | New Leaders for New Schools |
| BELL | PATH |
| Calvert Social Investment Foundation | Pioneer Human Services |
| Citizen Schools | Raising a Reader |
| City Year | Rare |
| College Summit, Inc. | Room to Read |
| First Book | Rubicon Programs Inc. |
| Grameen Foundation USA | Teach for America |
| Heifer International | Transfair USA |
| Housing Partnership Network, Inc. | Unitus |
| Jumpstart | WITNESS |
| KickStart | Working Today -- Freelancers Union |
| New Community Corp. |
Investor's Guide to Giving
"We applaud the efforts and business acumen of this year's Social Capitalist Awards winners, who are not just do gooders dedicated to solving the world's problems -- they are business people of vision who have created organizations worthy of imitation in both the non-profit and for-profit sectors," said Mark Vamos, editor of Fast Company. "By approaching social capitalism in a rigorous, data-driven fashion, our evaluation process reveals the truly amazing nature of these organizations.
"And while rating non-profits is controversial, Fast Company thinks it is a necessary step for the sector to grow and improve," Vamos said. "Frankly, it's a way to see that these excellent organizations get the recognition they deserve."
Fast Company partners with the Monitor Group, a global strategy-consulting firm, to select the award winners. Monitor Group created the first methodology to compare non-profits of different sizes and ages across social sectors.
The Monitor Group manages the evaluation process for the awards program and measures each organization's work in five categories: social impact, entrepreneurship, innovation, aspiration and growth, and sustainability.
"Prior to the Social Capitalist Awards, no ranking process existed to directly compare these kinds or organizations," said Mark Fuller, chairman and CEO of Monitor Group. "Our evaluation measures the impact and effectiveness of these non-profits, making the Social Capitalist Awards a robust source of guidance for performance-oriented leaders of such organizations, as well as a donor's guide for those who want their charitable dollars to get the highest 'social' return possible."
Rigorous Evaluation
Of the 240 2006 Social Capitalist Award nominees, 125 agreed to participate in an evaluation process, which required them to submit two years of audited financials, tax filings and online surveys and to participate in a 90-minute interview with the nomination board.
Winners will be collectively recognized at a ceremony in New York City, on Thurs., Jan. 12, 2006. This year, The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, started by Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, will pick a winner from the Social Capitalists list to receive a free trip to Davos and join its network of global social entrepreneurs.
About Fast Company and Monitor Group
Fast Company, founded in 1996, is a magazine for and about the creative class. It is a journal of change and changemakers -- dynamic, compelling leaders in both the for-profit and non-profit spheres who are making dramatic innovations to shape the future. Visit http://www.fastcompany.com for more information.
The Monitor Group is a family of professional services firms, linked by shared ownership, management philosophy, and knowledge assets. Each entity in Monitor's global network is dedicated to providing products and services that fundamentally enhance the competitiveness of its clients. Visit http://www.monitor.com for more information.
