Donate funds
You donate what you can to Wisconsin Microfinance.
Our mission is to use microfinance to empower aspiring entrepreneurs, primarily women, to lift their families out of poverty. We seek to reduce extreme poverty by providing access to capital in order to provide a hand up, not a handout.
It is now clear that the COVID-19 crisis has seriously disrupted life in Haiti and the Philippines.
With poverty levels increasing due to the crisis, the mission of Wisconsin Microfinance is more relevant than ever. And while our partners may be extending repayment periods, the overall success of our programs continues.
We are currently supporting entrepreneurs in Léogâne, Haiti, and on the island of Panay, Philippines. Since 2010, we have provided over 1,500 loans to entrepreneurs to build their own businesses and consistently demonstrated that an investment in individuals can improve the quality of life of their families and their communities.
Wisconsin Microfinance measures both the success of our programs in terms of money circulated, but also assesses improvements in quality of life of our loan recipients.
Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day. Give a woman microcredit, she, her husband, her children and her extended family will eat for a lifetime.
—Bono
Your support unleashed
Our programs are based on the microfinance model developed by Muhammad Yunus through the Grameen Bank. The Grameen Bank was founded on the belief that the very poor have unlimited potential, and unleashing their creativity and initiative can help end poverty.
You donate what you can to Wisconsin Microfinance.
Your money is transferred to our partners.
The money is used to make loans to entrepreneurs in the communities.
When the loans are repaid, the money is used to make additional loans.
When you donate to Wisconsin Microfinance, you are empowering families with the resources needed to rise above poverty.
Host a fundraiser, make a recurring contribution, or participate in a corporate or congregational partnership to support our work.
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Wisconsin Microfinance apprentice program participant and Waunakee High Schools student Evan Lory recently traveled to the Dominican Republic. With his inspiration he was able to work locally to raise $3,500 to support our Wisconsin Microfinance loan program in that country..
Microfinance, once hailed as a miracle solution, has become the subject of skepticism in the last several years. There is no doubt that repayment rates are as high or higher than traditional financing, but many questioned whether these loans actually led to improvements in individual and family living conditions.
For the first time, Wisconsin Microfinance has been able to track what truly matters, and is measuring changes in the quality of life of borrowers over the first 18 months after receiving a loan.