students and u.s. microfinance final report

1

How can Student Microfinance Clubs Help Scale Microfinance in the U.S. through Partnerships with Microenterprise Development Organizations such as ACCION USA? Report to ACCION USA

2010

Linda Peng Faculty Advisor: Dr. Lori Leachman

August 2010

Linda Peng – August 2010 (edited September 2010)

2 Students and U.S. Microfinance: Final Report to ACCION USA

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................................... 4

Summary of Summer Internship Tasks .......................................................................................................... 4

I. Preface .................................................................................................................................................. 5

II. Research Methodology ......................................................................................................................... 6

III. Background: U.S. Microenterprise Facts and Figures ....................................................................... 7

IV. Market Research Findings ............................................................................................................... 11

A. Student Microfinance Initiative Types ................................................................................................ 11

A) Completely student-led, university-recognized student clubs ............................................................ 11

Category A ........................................................................................................................................... 11

B) Organizations that operate “off-campus” as non-university recognized student-led non-profits ..... 12

Category B ........................................................................................................................................... 12

C) Organizations that are primarily student-led but guided by full-time faculty advisors. ................. 13

Category C ........................................................................................................................................... 13

B. Summary of Student Microfinance Initiative Achievements .................................................................. 14

(1) Students as Service Providers to Local Entrepreneurs ............................................................... 14

(2) Students as Fund Raisers ................................................................................................................... 19

(3) Students Supporting Entrepreneurs Abroad ..................................................................................... 20

SNAPSHOT – Students Supporting Microentrepreneurs Abroad ....................................................... 20

(4) Students Consulting MFIs or non-profits ........................................................................................... 21

(5) Students Hosting Conferences on Campus ....................................................................................... 21

III. ACCION USA-Student Club Partnership Potential Discussion ................................................................ 22

V. The Challenges of Engagement ........................................................................................................... 23

VI. Summary of Market Research Findings .......................................................................................... 24

VII. Findings from Survey....................................................................................................................... 25

A. Student Demographics ................................................................................................................ 26

B. Student Commitment to Clubs ................................................................................................... 28

C. Student Motivation ..................................................................................................................... 28

D. Club Activities .............................................................................................................................. 30

E. Needs and Values ........................................................................................................................ 31

F. Potential for Engagement ........................................................................................................... 33



Summary of Survey Findings ................................................................................................................... 34

VIII. How can Students Help Scale Microfinance in the U.S. through partnerships with MDOs such as

ACCION USA? .............................................................................................................................................. 35

Conclusions and Recommendations to ACCION USA for Engagement ....................................................... 35

The ACCION USA-Student Partnership Model ........................................................................................ 37

A. The Website ................................................................................................................................ 39

B. The Campaigns ............................................................................................................................ 40

C. Summary of Potential Values Added by Partnership Program ....................................................... 44

D. Recommended Partnerships with Non-Student Organizations ...................................................... 45

a. Campus Kiva ................................................................................................................................ 45

b. MoreMarbles.com ...................................................................................................................... 45

c. MFIConnect ................................................................................................................................. 45

d. Gumball Capital ........................................................................................................................... 45

e. $2 Dollar Challenge ..................................................................................................................... 45

f. ACCION International .................................................................................................................. 45

g. Catchafire .................................................................................................................................... 45

VI. Best Practices from Other Student Programs ............................................................................. 46

A. LearnVest Ambassador Program ................................................................................................ 46

B. DoSomething.org ........................................................................................................................ 46

C. Grameen U .................................................................................................................................. 46

D. The One Campaign ...................................................................................................................... 47

VII. Final Table of Findings and Recommendations .......................................................................... 47



Acknowledgments

Thanks go to the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University and the corresponding individuals

within it – Professor Alma Blount, first, for invoking within all of us in her Spring 2010 seminar questions

of “border crossing” – and to Dr. Lori Leachman, who began advising me on this project in the Spring

and has continued to be a source of motivation and wisdom for me this summer. Thanks also go to

Professor David Guy at Sanford for wisely and patiently responding to all my “letters home,” and to

Alejandro Martinez – my contact person at the Duke IRB – who helped me put together a good first

standardized research proposal in May.

My summer experience would not have been possible without the welcome from the staff at ACCION

USA. My gratitude goes especially to Erica Dorn for her enthusiasm and her patience; to Jim Moore,

Elizabeth Garlow, Paul Quinteros, Elenor Denkor, Laura Kozien, and Ashley Wessier for their time and

expertise; and to my fellow interns at ACCION USA (Annie, Amelie, Cesar, Keith, Andrea, Philip, Jill,

Jackie, Collette, Natalie, Nancy!) whose camaraderie made my summer.

To the Student Partnerships Project team at the Microfinance Council (Erica, John, Suzanne, Erin, Devin,

Igor, Annie, Jim, Amelie) - you rock! Thank you for the experience of brainstorming with me through the

implementation of this project. Here in this report is a significant part of the market research. I

apologize for the delay.

Finally, I applaud the students and faculty members who have taken the potential for engagement

within the microfinance sphere and made it their own. Thank you for being so inspiring.

Summary of Summer Internship Tasks

Electronically surveyed 86 individuals involved in 28 different student microfinance organizations

Interviewed one manager of a small business, representatives from 13 student organizations, and representatives from 4 potential partner organizations for ACCION USA’s student program

Observed operations with clients at The Elmseed Enterprise Fund (Yale) and The Intersect Fund (Rutgers)

Attended the Microfinance USA 2010 conference in San Francisco in May and wrote up an eleven-page summary of takeaway points

Met with the Microfinance Council and designed an internal Google site for Microfinance Council members and interns to collaborate on the work to launch ACCION USA’s student partnerships project

Designed the first look of ACCION USA’s website for students, which features multimedia pulled from YouTube and slideshare, a forum, areas for ACCION USA to upload documents about its student campaigns, and a clear way for students to get involved. The website can be found at www.studentsforaccion.org.

Wrote a final report to ACCION USA that summarized my findings and included final recommendations for engaging students in U.S. microfinance

http://sites.google.com/ausamfcpartnership

http://www.studentsforaccion.org/



I. Preface "The synergies seem natural—students have a local presence, talented training pools, resources,

and the ability to raise awareness both on and off campus settings, while many professional

microenterprise development organizations have experience and capacity in areas such as

lending and servicing. What will incentivize both students and MDOs to work in concert rather

than in parallel? The first step is better awareness of this alliance of student groups among

microenterprise development organizations, and an articulation of the benefits the student groups bring

to the table. The second will be finding opportunities where both sides can have their needs met."

- Luz Gomez and Elaine Edgcomb, October 20091

Much of the inspiration for ACCION USA’s student partnership explorations comes from Elaine

Edgcomb and Luz Gomez's June 2009 FIELD paper: "Can Student-run Microfinance Organizations Help

Address Issues of Scale and Sustainability in the U.S. Domestic Microenterprise Industry?" Edgcomb and

Gomez visited The Intersect Fund near Rutgers and The Elmseed Enterprise Fund near Yale, interviewed

representatives of five additional programs, and electronically surveyed another 16. They followed up

their research paper with a conference in October 2009, which brought eight student microfinance

organizations together for a conference hosted at Rutgers University. Edgcomb and Gomez’s main

findings included the following:

Student organizations' capacity to deliver training and technical assistance is high due to easy access to talent and to university and community resources, and is higher than their capacity to lend.

Students' potential for mobilizing student engagement and community involvement is high. “New student initiatives are informally learning from earlier efforts and innovating. Several have

voiced an interest in a more formal exchange, and in the possibility of a hub to provide services to support other similar programs regionally or nationally, providing a common infrastructure and professional leadership.” (Edgcomb and Luz 2009)

When I initially approached Erica Dorn at ACCION USA about completing a community-based

research project in microfinance, I had no idea that I was about to embark on a research project about

students. It was not immediately obvious to me that this research topic could be viewed as “border

crossing” work, a theme emphasized by my Service Opportunities in Learning class that was providing

me with my research grant. In addition, I was a little worried about the inherent risk involved in

designing a research project around students over the summer: students are often abroad, busy with

internships, and potentially not checking their school e-mail accounts.

Both anxieties, fortunately, proved to be unfounded. Thanks to the wonders of technology (i.e.

Google, Facebook stalking, and the MFIConnect.org forum), I ended up scheduling interviews and

1 Edgcomb, E. and Gomez, L. (2009). “Can Student-run Microfinance Organizations Help Address Issues of Scale

and Sustainability in the U.S. Domestic Microenterprise Industry?” Microenterprise Fund for Innovation,

Effectiveness, and Dissemination (FIELD).

http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Ffieldus.org%2FPublications%2FScaleUniversityME.pdf&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFrqEzcZGv6MmDbLor342McOuHu82y-3Hw



receiving comments from students and faculty members working across the field in both domestic and

international microfinance. I believe that my success in getting more responses than I had expected can

be attributed not so much to the wording of my unsolicited e-mails (though having the backing of an

official IRB-approved format certainly helped), but to the direct passion and generosity of the individuals

who were intrigued by my research – and curious about each other.