2006 Social Capitalist Awards Winners
ACCION International, Boston, Mass. and Washington D.C, micro-lender to the poor: ACCION International provides loans and business training to impoverished people to grow modest businesses, such as repairing motorcycles and weaving baskets, to escape poverty. ACCION has affiliated programs in Africa, India, Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States; it is expanding in 2006 to the Middle East and Asia. ACCION’s partner network has made $7.6 billion in small loans averaging $600 to nearly five million impoverished people, 65 percent of whom are women. ACCION’s strategy alleviates poverty and pays for itself. The key: partnerships with non-governmental organizations and banks that lend to the poor. Partners get technical expertise, access to debt and equity and governance to help them more effectively reach more poor people in need of financial services. Those ties and the launch of a $20 million investment fund have set the stage for expansion: President and CEO Maria Otero plans to triple ACCION's "active client" base by 2008. Ninety-seven percent of ACCION’s loans are repaid. http://www.accion.org/
BELL, Dorchester, Mass., after school and summer educator: Through small-group tutoring and mentorship, BELL works to increase the academic achievements, self-esteem and long-term opportunities of more than 7,000 children in 39 under-performing schools in low-income communities of New York City, Boston, Baltimore and Washington, DC. Believing that early intervention is the most successful approach to changing a student’s academic and social performance, BELL connects children with certified teachers and motivated college students who help them increase their mastery of core reading, writing and arithmetic skills, raise their self-esteem and leadership skills through mentorship and enrichment activities, and hold high personal and professional aspirations. It uses rigorous evaluations and standardized tests with quantitative and qualitative measures to track success. One hundred percent of BELL “scholars?? who begin the program “failing?? advance to a higher proficiency level. Eighty-two percent of BELL scholars achieve “proficient?? or “advanced?? reading levels, despite starting at an average of 1.2 years below grade level. The average BELL summer scholar gains six months of grade-equivalent skills in a six-week period. http://www.bellnational.org/
Calvert Social Investment Foundation, Bethesda, Md., social investment vehicle: The money made available through the Calvert Social Investment Foundation is used by socially oriented non-profit and for-profit organizations to create jobs, build and rehabilitate affordable housing, and finance community facilities, such as daycare centers, health clinics and schools. Calvert Foundation raises capital from private and institutional investors; disburses it to organizations via debt instruments; returns to the investors their principal plus pre-determined levels of interest; and uses some of the interest income to support operations. Calvert Foundation’s results speak for themselves. In the last decade, the Foundation has recycled more than $250 million in investments, which led to the creation of more than 119,000 jobs, built or rehabilitated more than 6,600 homes, and financed almost 7000 non-profit facilities. The organization covers 90 percent of its operating expenses through earned income. http://www.calvertfoundation.org
Citizen Schools, Boston, Mass., after-school educator: Striving to educate low-income children through intensive after-school programs in 13 cities across five states, Citizen Schools taps 2,000 volunteer professionals — architects, financial managers, attorneys, journalists, artists — who use their respective expertise to engage students in learning. During 10-week “apprenticeships,?? students work with volunteers to create market-quality products, such as Web sites, a solar-powered fountain, mock trials and community service projects. Citizen Schools also takes its students outside the classroom, incorporating museums, libraries, mentoring programs and the community at large into its curriculum. With plans to grow from 24 campuses to 100 campuses in eight to 10 states, with 8,000 volunteers, within the next five years, Citizen Schools is on track to build on outstanding results. In a longitudinal study of more than 900 Citizen Schools students, 70 percent of Citizen Schools eighth-grade students enrolled in a college-track high school, compared to 46 percent of students who did not participate in Citizen Schools. And, 87 percent of students in the 8th Grade Academy were promoted to 10th grade on time, compared to 74 percent of the comparison group. http://www.citizenschools.org