My job, I thought initially, was to assess the “opportunities and challenges” for student-led

microfinance initiatives on campuses in the United States. My research question evolved, however, after

I discovered the incredible potential of students who were already freely volunteering their time to

support microfinance. I wondered: how could their energy be channeled to support the domestic

microenterprise industry in specific, and what are the potential values added to both players in an

ACCION USA-student partnership program? Mid-June, I changed the focus of my research question to

reflect the larger one posed in the title of this paper.

II. Research Methodology I began my community-based research project by attending the Microfinance USA 2010

Conference in San Francisco in May. I listened closely to the panel on student-led microfinance

initiatives and talked informally with some students about their involvement in microfinance. The

conference was very much a learning experience, introducing me to the emerging innovations and

challenges of the domestic microenterprise field.

In June, I conducted two site visits: one at The Intersect Fund in New Brunswick, NJ and the

other at The Elmseed Enterprise Fund in New Haven, CT. I observed operations at each site and

interviewed managers of the program there.2

In July, I started focusing heavily on obtaining responses to my survey3 to past and present

members of student microfinance clubs. In my e-mails, I explained my research and the opportunity for

four randomly selected participants from the first pool of 100 respondents to win one of two MP3

players (donated by Erica Dorn, ACCION USA Manager of Volunteer Partnerships) or two $15 gift cards

from amazon.com. 4 Ultimately, I was able to canvass 86 responses from 28 schools.

Throughout July and August, I also focused on scheduling interviews with representatives from

different organizations. In addition to my interviews with The Intersect Fund and The Elmseed Enterprise

Fund, I interviewed one manager of a small business, 13 student microfinance club leaders, two

CEO/Founders of online platforms that utilize student volunteers, and four faculty-advised student

2 At The Intersect Fund, I spoke to one of the co-founders of the organization (a recent graduate). At The Elmseed

Enterprise Fund, I spoke to Elmseed’s first summer manager (a student).

3 The actual survey can still be found online at http://www.tinyurl.com/studentmicrofinancemembers.

4 Because there were only 86 participants in the end, only two MP3 players and one gift card were awarded.

http://www.tinyurl.com/studentmicrofinancemembers



microfinance initiatives. The majority of the interviews were conducted via phone or skype; a few of the

comments I received were solely over e-mail. A master list of my sources can be found in Appendix C. 5

III. Background: U.S. Microenterprise Facts and Figures

The microenterprise field in the United States is a relatively new industry, emerging only in the

late 1980s when corporate downsizing, changing demographics, and an emerging interest in self-

employment combined to augment the number of microenterprises in the United States6. Since then,

the number of microenterprise development organizations (MDOs) – or non-profits that typically

provide business training and business loans under $35,000 to small enterprises with five or fewer

employees – has risen as well. In 1992, MDOs were a force of 84 in number; by 2002, the force had

grown to over 550.7 The importance of the existence of MDOs, in addition, is supported by studies done

by trade associations such as the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) and the Microenterprise

Fund for Innovation, Effectiveness, and Dissemination (FIELD). 17.9% of American jobs are in

microenterprises8 -- and, according to a data sheet published by the AEO in 2008, microenterprises are

estimated to make up 88% of all businesses in the United States. 9 According to a longitudinal study of

microentrepreneurs in 1998, the majority of microentrepreneurs in the U.S. are comprised of women,

are relatively well-educated, and are minorities. 10

MDOs typically come into play for low-to-moderate-income small business owners who – due to

factors such as insufficient credit history due to their immigrant status, low credit scores, insufficient

loan size requests, or young age of their businesses – look to MDOs to provide the financial services that

traditional banks would not provide. In academic research, MDOs have been lauded for generating

5 Note: To see all graphs and comments produced from the survey, please see Appendix A (Parts I and II). For all

survey data and access to the pivot table, please see Appendix B.

6 Microenterprises are defined as businesses that can benefit from a loan of under $35,000 and have five or fewer

employees

7 Servon, Lisa .J. (2006). “Microenterprise Development in the United States: Current Challenges and New

Directions.”

8 Berkman, Emily (2006). “Microloans as a community reinvestment act compliance strategy.” New York University

Journal of Law.

9 Association for Enterprise Opportunity (2008). “Microenterprise Business Statistics in the United States.”

<http://aeoworks.org/images/uploads/pages/US-MEBS-2008(1).pdf>

10 Association for Enterprise Opportunity (2005), “Microenterprise development in the United States: an

overview.” <http://aeoworks.org/images/uploads/pages/Fact_sheet_Overview%20of%20US%20micro.pdf>.

http://aeoworks.org/images/uploads/pages/US-MEBS-2008(1).pdf

http://aeoworks.org/images/uploads/pages/Fact_sheet_Overview%20of%20US%20micro.pdf



social capital through the networks that they create.11 In addition, academic studies have pointed to

microenterprise development as an appropriate economic development strategy for many regions in

the United States, with recommendations to policy makers to incorporate it more fully into their

economic development plans.12

The interesting relationship that exists between many banks and non-profit microlending

organizations in the United States is due in large part to the Community Reinvestment Act, which was

enacted by Congress in 1977. The act stipulates that banks must provide adequate access to credit to

the lower-income populations in the neighborhoods in which they operate. Many banks have opted to

comply with this act by issuing low-interest loans to CDFI-certified intermediary non-profit lenders like

ACCION USA, which then take on the risk of disbursing the money to the intended populations.

Traditional banks’ reasons for not directly administering a microloan program are

understandable. The high administrative costs of issuing a loan, coupled with the relatively low return

on interest from the small loan sizes and the higher default risk of a lower-income clientele reduces the

profitability potential of these engagements.

Since the recent economic recession, however, anecdotes have pointed to the shortage of

available credit for small businesses in the United States and the increasing need and importance of

services offered by MDOs like ACCION USA.13

Even so, questions remain about the scalability of microenterprise in the United States. If

estimates made by FIELD and AEO suggest that “10 million entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs

face barriers to accessing mainstream capital and other business development services,” why are there

only a few thousand loans being granted by microlenders in the industry every year?14

Scale, according to a FIELD publication in May 2010 called “Dollars for Dreams: Scaling

Microfinance in the U.S.,” has always been a challenge of the domestic microenterprise industry.

Defined simply as the goal of “serving large numbers of individuals,” scale necessitates the achievement

of two key themes: (1) increased market penetration; and (2) economies in service delivery.

The latter theme refers to the high administrative costs of servicing a microloan, or the

traditional reasons that deter banks from becoming direct microlenders. The former theme refers to

microlending organizations’ market penetration challenges:

11

Lyons, Thomas S. (2000). “Building social capital for sustainable enterprise development in country towns and

regions: successful practices from the United States.” Center for Research on Entrepreneurship and Enterprise

Development, University of Louisville.

12 Servon, Lisa J. and Doshna, Jeffrey P. (2000). “Microenterprise and the economic development toolkit: a small

part of the big picture.” Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship.

13 Shevory, Kristina (2010). “With squeeze on credit, microlending blossoms.” New York Times.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/business/smallbusiness/29sbiz.html>.

14 Edgcomb, E., Klein, J.A., and Gomez, L. (2010) “Dollars for Dreams: Scaling Microlending in the United States,”

Microenterprise Fund for Innovation, Effectiveness, and Dissemination.

<http://fieldus.org/Publications/DollarsForDreams.pdf>

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/business/smallbusiness/29sbiz.html

http://fieldus.org/Publications/DollarsForDreams.pdf



“As microlenders have grown they have generally reached a plateau in their individual markets,

either exhausting the easiest-to-reach entrepreneurs who may be geographically close, or who

become aware of their services through proven outreach strategies (such as referral partnerships

with local technical assistance organizations or local banks)” 10

ACCION USA, easily one of the largest MDOs in the United States, offers a variety of loan

products between $500 and $50,000. It has lent over $119 million to over 19,000 small business owners

nationwide since 1991and offered free financial education seminars and online webinars to 14,532

participants since the launch of its financial education program in 2002. According to recent survey data

captured from 164 U.S. microlenders10, the median number of loans disbursed in the industry is 12 loans

and $178,471 per year (FY2008). In 2008, ACCION USA disbursed 142 times as many loans the median

number of loans captured by that survey, and eight times as many loans as the median number of loans

disbursed by a sample of five “SCALE Academy” microlenders targeted by FIELD’s report on scaling

microfinance.

Table 1. Cross-Comparison Median Lending Figures (FY2008)

Organization # Loans Disbursed Dollars Disbursed

ACCION USA* (n=1) 1,708 $11,355,818

SCALE Academy Microlenders

(n=5)**

196 (Median) $1,665,472 (Median)

Other Microlenders 12 (Median)

(n=134)

$178,471 (Median)

(n=131)

Source: Dollars for Dreams: Scaling Microlending in the U.S.

* ACCION USA merged with ACCION New York in June 2008. This reported figure from ACCION USA

takes into account ACCION New York’s portfolio in 2008.

**FIELD’s “Scale Academy” microlenders identified by these numbers are ACCION USA, Opportunity

Fund, Justine Peterson, Mountain Bizworks, and ACCION New Mexico-Arizona-Colorado.

Like many of its peers, however, ACCION USA has suffered from understaffing challenges and

the recent economic recession. In addition, high administrative costs and low returns on interest

maintain the necessity of fundraising for sustainability. According to FY2008 figures, the average cost of

administering a loan at ACCION USA – which can be calculated by dividing Program Costs by the Number

of Loans Disbursed in that year – was $5753.57.15 ACCION USA’s lending numbers have also decreased

since 2008, a decrease that can be attributed to the recent economic recession.

15

ACCION USA FY2008 Program Costs = $9,827,099. $9,827,099 ÷ 1,708 loans = $5735.57. These numbers come

from ACCION USA’s Form 990.

http://fieldus.org/Publications/DollarsForDreams.pdf



Table 2. Figures (FY2005-FY2009)

Year Number of Loans

Made

Total Amount

Lent

Average Loan

Size

2005 546 $2,734,479 $5,008

2006 934 $5,857,614 $6,272

2007 1,086 $7,567,751 $6,968

2008 1,708 $11,355,818 $6,649

2009 629 $4,295,167 $5,124

Source: ACCION USA website

In its “Dollars for Dreams” report, FIELD explains the impact of the economic recession on MDOs:

“As the crises have worn on, lenders have experienced shifts in demand that are challenging. In some instances, demand from traditional constituencies has waned as entrepreneurs, who earlier might have been planning for growth, are now seeking strategies to survive the recession. Others chose not to start or continue their businesses in reaction to news about the economy. On the other hand, microlenders saw increased inquiries and applications from two sources: entrepreneurs who previously might have been able to secure bank financing, and individuals who had lost their jobs or were looking to create a secondary source of income. Although demand from these sources increased, some of these applicants suffered from deteriorating business cash-flows because of economic conditions or presented credit reports that showed patterns of risky consumer credit management. The effect on Academy microlenders has been that they have had to work harder to make good loans. Although inquiries are up, and applications increasing, finding new clients who can manage debt successfully has been a challenge.” 10

According to the FIELD report, however, the economic recession may have also positively helped

create growing awareness of the importance of savings programs, alternative loan products and

financial education. With efforts to expand its financial education program and test out new products

such as the green loan, pre-paid credit cards, secured loans, and loans for women, ACCION USA is no

exception to the MDO movement towards greater innovation.

If students are to help address issues such as market penetration and high service delivery costs

for the domestic microenterprise field, then clear expectations of their capacities to support

microenterprise development must be discussed. The next section delves into a study of what student

microfinance organizations are doing today.

http://www.accionusa.org/home/support-u.s.-microfinance/programs-and-impact/our-impact.aspx



IV. Market Research Findings

A. Student Microfinance Initiative Types The youth of the student microfinance initiative movement in the United States is remarkable.

Although the first microfinance club (The Elmseed Enterprise Fund at Yale) was founded in 2001, the

majority of the student microfinance clubs in the United States seem to have been founded between

2007 and 2010 – or within the past three years. The accolades they’ve received in that short span of

time, furthermore, have been impressive. Many of the student-led microfinance initiatives featured in

this study have been recognized by the Clinton Global Leadership Institute. Others have been awarded

grants from foundations and sponsorships from corporate donors. One recently founded student

organization at Washington and Lee University was just granted a $10,000 prize from Davis Projects for

Peace to establish a microfinance initiative with a partner MFI in Haiti. The activities that many of the

student organizations typically participate in – activities such as fundraising, participating in the Gumball

Challenge or $2 Per Day Challenge, and coaching microentrepreneurs – have also been prone to being

profiled by local and university newspapers.

According to my findings, student-led microfinance initiatives in the U.S. can be categorized in

the following three ways:

A) COMPLETELY STUDENT-LED, UNIVERSITY-RECOGNIZED STUDENT CLUBS;

B) NON-UNIVERSITY-RECOGNIZED STUDENT-LED NON-PROFITS; AND

C) FACULTY-GUIDED STUDENT-LED MICROFINANCE PROGRAMS.

A) Completely student-led, university-recognized student clubs

Category A clubs’ most common activities include fundraising to support microentrepreneurs

on KIVA and raising awareness of microfinance on campus by hosting conferences or panel

events. The more ambitious ones are consulting for MFIs or non-profits, working directly with

entrepreneurs abroad, or working directly with entrepreneurs in their local communities on

small-scale coaching or lending projects.

Examples: BR Microcapital (Cornell), Cambridge Microfinance Initiative (Harvard), Elon Microfinance

Initiative, Microfinance Working Group (Columbia), Davidson Microfinance Club, Duke Microfinance

Leadership Initiative, Goizeta Microfinance Club and Fund (Emory), Students 4 Sustainbility (George

Washington University), Haverford Microfinance Club, Trockman Microfinance Initiative (Indiana

University), Lehigh Microfinance Club, Messiah College Microfinance, NYU Microfinance Initiative, OWL

Microfinance (Rice), Point Loma Nazarene University, Princeton University Microfinance Club, SEED

(University of Virginia), MicrOlin (Washington University in St. Louis), University of Chicago Microfinance

Initiative, University of Pennsylvania Microfinance Club, Soka University of America Microfinance Club

Strengths of Type A Clubs:



Club achievement and entrepreneurial potential is high, since leadership is often changing and

open to new ambitions and visions

Clubs often have access to campus space, student club funds, and faculty support

Challenges of Type A clubs:

Constantly changing leaders means constantly changing visions and knowledge bases that are

not passed on to new members

There are often legal issues associated with club investment of funds. (Are donations tax-

deductible, and who pays the taxes for those investments?)

B) Organizations that operate “off-campus” as non-university recognized student-led

non-profits Category B organizations are non-profits that are typically led by recent graduates comprised of

a dedicated crew of part-time volunteers who dedicate more than a couple of hours each week

to the organization. Type B organizations often have ambitions to scale, are more likely to know

their target population very well, and more likely to launch innovative services that meet the

needs of their clientele.

Examples: The Intersect Fund (Rutgers), The Elmseed Enterprise Fund (Yale), Community Empowerment

Fund (UNC), Global Youth Connection (Wooster College), Capital Good Fund (Brown)

Strengths of Type B clubs:

Student-led non-profits that offer extensive services to local microenterpreneurs enjoy the cost-

cutting advantage of being able to recruit many quality part-time student volunteers from their

alma maters.

o Ex. At the Intersect Fund, students can apply for positions such as “program director”

and “public relations director,” positions which require an estimated time commitment

of 15 hours per week. The Intersect Fund also offers temporary positions such as “tax

preparer,” where students are expected to take a tax prep course, prepare tax returns

for low income entrepreneurs, and commit at least 5 hours per week during tax season.

Leaders are very serious about their organizations’ missions and are willing to devote full time

and energy to help the people they serve

Challenges of Type B clubs:



Challenges typical of those seen by regular non-profits. Collaboration and entrepreneurship is

key to success.

C) Organizations that are primarily student-led but guided by full-time faculty

advisors.

Category C organizations are often incorporated into a professor’s program or course, and of

the three categories, have the most longevity potential. The geographic focus of these programs

vary, but the professors understand the continuity challenges involved in student engagement

and combat it by recruiting through their course or program a new batch of participants every

year. Professors often cite the student learning experience – rather than the impact of their

work – as one of the core missions of their programs.

Examples: CHOMI (Stetson University), GLOBE (St. John’s University), Notre Dame Microfinance

Initiative, La Ceiba (University of Mary Washington), Bentley Microfinance Group, University of St.