City Year, Boston, Mass., youth service corps.: City Year believes that today's young volunteers will be tomorrow's leaders. Change has to come from grassroots projects — and from kids. So City Year digs deep into 16 domestic urban communities and one South African site to recruit a diverse youth corps (ages 17-24) to serve as mentors and tutors at area schools; organize after-school programs and school vacation camps; and lead service projects, such as revitalizing empty lots into playgrounds and athletic fields. "If national service worked at scale, every generation would be the greatest generation," says co-founder Alan Khazei. Since its inception, City Year has served more than 900,000 children. This year alone, about 60,000 children were served; and, over 1,000 City Year Youth Corps members were enlisted and over 60,000 community residents were engaged. Even more telling, a recent alumni study found City Year graduates were more likely to vote, volunteer and be more engaged in their community than average citizens. http://www.cityyear.org/
College Summit, Washington, D.C., college access system for low-income students: College Summit transforms America’s low-income communities through increased college enrollment. Each year in this country, 200,000 low-income high school graduates who are college-capable do not enroll. If these students attained college degrees, they would add an additional $80 billion in annual tax revenue. The College Summit model works by training influential students on the admissions process at college campus-residential summer workshops, and equipping teachers to implement its curriculum in a class for all seniors in a partner low-income high school. The idea: these "Peer Leaders" and faculty are empowered with the tools to build a lasting college-going culture from within. Of students who have participated in College Summit workshops, 79 percent enroll in college (versus a national average of 46 percent for low-income students); 80 percent graduate within six years. College Summit is the brainchild of J.B. Schramm, who saw as a senior at an inner-city Denver high school that many of his friends weren't going on to college — not for lack of ability, but because they were without the support systems to navigate the transition process. College Summit was founded in 1993 in Washington, D.C.; this year, the organization saw a 58 percent increase in students served, to over 6,000 in the 2005-06 school year. http://www.collegesummit.org
First Book, Washington, D.C., book broker to kids literacy programs: In 1992, First Book President Kyle Zimmer, a former corporate attorney, and two friends mapped out a "private-sector" strategy to put new books into the hands of children from low-income families. Through this mission, First Book addresses the only variable proven to correlate significantly with reading scores - the number of books in the home. Today, First Book has a network of 250+ Advisory Boards providing book grants through preschool and after-school programs. In addition, First Book distributes millions of books annually through its National Book Bank, a subsidiary offering free books donated by children's publishers. Recently, First Book launched the First Book Marketplace, a revenue-generating subsidiary that sells books online to community programs. By consolidating the demand of a previously fragmented market of local programs, the Marketplace leverages enormous buying power to negotiate deep discounts and special print runs of new children's books. A winner of the national business plan competition sponsored by the Yale School of Management and the Goldman Sachs Foundation, the Marketplace will help fuel First Book's global expansion. To date, First Book has distributed more than 35 million books to children in thousands of communities nationwide. http://www.firstbook.org
Grameen Foundation USA, Washington, D.C. and Seattle, Wash., microfinance engine: Believing that microfinance is a proven path out of poverty for the world’s poor, Grameen Foundation USA (GFUSA) provides more than 52 micro-lending institutions in 22 countries with financial and technical resources to increase efficiency and help expand outreach to the poor through one of the largest microfinance networks. Through its Grameen Technology Center, GFUSA spearheads innovations in information and communications technology and management systems. As a student at Cornell in the mid-1980s, President Alex Counts switched from physics to economics after realizing that economics was critical to overcoming world poverty. On a Fulbright Scholarship, he studied Dr. Muhammad Yunus's Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. GFUSA raises millions to support the next generation of Muhammad Yunuses. For example, GFUSA guaranteed a $410,000 credit line for a major Filipino microfinance institution, enabling it to open new branches and reach an estimated 600,000 borrowers by 2008. In 2003 and 2004, 35 percent of GFUSA partners’ clients emerged from poverty within five years of joining the program. GFUSA has raised more than $35 million in philanthropic capital to help its partners. More than one million families receive micro-credit and other financial services through GFUSA’s network of partners, ultimately affecting more than seven million people. http://www.gfusa.org