Thomas MicroCredit Program

Strengths of Type C clubs:

Continuity challenges are mitigated because of the full-time position of the professor(s)

Student volunteers not in leadership positions are likely to take the work more seriously

because of grade incentives or the presence of an authority figure on the team

Challenges of Type C clubs:

Although professors are long-term, student involvement will always be temporary. Project

timelines are necessarily short – from one to two semesters

Programs are not very easily open to new ideas. A Type A club can be mobilized to participate in

a new fundraising challenge, for example, but a similar idea cannot be formally introduced to a

professor-led program because such activities lie may lie outside the original mission of the

program.

Summary of Student-led Microfinance

Organization Types

Count In This Study*

A) University-recognized student clubs 45

B) Non-university recognized student-led

non-profits

6



C) Primarily faculty-guided student

microfinance organizations

5

*See Appendix C for a complete list of the organizations observed or interviewed

B. Summary of Student Microfinance Initiative Achievements

(1) PROVIDING SERVICES TO LOCAL ENTREPRENEURS IN THEIR COMMUNITIES

(2) RAISING FUNDS TO LEND TO ENTREPRENEURS THROUGH KIVA OR PARTNER MFIS

(3) SUPPORTING ENTREPRENEURS ABROAD

(4) CONSULTING MFIS OR NON-PROFITS

(5) INVITING ILLUSTRIOUS SPEAKERS TO COME SPEAK AT THE CONFERENCES THEY HOST ON CAMPUS

(1) Students as Service Providers to Local Entrepreneurs

SNAPSHOT – Students as Service Providers to Local Entrepreneurs

School Status Services

The Intersect Fund New Brunswick, NJ (Rutgers University)

501(c)(3), recent grad full-

time staff, supported by

undergraduate and graduate

students

Loans between $500 and $5000

(0% default rate so far), business

training course, one-on-one

mentorship with a MicroMentor

professional, Quickbooks training,

free business tax preparation (for

those earning less than $50,000 a

year), graphic and website design,

semi-annual gala for clients and

community partners, access to a

computer lab

The Elmseed Enterprise Fund New Haven, CT (Yale University)

501(c)(3), one summer

manager continued Elmseed

activities for the first time

over the summer in 2010,

run by Yale undergraduates

Loans of $2000 (12% default rate

so far), business training class

(English and Spanish), one-on-one

consulting, business plan writing

program



Big Red Microcapital (BRM) Johnston County, NY (Cornell Business School)

Graduate student

organization under the

Johnson School Center for

Sustainable Global Enterprise

at Cornell University

One-on-one coaching, loans from

$5000 to $15,000

CHOMI Deland, FL (Stetson University)

Stetson University class

taught by two faculty

members; program (a

component of the class) is

executed by Stetson students

Workshops on business plan

construction (integrated with

class), loans of $1000 to $4000

Capital Good Fund New Providence, RI (Brown University)


time staff, Americorps staff,

and Brown undergraduates

Business loans between $1000 and

$5000 (1 loan default of 40 total),

immigration loans of $875, and

green loans of $200. Also offers

business basics workshop.

Notre Dame Microfinance Initiative South Bend, Indiana (Notre Dame University)

Notre Dame undergraduates

working in conjunction with a

faculty-taught program

under the Mendoza College

of Business.

Business training workshops (to

launch Fall 2010), faculty-advised

student consulting teams

Community Empowerment Fund Orange County and Durham, NC (University of North Carolina)


time staff, undergraduates

6-week business training course,

10-week savings program,

microloans, one-on-one coaching

Cambridge Microfinance Initiative Boston, MA (Harvard University)

Harvard undergraduates Small business training and

networking conference

Student-Led Domestic MF Initiatives

Student-led organizations that provide services to local microentrepreneurs are involved in a variety of

activities, from lending to coaching to offering savings programs and platforms for local microentrepreneurs to

showcase and sell their wares.

A few student-led organizations have ambitions to scale nationally, but most seem to be focused on

targeting only their local communities. The former, however, are an interesting set;



Technology Smarts

"The majority of our clients seem to need help with marketing and acquiring new customers. As such, working with

them on how they can leverage the internet is often a logical place for us to help. We have talked to clients about

things such as: how to optimize their website, how to increase traffic to their website, how to use Google Analytics,

and how to use Facebook for marketing purposes."

– Alessandra Zielinski, BRM Director

One of the competitive advantages that students seem to offer is their savviness with new

technology. Formatting word and excel documents, writing business plans, writing marketing plans, and

doing simple online research have been of great help to many of the clients served by student

organizations.

Students have also demonstrated the smart use of new technologies through their student

organization websites. At both The Intersect Fund and The Capital Good Fund, volunteers apply for

positions through a Wufoo form – a free application that offers websites professional style forms. To

track all shared documents and all e-mails that were exchanged with clients throughout the history of

the organization, The Intersect Fund and the Elmseed Enterprise Fund use the services of

highrisehq.com and backpackit.com. The Intersect Fund also uses offers visitors to their website the

opportunity to book free 30-minute one-on-one consulting sessions or 90-minute tax preparation

sessions at The Intersect Fund’s office through an application from a website called bookfresh.com. At

the Community Empowerment Fund, students use Google Spreadsheets to provide a valuable resource

for other non-profits servicing the homeless population in their local communities. The embedded



Google document, called the “Orange County Resource Database,” includes listings of all the possible

resources that might be of help to their target clientele, listing local food banks and shelters as well as

communication lines and employment networking offices.

Education vs. Lending capacities

The lending programs of student organizations seem to be relatively small-scale; the Elmseed

offers flat loans of $2000, The Intersect Fund and The Capital Good Fund only offer loans up to $5000,

and BR Microcapital offers loans between $5000 and $15,000.

The Elmseed Fund has lent out $56,400 to more than 20 clients since its founding in 2002; the

Capital Good Fund has lent out more than $46,000 to 40 entrepreneurs since its founding in 2008; BR

Microcapital has not lent out any funds since its founding in 2009.

However, many students seem to have proven themselves in their capacities to serve local

microentrepreneurs beyond the loans. At the Cambridge Microfinance Initiative at Harvard, students

have hosted free basic web development, marketing, presenting, and legal issues conferences for local

entrepreneurs. Since the launch of its 8-week “Build Your Business” curriculum for entrepreneurs, The

Intersect Fund has also offered free orientation classes for interested clients. In Fall 2010, the Elmseed

Enterprise Fund is planning to host a day-long “Social Media, Marketing, & Low Cost Solutions for Small

Businesses” conference on campus – and inviting professionals from ACCION USA, the SBA, and

accounting and consulting firms to speak. Participants are often required to register online to attend,

and the popularity of these workshops has been high.

Earned Income

“One simple check on the worth of training is whether participants will pay a small fee to attend.

Another simple check is whether training is voluntary or mandatory.”16

- Jonathan Morduch and Mark Schreiner, from “Replicating

microfinance in the United States: Opportunities and

Challenges” (2001).

A few of the student organizations profiled in this study seem to have passed these checks. The

Intersect Fund offers its Build Your Business orientation courses for free, but charges either $100 or

$250 for the complete 8-week, three-hour-each-week sessions (the fee depends on the income of the

participant and the size of the household). Admission to this program is competitive, and participants

(usually new entrepreneurs) go through a curriculum designed to teach them about crafting a mission

statement, analyzing a business opportunity, sizing up the competition, cost structure development and

16 Morduch, Jonathan and Schreiner, Mark (2001). “Replicating microfinance in the United States:

Opportunities and Challenges.” EconWPA.

<http://www.nyu.edu/projects/morduch/documents/Morduch%20and%20Schreiner%20on%20MF%20in%20the%20US.PDF>

http://www.nyu.edu/projects/morduch/documents/Morduch%20and%20Schreiner%20on%20MF%20in%20the%20US.PDF



pricing strategies, finding the target consumer, registering a business, etc. The curriculum was

developed by the founders of The Intersect Fund, has gone through several developments, and is

continuously being improved. (Each live course as well as each potential instructor-in-training is

videotaped, and an adult education professor from Rutgers University serves as an advisor.) The

Intersect Fund also offers services such as graphics design and Quickbooks services to graduates of its

Build Your Business program for a small fee.

At The Elmseed Enterprise Fund and The Capital Good Fund, clients are also charged fees

(usually between $25 and $30) for access to the business training classes and skills-building conferences

hosted by the students.

Innovations

Finally, students have demonstrated remarkable willingness to change their program offerings

to meet the needs of their clients. After requiring business plans from its loan clients for many years, for

example, The Elmseed Enterprise Fund piloted its first business plan workshop this summer – and plans

to offer it as a program in the fall. After noticing the importance of savings over simple access to credit,

the Community Empowerment Fund launched a 10-week savings program that offers financial literacy

education, mandates weekly deposits, and rewards participants with a 10% matching grant from CEF at

the end of the program. At Big Red Microcapital, where MBA students can receive academic credit for

coaching local entrepreneurs in the Johnston County, NY area, students are looking into developing

ways to publicize local entrepreneurs by hosting client fairs and displaying client products on campus. In

Providence, RI, the Capital Good Fund was honored by the Clinton Global Leadership Initiative for the

launch of its citizenship loans. The organization also recently launched its DoubleGreen credit builder

loan, a $200 loan for people with no or poor credit history which pays for the installation of a

programmable thermostat that can help borrowers choose the heating settings and subsequently

reduce the energy costs of their home.

At The Intersect Fund, the organization is looking into developing a “mobile marketplace” with

the goals of hosting 12 client showcases per year throughout greater New Brunswick, launching a buy-

local campaign, and getting The Intersect Fund clients online and in local stores. A fundraising drive for

the campaign is being matched by an Intersect Fund partner, the Catholic Campaign for Human

Development, for up to $35,000. At the semi-annual galas already being hosted for clients by The

Intersect Fund, clients routinely earn up to $1000 in sales per hour, according to The Intersect Fund

website.

Faculty-guided Domestic MF Initiatives - SNAPSHOT

CHOMI

At Stetson University, Dr. Neal Long and Dr. Thaver guide CHOMI, which has been integrated

into a class at Stetson. The professors teach a course called “Poverty and Microcredit.”



“In the first half of the course, students study poverty in the US and around the world. Each

student develops a business plan for a business they would run, if they were going to run a

business. For most of the second half, we operate a workshop series (5 workshops) on business

plan construction. We match up each student with one or two community participants. The

students help the community participants to develop a business plan, since the students would

have already been through the process. If someone wants to apply for a loan, they have to go

through the workshop series.”

The workshop series has been offered more than 14 times since its founding. Surprisingly, the

majority of the community participants did not end up applying for a loan; they were only interested in

getting the support to get started or to improve their existing business. To many of the community

participants, the idea of a business plan was an innovative thing; many were learning for the first time

what a business plan was. “The workshop series has served a community need separate from the need

for a loan,” according to the faculty advisor I e-mailed.

Notre Dame Microfinance Club

Professor Melissa Paulsen designed a two-semester long class that connects students with

entrepreneurs in the community. The first class is a very theoretical introduction to microfinance; the

second class gets the students out in the field working in teams with a total of 8-10 local entrepreneurs.

Student groups of four team members each are matched with an entrepreneur and sign a confidentiality

form to be able to look at the entrepreneurs’ financial forms and taxes. Each student team meets with

the professor once every two weeks. Students also meet with their clients twice per month. Dr.

Paulsen’s microfinance class has served over 40 microentrepreneurs over the past few years.

In Spring 2010, the Notre Dame Microfinance Initiative – with 15-19 members – were approved

by the university to work in partnership with the local entrepreneurs already served by Dr. Paulsen’s

classes. The Notre Dame Microfinance Initiative plans to contact local banks for sponsorship and host a

large workshop in Fall 2010 on topics related to managing cashflow and debt, reading financial

statements, and finding credit. Speakers may include students and professors.

(2) Students as Fund Raisers

SNAPSHOT – Students as Fund Raisers

School Impact

MicrOlin Received $300 unsolicited donation from a



(University of Washington at St. Louis) fraternity; planning to use all funds towards loans

Gumball Capital (Stanford University)

Raised over $20,000 since its founding in 2007;

current Executive Director now participating in a

7-continent marathon run to raise $125,000

University of St. Thomas MicroCredit Program (University of St. Thomas)

Distributed $13,275.00 in loans on Kiva since

founding in Fall 2007

Goizeta Microfinance Club and Fund (Emory Business School)

Invested $40,000 in its first year in a loan fund to

IMPRO

$2 Day Challenge Microfinance Abroad (Various Schools)

University of Mary Washington raised more than

$6,750 for La Ceiba the first year for Challenge

week. Other schools’ successes are not reported.

Princeton Microfinance Organization Raised $2000 to for FINCA to establish a village

bank

OWL Microfinance (Rice University)

Honored at the Clinton Global Initiative in 2009

for initiatives to support microfinance; goal of

raising $10,000 reached the first year. Lends

primarily on KIVA and Wokai.

(3) Students Supporting Entrepreneurs Abroad

SNAPSHOT – Students Supporting Microentrepreneurs Abroad

School Activities

GLOBE Daughters of Charity – various countries (St. John’s University)

Lending and consulting. Each team has a liasion

person that communicates with a representative

of the Daughters of Charity, GLOBE’s field

partners, who operate in over 90 countries in the

world, some 76 of which are classified as

developing countries. Has raised over $60,000

since its founding in Spring 2009.

Global Microfinance Brigades Various locations in Honduras

7 days spent learning about the community,



(Chapman University, University of Southern Cailfornia… TBC)

investing funds into the community, and training

local inhabitants on each trip. Funds invested in

the two projects so far: $800 and $1600.

Microcredit Program at University of St. Thomas KIVA clients – various countries; expanding locally (University of St. Thomas)

Lending, Consulting. Already operating in Yucatan,

Pakistan, Chile, and Turkey. Exploring domestic

program launches in New Orleans and New

Mexico.

Students 4 Sustainability (George Washington University)

Selling merchandise made by entrepreneurs

abroad on campus

La Ceiba Honduras (University of Mary Washington)

Selling handbags and pouches from women

entrepreneurs in Honduras, lending, consulting

The Zambia Project (Messiah College)

Started two credit and savings associations in

Zambia.

(4) Students Consulting MFIs or non-profits

Consulting for non-profits is a popular trend amongst MBA students, who typically complete the

projects in teams and under the supervision of a faculty advisor. The idea for Moremarbles.com, a for-

profit website that connects student consultants (typically MBA or undergraduate business students

advised by a faculty mentor) to non-profits and small companies, was founded by a recent MBA

graduate who realized the potential of student consultants.

At UVA, a student organization called SEED offers free consulting services to NGOs and social

entrepreneurs with an emphasis on microfinance. Since its founding in 2008, it has worked with NGOs in

15 different countries. SEED members are placed in project teams of 10-15 people. The team

communicates with the non-profit or MFI via skype, e-mail, or personal meetings throughout the

semester - and with 550 members on its listserv and 150 active members, it is one of the larger student

organizations at UVA. One of the domestic projects that SEED students have worked on is with the Hope

Community Center, a non-profit that works with the homeless in Charlottesville, Virginia. SEED helped

the Hope Community Center start a number of social businesses that employs the homeless.

(5) Students Hosting Conferences on Campus



Examples of School s that have hosted conferences on campus:

Examples of invited speakers:

Princeton Microfinance Organization Duke University Microfinance Leadership

Initiative University of Pennsylvania Microfinance

Club SEED (UVA) Trockman Microfinance Initiative (Indiana

University)

CGAP representatives FINCA representatives Morgan Stanley representatives Pro Mujer representatives Self-Help representatives ACCION International representatives Microcredit Summit Campaign BRAC USA founder KIVA founder Jessica Jackley Acumen Fund founder Ashoka fellows

III. ACCION USA-Student Club Partnership Potential Discussion According to the vision statements published on the websites of many student microfinance

clubs, students are clearly interested in partnering with MFIs. One of Point Loma Nazarene University’s

listed goals, for example, is to “establish a formal partnership with a current microfinance organization.”

Although the focus was traditionally on international microfinance, interest in partnerships with

domestic MDOs also seems to be on the rise. On the University of Chicago Microfinance Initiative

Facebook page, students expressed interest in gaining hands-on field work experience by working with

organizations such as “ACCION Chicago, Kiva, and Oekocredit USA.” The graduate student-led

microfinance initiative at Emory University’s MBA Program stated on their website that they were

“currently reaching out to an Atlanta-based microfinance organization and hope to share [their]

business knowledge with local recipients of microfinance loans through club-held workshops.”

The interest in partnerships does not come solely from students. In my interview with the

manager of a small grocery store, she told me that the opportunity to be supported by a few student

volunteers would be great. However, she warned me about the difference between a student

“consultant” and a student volunteer:

"Volunteering for small business owners is great, but that volunteering has to be in a capacity that isn’t just suggesting techniques or doing business plans for them, but that is also doing the grunt work (some not so fun tasks). Getting the grunt work done helps the student understand what the small business owner spends most of his/her time doing (and therefore, why they don’t have much time to plan things, usually). It’s also the most helpful way that the student can help the owner.

"A business student is able to write a beautiful business plan, but if they haven’t worked in the business, been witness to the amount of grunt work involved in it, and all the challenges that aren’t taught in class, then the student isn’t able to write a realistic action plan. Business plans



need to be well-written in order to get funding, but they don’t need to be realistic. Action plans are needed to actually put things in place."