Heifer International, Little Rock, Ark., agricultural innovator: Heifer International improves the lives of poor families in developing nations by giving animals, such as cows and goats, for farming, food production and manure-based fertilization. A model for sustainable, self-reliant agricultural and village-level development, Heifer spends several months preparing a village before the first animal arrives, establishing governance to ensure inter-generational involvement and strong participation from women. Heifer takes advantage of this preparation period to share public health (e.g. HIV/AIDS) and other information, as well as training in animal husbandry. Heifer also requires recipients to share offspring of their animals and new skills with other Heifer farmers to ensure future generations benefit from its work. In 2004, Heifer served more than 3.1 million people. Since the early 1990s, Heifer’s income has risen by approximately $67 million; the organization’s successful Internet marketing efforts garner more than $10 million each year. http://www.heifer.org
Housing Partnership Network, Boston, Mass., housing financier: Getting access to capital and financing for closing large real estate deals is tough under the most ideal circumstances. Securing reasonable real estate insurance rates is nearly as difficult. Now try doing it as a nonprofit striving to build affordable homes, better futures and vibrant communities for low- and moderate-income people. Meet the Housing Partnership Network (HPN), an ambitious group of 84 nonprofit housing groups that’s getting it all done. HPN created its own instruments — a $30 million federally certified fund for predevelopment and land and property acquisitions and an insurance institution that provides property and liability coverage for 35,000 apartments valued at $2.7 billion — to ensure its members are as competitive in their markets as private-sector real estate companies. In aggregate, HPN members have developed more than 230,000 apartments and homes and financed over 250,000 apartments and homes. In addition, they have provided individual development accounts (IDAs) to 3,000 families and counseled more than 250,000 families for homeownership. http://www.housingpartnership.net
Jumpstart, Boston, Mass., early education mentoring program: Addressing what it considers to be a crisis in the state of American early education, Jumpstart recruits and trains college students to work one-to-one with preschool-aged, low-income children and their families to provide the support the children need to succeed in school. Designed to enhance Head Start and other early learning programs, Jumpstart taps the federal work-study system to employ college students in more than 200 preschool centers nationwide. Over the past three years, Jumpstart has grown at an impressive rate and delivered remarkable results. Jumpstart has realized, on average, more than 30 percent annual growth in children served from 2002 to 2005, nearly doubling the number of universities from which it recruits work-study students. As a result of this growth, Jumpstart instructors halved the student-teacher ratio for preschools in such cities as Boston and San Francisco, implementing a curriculum with measurable standards, so teachers and children could easily track their progress over the school year. At the same time, the network-wide annual assessments that demonstrate Jumpstart’s impact on each child improve every year. In 2005, the organization will serve nearly 10,000 children, with a long-term goal to reach 100,000 preschoolers annually. http://www.jstart.org
KickStart, San Francisco, Calif., agricultural technology provider: KickStart sells inexpensive technologies, such as irrigation pumps and hay balers, to farmers in poor communities in sub-Saharan Africa who wish to start or improve small-scale businesses. Most of KickStart’s customers live on less than one dollar a day; KickStart’s technologies help them transition from subsistence farming to commercial irrigated farming. With irrigation, they can grow three or four crop cycles annually rather than just one, and they can sell in-demand fruits and vegetables throughout the dry season. KickStart’s biggest seller, generating 70 percent of sales, is the Super-MoneyMaker foot-driven irrigation pump. On average the pump can raise a farm’s income from $110 to $1,100 annually. KickStart sells a smaller, less expensive “hip-pump?? that will irrigate smaller plots of land. Assuming that each pump lifts a family of five out of poverty, KickStart estimates that it served more than 34,000 people in 2004. To date, more than 37,000 families have used KickStart’s tools, generating over $38 million in profits and wages each year. KickStart turns every one-dollar donation into $15 in profits and wages for farmers using the pumps. http://kickstart.org
New Community Corp., Newark, N.J., community developer: New Community Corp. (NCC) is on a mission to improve the lives of citizens living in Newark, N.J., a city with one-third of its population on some form of government income assistance. Newark has been slow to add new businesses and as a result, new jobs. NCC implements entrepreneurial and often high-risk revitalization strategies to equip residents with the education necessary for jobs with real career paths; provide affordable housing; and launch self-sustaining businesses. Over five years, NCC programs have moved 5,000 women off welfare and into work, with a 75 percent long-term success rate. It has trained over 250 auto technicians and graduated more than 60 students from its nursing program since 2003. It also brought a supermarket back into Newark’s inner city. http://www.newcommunity.org
New Leaders for New Schools, New York, NY, transforming the urban principalship: New Leaders for New Schools is a national movement of results-oriented leaders with an unwavering commitment to ensure that every child achieves academic excellence and reaches his or her full potential. NLNS selects individuals with teaching experience, a steadfast belief in the potential of all children, and demonstrated leadership potential. New Leaders receive intensive, hands-on experiential training during their first year, working in schools with mentor principals as they complete demanding coursework. New Leaders receive support and coaching for two years while leading their own schools. Partnering with school districts in New York City, Chicago, Memphis, Washington, D.C., Baltimore and the San Francisco Bay Area, NLNS estimates it has impacted 76,000 students during 2004, a 60 percent rise over the previous year. This year that number has grown to 115,500. By Fall 2008, NLNS will impact 300,000 students. Over two-thirds of New Leaders were placed as principals after receiving NLNS training; by comparison, university training programs place 50 percent. Across the 2003-04 and 2004-05 school years, 78 percent of schools led by New Leaders principals made noteworthy progress in student performance. Average school-wide gains in math and English language arts by district ranged from three to 20 percentage points over the two-year period. http://www.nlns.org/
PATH Seattle, Wash., global health-care catalyst: Small and nimble among giants in the international development world, PATH improves health conditions in poor countries by focusing on innovation, while relying on larger organizations to distribute its products and ideas. For example, PATH worked with a for-profit company to develop a pre-filled, one-use syringe that allows a layperson to administer a vaccination, ensuring needles won’t be reused. And, in order to reduce the number of newborn deaths from infection (estimated at 950,000 worldwide every year) in such areas of Bangladesh, Egypt and Nepal, PATH developed “clean delivery kits?? for mothers in labor. But technology isn't PATH's only weapon. The organization also runs prevention programs such as a Kenyan radio soap opera addressing sexual and reproductive health for adolescents. PATH measures its impact at the project level. For example, in the Andhra Pradesh state of India, an immunization program in partnership with the state government has seen an increase in child immunization from 58 percent to 72 percent in less than 5 years. In Andhra Pradesh, PATH also trained more than 18,000 health workers in immunization and injection safety in 2003 and another 23,000 in 2004. http://www.path.org/
Pioneer Human Services, Seattle, Wash., reclaiming lives of people on the margins of society: Pioneer Human Services (PHS) provides job training and placement, drug and alcohol treatment, counseling, housing, and offender reentry services to help people on the margins of society (homeless, at-risk youth, people with chemical dependencies), employing many within a portfolio of businesses, including precision sheet metal fabrication, construction, food services, and distribution. PHS’ recidivism rate is a benchmark in the criminal-justice sector, boasting a six percent rate against the standard average of 20 to 30 percent after two years. In 2004, PHS served more than 8,000 people, and expects to reach 10,000 in 2005 — all with an operating budget of $50 million, 99 percent of which is attributed to earned income. It has 48 sites in Washington. Since its inception, PHS has helped more than 100,000 ex-offenders, homeless people, and drug and alcohol abusers stay out of prison and off the streets. http://www.pioneerhumanservices.org
Raising a Reader, Menlo Park, Calif., children’s literacy program: By the time middle-income children enter first grade, they have had an average of 1,700 hours of reading time — an age-old practice between children and adults. Low-income children have just 25 hours. Raising a Reader (RAR) fosters healthy brain development, parent-child bonding and early literacy skills critical for kindergarten success by engaging parents in a daily read-aloud routine with their children from birth to age five. Through a child-driven process, RAR rotates bright red bags filled with the highest quality age-appropriate books into low-income homes across 28 states and four countries. In collaboration with community agencies, childcare centers and caregivers, RAR encourages parents to establish a regular routine of “book cuddling,?? trains early childhood professionals in read-aloud skills, and fosters partnerships with local public libraries. Parents who cannot read or speak English benefit from RAR’s training videos and bi-lingual books in Spanish and other languages. Launched by Peninsula Community Foundation in 1999, RAR is growing at a rate of over 700 childcare settings per year, and expects to serve more than 108,000 children annually by 2008. http://www.pcf.org/raising_reader/