The manager also identified for me some activities that she felt students could help with in particular:

Helping to create a Facebook page Making spreadsheets in Excel Putting profiles of the business up on Yelp or Facebook Creating marketing plans that goes beyond the marketing idea and talks about realistic plans of

action for flyer drop-off locations, most efficient routes, poster creation deadlines, etc. Anything with new technology

Student volunteers can probably be of the most help if they do not try to do a lot, but instead

concentrate on short-term tasks, she advised. Finally, the manager recommended that the student and the microentrepreneur sit down for at least a couple of hours to identify the needs of the business and to finalize expectations of a project timeline.

V. The Challenges of Engagement Perhaps the reason there have not been more student-MFI partnerships are because of the

liabilities involved with letting students get involved in providing services to the clients of the MFI.

Students interested in consulting who volunteer their time with a client may be perceived as the face of

the MFI, and the MFI must be careful not to have the client confuse the volunteerism of the student

with the MFI’s professional capacities. A clear risk, according to a microfinance practitioner that I

interviewed from ACCION Chicago, is that the client may feel that the student – and by extension the

MFI – is checking up on their loan. Identities must be clearly defined before the any student-MFI

consulting partnership.

In addition, many of the students that I interviewed expressed many challenges facing their

organizations. At some universities, the very act of starting up a club is a challenge; the university may

require a faculty advisor and by-laws. According to one interviewee, it took a year for the student’s club

to be founded because of the bureaucratic requirements. At the Microfinance USA conference, I met

two students from Claremont McKenna College who talked about how difficult it was to find a faculty

advisor for their club.

Students of the newer clubs also expressed worries of potential challenges in fundraising and

recruitment. How does one pull together a club with members with varying levels of interest in

microfinance and with completely different expectations for engagement?

Even if a club does have the infrastructure to offer ambitious services such as the provision of

business training to local microentrepreneurs, there are challenges in asking students to target a local

community.



As an anonymous student who had participated in providing business consulting to local

microentrepreneurs advised:

“The best way to get engaged students is to get engaging clients, which is the most challenging part of all.

It's very hard to find people who are committed to coming to meetings, need help, and that we are able

help. If you end up finding crackpots (no offense, but we've heard some crazy ideas in the years), your

volunteers will not be happy, and will drop off when there isn't much work to do.”

In addition, many students have had to make sure that clients understand they cannot work

wonders, and aren’t there to run the business for them. At BR Microcapital, students and clients sit

down before the start of coaching sessions to verbally go through the terms and expectations for each

partner. At the Cambridge Microfinance Initiative, clients can apply online to receive coaching services,

but check off a disclaimer beforehand:

“I understand that the Cambridge Microfinance Initiative is not a group of professionals or experts but

rather an organization of student volunteers who have studied up on the basic aspects of starting and

running a small business. I know they will not run my business with me but will only inform me of general

principles and help me find informational resources.”17

Furthermore, one of the challenges that many student organizations encounter is institutional

memory. To solve this problem, Elmseed - like the Intersect Fund – has invested in online services such

as backpackit.com and highrisehq.com, websites which help organizations archive and manage their

information and external contacts.

A related challenge is the problem of continuity, which often limits student organizations’

abilities to manage client relationships for more than one or two years. For example, Elmseed’s ability to

launch a long-term Spanish-language business workshop program is contingent upon its ability to

maintain one or two leaders with the prerequisite language skills and passion for Elmseed’s mission

every year. The recruitment of a talented pool of members from each graduating class, therefore, is

essential to the longevity of the organization.

VI. Summary of Market Research Findings

A number of the most impressive student-led microfinance initiatives seem to be led by faculty advisors or truly dedicated founders who continue to work full time on their 501(c)(3) organizations after graduation. These types of organizations are less likely to face continuity challenges, and are more likely to be extremely innovative in terms of their program service offerings.

17



Given the right motivation and a good understanding of the impact of the loan, student clubs

can fundraise. Although KIVA is the top destination for most student lenders, there has been a

shift towards finding a partner that can provide greater transparency and/or greater returns

about the impact of a loan. More and more students are interested in finding their own MFI

partners who can work with them directly to manage a loan fund.

Many small businesses may stand to benefit from the technology savvy of student volunteers.

The challenge is in connecting entrepreneurs with these opportunities without the increasing

the liability of the MFI.

Findings from Survey

Status in School

# of Respondents

% of Respondents

Undergraduate 54 62.8%

Recent Alumni 24 27.9%

Graduate 7 8.1%



A. Student Demographics

Findings encompass aggregate results from

87 students representating 28 schools. Of the

respondents, 63% were current undergraduate

students, 28% were recent graduates, 8% were

graduate students, and one respondent turned out to

be a faculty advisor. The majority of the respondents

were juniors or seniors, intending to graduate in 2011

or 2012. A large percentage of the students – almost 40% - are studying economics or business. More

than 65% of the respondents also indicated that they had obtained a leadership position within the

organization. In addition, 28% of the respondents reported that they were a founding member of their

club.

List of Universities # of Responses

Chapman University 2 Columbia University 1 Duke University 6

Faculty Advisor 1 1.2%

TOTAL 86 100.0%

Graduation Year

# of Respondents

% of Respondents

2008 5 5.8%

2009 1 1.2%

2010 18 20.9%

2011 23 26.7%

2012 28 32.6%

2013 10 11.6%

Other 1 1.2%

TOTAL 86 100.0%



Elon University 1 Emory University 1 Georgetown University 1 Harvard University 2 Indiana University 2 Lehigh University 8 Messiah College 3 Northeastern University 1 University of Notre Dame 9 Ohio Wesleyan University 5 Princeton University 7 Rice University 1 Soka University of America 1 University of Houston 2 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 1 UC San Diego 4 UC Santa Cruz 1 University of Chicago 1 University of Virginia 16 University of Washington 1 University of Pennsylvania 4 Washington and Lee University 2 Washington University in St. Louis - Olin Business School 1 Yale University 1 Total 86

28

B. Student Commitment to Clubs

55% of the respondents indicated that they devoted ½ hour to 2 hours per week to their

microfinance clubs, 30% indicated that they spent anywhere from 3 hours to 6 hours on their clubs, and

13% indicated that they spent seven or more hours on their clubs. The results also indicate that

microfinance is not the only extracurricular activity that most students commit their time to. 43% of the

students indicated that they were involved in three or more other extracurricular activities, and 30%

indicated that they were involved in two other extracurricular activities.

The majority of the survey respondents are also relatively young club members. Close to 50% of

the students were involved in their microfinance clubs for only one or two semesters. Around 34% of

the students had been involved for three or four semesters. Around 10% stated that they had been

involved in the club for more than two years.

C. Student Motivation



More than half of the students surveyed (58%) indicated that they became interested in

microfinance because of a strong interest in “economic development.” 44% indicated that they had

either read Muhummud Yunus’ Banker to the Poor or another book on microfinance; 35% said that they

had heard about microfinance from a professor; and 29% had become interested after hearing about it

at a student activities fair. Only 16% indicated that they became interested in microfinance after being

recruited to join a microfinance club.

Of the reasons given for joining a microfinance club, 81% cited “interest in the developing

world” as a major factor, while “interest in economic development in the U.S.” received only 33% of the

attention. The second most cited motivation, at 59%, was “exposure to issues in microfinance.” 40% of

the students revealed that they were interested in microfinance as a “potential career” and 36%

checked off “interest in getting into the business world” as a motivating factor. Surprisingly, however,

only 24% admitted that they were “building their resumes” was a motivating factor. Only 14% of the

respondents indicated that they were interested in starting their own small business.



D. Club Activities

More than 74% of the respondents indicated that one of their primary duties involved planning

events or meetings for the club. 55% of the respondents noted “raising awareness of microfinance on

campus” as a primary duty, and 37% noted “fundraising for the club” as a primary duty.

When asked about the main focuses of their clubs, only 47% indicated that one of the club

focuses was on microfinance U.S., while 83% indicated that one of the club focuses was on microfinance

abroad. 42% of the respondents indicated that they were raising awareness of microfinance in the local

community.

Using Excel pivot tables, I was also able to identify the schools that had respondents indicating

that they were focused on engaging communities through training, lending, sponsoring student interns,

or consulting activities. A summary of the analysis is included in the table below.