Rare, Arlington, Va., environmental conservation promoter: Radio soap operas are just one of the savvy tools being used to promote environmental protection worldwide by Rare. Focusing on the social and economic rather than scientific factors related to conservation, Rare works to change environmentally threatening attitudes and behaviors using three main programs (all managed by local partners): Rare Pride uses private-sector marketing techniques to inspire people who live in areas of high biodiversity to embrace conservation. Rare Radio uses serial dramas to make conservation-related issues such as sustainable development, family planning, and public health more relevant to the average individual. Rare Enterprises helps local entrepreneurs build ecotourism businesses capable of competing in the global travel market. With its Pride program alone, Rare estimates that it reached more than 1.8 million individuals on four continents in 2004, compared to 441,000 in 2003. Rare expects to triple its impact by 2008 as demand for Pride campaigns grows. Mexico’s National Commission of Protected Areas, for example, recently called for a Rare Pride campaign to be implemented in each of the country’s 154 national parks. Rare is expanding its presence in Indonesia in the coming year. And Rare Radio will launch a new drama in early 2006 for broadcast on nine Eastern Caribbean Islands. http://www.rareconservation.org
Room to Read, San Francisco, Calif., library builder in poor nations: More than 850 million people in the world are illiterate; two thirds of them are women and girls. Room to Read (RTR) believes that education is the single most important factor in overcoming the challenges faced by the developing world, especially among women. RTR collaborates with villagers in six countries in developing Asia to build libraries, schools, and computer and language labs. RTR only builds in communities that co-invest in each project, thus ensuring commitment. Villages are required to contribute land, labor or cash, which RTR matches with funds raised from donors around the world. RTR also provides scholarships for young girls to further their education. RTR keeps overhead below 10 percent by employing a network of over 1,000 volunteers worldwide to raise money and raise awareness. Since its inception, RTR has initiated 200 new school projects, opened more than 2,200 libraries, and donated more than one million books. In addition, more than 1,800 girls have been awarded long-term scholarships. Over 800,000 children now benefit from enhanced educational opportunities. RTR will begin work in Africa in 2006. http://www.roomtoread.org/
Rubicon Programs Inc., Richmond, Calif., one-stop solution to homelessness: Rubicon provides a one-stop turnaround shop to solve the core issues of poverty and homelessness, offering housing, employment, mental-health, legal and social services. And it does so by running successful businesses, including a gourmet bakery with national distribution and a landscaping business, which ultimately train the formerly homeless in jobs with upward career paths. Rubicon’s success shows in the numbers. The Rubicon Bakery sold over 200,000 products last year to 300 retail outlets and continued to expand nationally this year. Its landscaping business boasts four million dollars in annual revenue. Both enterprises employ Rubicon clients on a pay scale ranging from $8.50 to $18.21. In 2004, 500 people obtained housing with Rubicon’s help and over 460 people became employed. Rubicon has built 180 units of affordable housing. Over the years, Rubicon has grown increasingly self-sustaining, funding more than half of its $15.3 million budget with revenues from its own enterprises. http://www.rubiconprograms.org
Teach for America, New York, N.Y., education service corps: Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in expanding educational opportunity. Recruiting on top college campuses across the country, Teach For America received over 17,000 applications for 2,100 positions in 2005. Currently, 3,500 corps members are teaching in over 1,000 schools in 22 regions nationwide; more than 10,000 Teach For America alumni continue working from inside and outside the field of education for the fundamental changes necessary to ensure educational excellence and equity. Since 2000, Teach For America has grown from 1,000 corps members in 13 sites to 3,500 members in 22 sites. The organization’s annual budget has increased from $10 million to $40 million in that time. Teach For America recently launched an ambitious five-year plan. By becoming the nation’s top employer of top recent college graduates, Teach For America will provide hundreds of thousands more disadvantaged students with teachers who will make a difference in their lives. At the same time, the organization will influence the quality of future civic and educational leadership and the consciousness of the country. http://www.teachforamerica.org
TransFair USA, Oakland, Calif., fair trade certifier: As the only third-party U.S. certifier of Fair Trade products, TransFair USA gives farmers and farm workers across Latin America, Africa, and Asia direct access to the U.S. market, together with tools they need to succeed in it. TransFair’s Fair Trade Certified™ seal is a guarantee that democratically organized farmers and workers received a fair price for their products. It also ensures farmers have access to credit and support for sustainable agriculture. Fair Trade producers have earned over $66 million in additional income since 1999 by selling their crops directly to U.S. Fair Trade buyers instead of local intermediaries. Fair Trade funds sustainable local development projects—health systems, scholarships, women’s leadership initiatives, microfinance programs, and others—in 50 countries around the developing world, and provides over 1.1 million farmers with resources to invest in their businesses and their products. Fair Trade is taking off in the United States, both among businesses that appreciate TransFair’s independent verification of their corporate citizenship, and among consumers who increasingly demand fairness and sustainability. TransFair USA works with over 500 U.S. companies offering Fair Trade Certified coffee, tea, cocoa, fruit, sugar, and rice in over 40,000 U.S. retail outlets. http://www.transfairusa.org/
Unitus, Redmond, Wash., global microfinance accelerator: Unitus helps microfinance institutions (MFIs) grow and transition to a commercial model, making them eligible for funding from global capital markets, as opposed to just philanthropic dollars. Unitus considers itself the vanguard of “Microfinance 2.0?? — an effort to extend small loans and other microfinance services to the remaining 80 percent of the eligible market that currently lacks access. It believes that once commercial interests invest in MFIs as a moneymaking proposition, rather than a charity investment, access to loans for the poor will scale dramatically. Unitus currently partners with seven MFI partners in India, Kenya and Mexico. It invests capital to help its MFI partners scale; helps develop measures and studies to document impact on the MFI clients’ lives; and transitions those institutions to a commercial market and secures new investments. When Unitus initiated the partnerships, the total client base of the seven Unitus partner MFIs was 228,000. Today, it is more than 504,000. http://www.unitus.com
WITNESS, Brooklyn, N.Y., human rights organization: In many parts of the world, government-controlled media, the chaos of civil conflict, or geographic or cultural isolation silences the voices of human rights activists. WITNESS, founded by musician Peter Gabriel, trains activists in over 60 nations to document human-rights abuses on camera. Working with 13 to 15 "core partners" annually, WITNESS trains these human rights defenders to use video as a tool in their advocacy campaigns and helps them make connections with international media outlets, government officials, policymakers, activists, and the public. Additonally, WITNESS trains more than 300 social justice organizations in the fundamentals of video advocacy each year. The result? Influential policy makers often screen WITNESS videos and take action. For example, in January 2005 the Minister of Women’s and Family Affairs in Senegal pledged to fund a new development project for women landmine victims after viewing a video by partner RADDHO revealing the devastating effects of these weapons of war. In 2004 alone, WITNESS partner organizations produced 11 videos depicting abuses that continue to affect millions worldwide. http://www.witness.org
Working Today-Freelancers Union, Brooklyn, N.Y., independent worker advocate: A shift in the American labor force has left 30 million individuals employed in nontraditional arrangements as freelancers, contractors and temporary workers. Unfortunately, these independent workers lack access to employer-based insurance and must pay regressive self-employment taxes. Working Today is building a new benefits delivery system for New York City’s growing independent workforce, providing low-cost health, life, disability and dental insurance through its Portable Benefits Network. In addition, Working Today works to educate thought leaders, policy makers and the public about the needs of the independent workforce. Working Today has over 14,000 members, 8,000 of whom receive health insurance through the Portable Benefits Network. (Half of those previously had no health coverage.) Working Today also has formed partnerships with 48 intermediary organizations, enabling it to reach a network of 45,000 independent workers in New York City. In the future, Working Today hopes to expand its benefits and advocacy to locations beyond New York. http://www.workingtoday.org
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