Club Focuses # Schools (Total in Survey = 28)

% Schools

Lending through a partner organization like Kiva 20 71%

Lending through the student organization itself 10 36%

Offering financial education to local micro entrepreneurs 13 46%

Helping micro entrepreneurs develop their business plans 16 57%

Teaching classes to local micro entrepreneurs 10 36%

Mentoring micro entrepreneurs in smaller group settings 7 25%

Sponsoring student interns to work on microfinance abroad 14 50%

Sponsoring student interns to work on microfinance in the U.S. 10 36%

Raising awareness of microfinance on campus 24 86%

Raising awareness of microfinance in the local community 24 86%

Consulting for community organizations or businesses 13 46%



E. Needs and Values

When asked about the experiences or opportunities they have hoped to gain from being a part

of a microfinance club, more than 92% indicated that gaining “a greater understanding of how

microfinance works internationally” was of high or very high importance to them. In comparison, only

49% indicated that “gaining a greater understanding of how microfinance works in the U.S.” was of high

or very high importance.

More than 70% of the respondents also indicated that the opportunity to meet and speak to

real microfinance practitioners or real microfinance clients would be high or very high importance. In

addition, 61% indicated that having the opportunity to consult microfinance clients would be of high or

extremely high importance.

When asked about the resources that would be “moderately useful” or “very useful” to their

microfinance clubs, 88% again reiterated “opportunities to speak to professionals working in the

microfinance field.” 81% supported “a webinar roundtable with microfinance industry leaders,” and 78%

supported an “annual roundtable with other student microfinance club members.” Other potential

resources were also given high ratings; 71% indicated that “An online platform where clubs can

collaborate to discuss best” would be “moderately” or “very” useful and 78% supported “guidance on

measuring club impact.”

In follow-up comments to question 13a18, respondents further emphasized their desire for

collaboration with other clubs, guidance on how to make an impact through start-up kits, direct

communication with professionals working in the field, and the ability to network with other clubs

engaged in similar activities.

What resource would you find MOST useful to your club? – Highlighted Responses to Question 13b -

“Guidance from both professionals from the microfinance field and perhaps a start-up kit of sorts for new

organizations to get off the ground.

Discussing the world of microfinance with professionals would be most helpful.

I would love to have more connection with other students working in a similar way. A network to share what we are doing and learn from others would be awesome. The existing platforms aren't too great to do this on.

18

“13a. How useful would the following resources be to your microfinance club?”



It took our club about 2.5 years before we were working with grassroots microfinance clients in Zambia. This would not have been possible if it hadn't been for the support we got from Microfinance professionals and could have happened much quicker if we hadn't been re-inventing the wheel the whole time. Resources and collaboration are very important when starting a club and the more streamlined this can be the more scalable microfinance clubs in the U.S. can be.

I feel like the biggest setback our organization has faced is our lack of direct communication with fellow collegiate microfinance programs and professionals in the field (with the exception of our advisors). It would be a tremendous asset to become a part of a consortium of like-minded clubs and professionals, effectively enabling the collegiate microfinance world to advance more rapidly and with greater unity. Rather than operating as a set of individual units we should work together to develop a model that can be used across the country.

Collaboration with other student groups and microfinance institutions to determine the biggest needs and niches for student involvement would be fantastic. When trying to formulate a mission for the group it would have been very helpful to have had input from leaders in the field to determine in what areas students can have the most impact.

Many of the club members at my university are interested more in learning rather than in going into the field and becoming a practitioner. Therefore, I find some academic resources to satisfy their academic curiosity very useful.

Any tool that would help build the network of microfinance clubs across the US. Any tool that would help build the network between microfinance organizations/ practitioners and microfinance clubs.

Currently we are focusing on microfinance projects abroad, however once we are established and have more funds we may work on more local projects.

A start-up kit for new microfinance clubs-- or just a start-up kit for any club. Our club focuses heavily on fundraising by obtaining grants and donations from businesses, and a guide to help get us started on this would be very useful.

As a lending and savings institution, we would greatly benefit from assistance in keeping our books consistently up to date.

Having a start-up kit for new clubs would be FANTASTIC. Right now, we know what we want, its just hard to find all of the information all in one place. Also, when we asked about lending guidelines and how exactly ACCION USA works w/ the club we received an answer that was a little unclear. We would like to see the lending guidelines in hard copy and perhaps hear from another club what their experiences have been like so far lending w/ ACCION USA. Receiving clear examples of how they set up their guarantee fund and how they work w/ ACCION to lend to small businesses. That way we have a strong foundation to start from and can start our own path. (Right now we are a little unstable and unsure how we should continue forward w/ the guarantee fund etc.) Speaking w/ other clubs would be great too. That way we can ask each other how we organized certain club aspects and bounce ideas off of each other.

Guidance on measuring club impact and e-learning course about the credit system in the U.S.

Networking opportunities.

The ability to easily communicate with other professionals from the micro-finance field to help assess where the greatest need for assistance is

Guidance on measuring club impact

Greater publicity on our campus would be helpful.



In our first two years, we loved being able to reach out to other like-minded student groups and school

departments. Definitely was the most helpful resource.”

F. Potential for Engagement

Around 52% of the respondents indicated that they were “very likely” to host a panel event on

campus, and a similar percentage indicated that they were “very likely” to host microentrepreneurs

from their local community on campus. 45% were very likely to fundraise to host speakers, and 44%

were very likely to participate in coaching microenterpereneurs in activities with ideas for strategies in

marketing, sales, etc. Relatively lower percentages, however, indicated that would be “very likely” to

blog about microfinance, blockwalk in their local communities, or shoot and edit a video about an

experience at an event.

How likely would you be to participate in the following activities with your club?

N/A or No Response*

Not Likely

Somewhat Likely

Very Likely

Blogging about microfinance 12.8% 36.0% 30.2% 20.9%

Blockwalking in your local community 17.4% 31.4% 33.7% 17.4%

Helping to design a website for a microentrepreneur

12.8% 26.7% 29.1% 31.4%

Coaching microentrepreneurs with ideas for strategies in marketing, sales, etc.

10.5% 8.1% 37.2% 44.2%

Hosting a panel event on campus 10.5% 5.8% 31.4% 52.3%

Fundraising to host speakers on campus 10.5% 9.3% 34.9% 45.3%

Hosting microentrepreneurs from your local community on campus

10.5% 12.8% 26.7% 50.0%

Shooting or editing a short video about an experience at an event

9.3% 34.9% 29.1% 26.7%

Raising awareness about microfinance through twitter, youtube, or facebook

12.8% 15.1% 31.4% 40.7%

Broadcasting a microfinance simulcast course taught by a professor from another campus

12.8% 10.5% 39.5% 37.2%

Attending online webinars to establish a greater knowledge base about microfinance

9.3% 15.1% 30.2% 45.3%

*There is a high percentage of N/A or “no responses” to this question because I added this question to the survey

a couple of days after the launch of the survey, after already receiving the 8th

response.



The majority of the respondents also indicated that they do not go off campus very often.

In follow-up comments to the survey, a few students have commented on how they were

curious about what the survey results would lead to, and indicated their willingness to get involved in a

student program run by ACCION USA.

“This sounds exciting and should definitely be helpful (based on the 13th question in the survey). Motivational speakers from KIVA, ACCION, etc. would be very useful to generate interest on campus. It is difficult to keep the interest of students into something like microfinance where the money is going across the world. *…+ I hope you do come up with some good solutions and Ohio Wesleyan will probably be willing to be a part of something ACCION is doing (It's a club, so I can’t make decisions alone).”

- Pratyush Agarwal, 2009-2010 president of Ohio Wesleyan University’s microfinance club

Summary of Survey Findings

Students are very interested in supporting local MFIs, but lack information about how they can get best get involved

Collaboration is key. Students want to talk to real microfinance practitioners and each other about what’s happening in the field and the best practices in engagement.

It may be difficult for students to get transportation off-campus at some universities; town-gown relationships are often not very close.



VII. How can Students Help Scale Microfinance in the U.S. through partnerships with MDOs such as ACCION USA?

Conclusions and Recommendations to ACCION USA for Engagement

“Microfinance is such a young, and rapidly growing industry that I feel, and others I know feel, [that we]

can actually take part in its development.”

- Anonymous student from Survey

"In order to get students interested in domestic microfinance, there needs to be a good

story/case presented for microfinance in the U.S. Domestic microfinance is not on everyone’s radar.”

- Travis Kiefer, Executive Director of Gumball Capital

The relative youth of the student microfinance initiative movement in the United States is

remarkable. Although the first microfinance club (The Elmseed Enterprise Fund at Yale) was founded in

2001, the majority of the student microfinance clubs in the United States seem to have been founded

between 2007 and 2010 – all within the past three years. The accolades they’ve received in that short

span of time, furthermore, have been impressive. Many of the student-led microfinance initiatives

featured in this study have been recognized by the Clinton Global Leadership Institute. Others have

been awarded grants from foundations and sponsorships from corporate donors. One recently founded

student organization at Washington and Lee University was just granted a $10,000 prize from Davis

Projects for Peace to establish a microfinance initiative with a partner MFI in Haiti. The activities that

many of the student organizations typically participate in – activities such as fundraising, participating in

the Gumball Challenge or $2 Per Day Challenge, and coaching microentrepreneurs – have also been

prone to being profiled by local and university newspapers.

Based on findings from the interviews, the opportunity to engage Category (A) student

organizations – or members of university-recognized microfinance clubs – are the greatest. Category (B)

student organizations – or student-led non-profit initiatives – often have target populations and

missions different from that of ACCION USA; partnerships with these types of organizations may be

possible, but may need to be decided upon within a case-by-case basis. The final type of student

organization – those initiatives guided heavily by faculty – are possible partner organizations for ACCION

USA on a case-by-case basis as well, since many of the faculty-guided student organizations seem to be

focused on integrating coursework with international microfinance rather than domestic microfinance.

The exception to this general trend is the Microfinance Initiative at Notre Dame, where students are

working in conjunction with Professor Melissa Paulsen’s yearlong microfinance class to engage in

providing more services for local entrepreneurs.



Key Activities Identified for Student Microfinance Clubs:

1. Fundraising for domestic microfinance through participation in campaigns such as Microbike

2. Awareness raising in the local community of the loan products and online financial education

webinar services offered by MDOs such as ACCION USA

3. Awareness raising of the meaning of domestic microfinance and the importance of financial

education to other students on campus

4. Support of local microentrepreneurs (especially those less tech-savvy) via one-on-one

“coaching” activities and business-related workshops held on campus

Students cannot be depended upon to know their communities well (an overwhelming

percentage of the survey respondents revealed that they visited an local small business fewer than once

per month), but students can be depended upon to do the tasks that they know the best – activities

such as raising awareness on campus, creating marketing campaigns and brochures about local

microentrepreneurs in their communities, and creating innovative ideas for fundraising (Owl

Microfinance at Rice University hosted a “Mr. Rice Asian” pageant that raised over $1000 for KIVA, and

Gumball Capital challenges students to return profits from a loan of $27 and 27 gumballs).

Taking this point into consideration, I recommend that ACCION USA engage students through

low-key, temporary time commitment activities such as fundraising, raising awareness, hosting

conferences, and volunteering useful skills in web design and technology for potentially interested small

business clients on a case-by-case basis.

The first step and challenge in targeting the students in the afore-mentioned “Category A”

organizations is to make sure that they are aware of the importance of domestic microfinance and the

need to include it as a serious component of their clubs’ mission statements.

Most “Category B” student organizations (e.g. The Intersect Fund, The Elmseed Enterprise Fund,

Capital Good Fund, Community Empowerment Fund, etc.) are already focused primarily on domestic

microfinance. Although these student organization types tend to be the more successful student-

founded establishments, their unique mission statements and unique clientele demographics means

that partnerships with these types of organizations are best formed on an ad hoc basis.

As my research has shown, regular Category A student organizations are highly interested in

getting engaged with microfinance, but international microfinance is still the main focus amongst the

majority of these initiatives – in part, perhaps, because it is easier to raise a few hundred dollars to lend

to an international client on KIVA.



With ACCION USA’s new presence on KIVA and efforts to expand its financial education and

green loan programs, however, the potential for the average environmentally conscious student to act

as effective awareness raisers of the domestic microfinance movement – especially in a social media

setting – is significant. Again, the next step is to figure out a workable partnership model that would

limit the operational costs on ACCION USA’s side and increase the value that students get from

participating in ACCION USA’s student program.

The engagement of young people for social movements is not a new idea. As Wendy Kopp,

founder of Teach for American and Nancy Lublin, founder of Dress for Success can attest, a young person

may not have the work experience to know how the industry works – but their naiveté can often

motivate them to go beyond what is initially thought to be possible. As Lublin explained in an interview,

“when you are that age, you don't know that ‘there is a way things are done’ and so you work off

instinct and data rather than tradition. You also don't have a mortgage or a family, so pulling all-nighters

isn't a big deal.” 19

The ACCION USA-Student Partnership Model

After much reflection and discussion with student interns in the office, Erica Dorn and the Microfinance

Council volunteers, the ACCION USA Student Partnerships Project team agreed on the following model

for engaging students in domestic microenterprise:

1. ACCION USA will launch a series of campaigns that revolve around fundraising, raising

awareness of domestic microfinance on campus or in local communities, and supporting local

microentrepreneurs. Students will have the freedom to sign up for the specific challenges by

getting together a team, designating a leader, and filling out a short form on the website.

2. The Microfinance Council, a group of working professionals based in the NYC region, will work

with the volunteers to execute the campaigns.

3. ACCION USA will highlight the activities of the students through its blog and on its new website

for students at www.studentsforaccion.org.

4. Students who sign up for the mailing list or participate in an ACCION USA student campaigns may get the chance to win prizes such as an ACCION USA t-shirt or other promotional material for their team members; regular updates about other clubs and U.S. microfinance in a monthly student e-newsletter; and the chance to have a speaker from ACCION USA come to their campus to talk about issues in domestic microfinance.

19

Price, Andrew. “Q&A: In Lean Times, Nonprofits Give the Business World Tips.” <http://www.good.is/post/q-a-

taking-money-saving-tricks-from-the-nonprofit-world-to-big-

business/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+good/lbvp+(GOOD+Main+RSS+Fe

ed)>.


http://www.good.is/post/q-a-taking-money-saving-tricks-from-the-nonprofit-world-to-big-business/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+good/lbvp+(GOOD+Main+RSS+Feed)






(2) The Manager of

Volunteer Partnerships at

ACCION USA receives the

notice and forwards the

e-mail to a volunteer

from the Microfinance

Council.

(3) The Microfinance

Council volunteer e-mails

the student team leader

and works with the leader

to execute the campaign.

(1) Students form

teams and sign up

for an ACCION

USA Student

Campaign by

filling out a short

form on the

website.



A. The Website

Recommendations for the website:

I. A Forum where students can discuss issues in microfinance with other clubs

II. A “Why U.S. Microfinance?” page explaining the history and importance of domestic microenterprise

III. Opportunities to Get Involved in an ACCION USA student campaign and view powerpoint “Action Guides” that list the point values20 of the campaigns and provide more information about the campaigns

IV. Quick access ACCION USA’s Financial Education Materials and archive of webinars

V. A page listing and promoting the activities of the Featured Student Organizations

20

The “point values” idea is inspired by the One Campaign, where campuses are awarded points for completing

actions that can be as little as “leaving a comment on Facebook” to “getting people to sign petitions on campus.”



B. The Campaigns

Campaign Ideas *=new ideas

Description

Microbike 2010

(400 initial points) +

(# participants x 2) = Total Points

Organize a biking event to “pedal against poverty.” This

campaign is being managed by ACCION International.

Students form a team on campus, plan a bike route,

sign each participant up for $10, and get a free t-shirt

for each participant.

Help an entrepreneur design a website

(500 points)

Many ACCION USA clients are in the process of putting

their businesses online and have asked for help. At

$49.95/year, Yola.com offers a domain name and an

easy way to put a launch a business site online. In-

person meetings between clients, the loan consultants

who recommended the clients, and students are ideal.

Host an event on campus to raise awareness Give students the freedom to plan creative ways to



about U.S. microfinance

(300 points)

raise awareness of domestic microfinance on campus

*Host a fundraiser event on campus

(250 points) + (Amount invested in ACCION

USA or ACCION USA client x 4) = Total Points

Similar to the challenge above. Where the proceeds go

are up to the students. Options include giving an

unrestricted grant to ACCION USA to support its

operating costs, setting up a loan fund** with ACCION

USA, or lending to an ACCION USA client on KIVA.

*Lend to an ACCION USA client on KIVA

(Amount lent x 4) = Total Points

Any student group that already has a lending team on

KIVA can do this.

*Make a video (<1 minute) about why you

support domestic microfinance and post it in

reply to ACCION USA’s challenge video on

Youtube.

(300 points) + (ACCION USA t-shirt 1st place)

+ (Other ACCION USA swag 2nd place) = Total

Value

This campaign would be targeted at students interested

in marketing, video production, and/or multimedia.

Quality videos may help increase awareness of ACCION

USA’s internet presence and help the student earn

great resume leverage.

Become an ACCION USA field representative

(1000 points) + (200 points per client

referral) = Total Points

Individual students are trained on how to pre-package a

loan and work closely with ACCION USA loan

consultants to help advise potential clients on the loan

process. These students must be responsible, have

transportation to and from the client’s location, and be

knowledgeable about ACCION USA’s lending

requirements. Non-students are currently in the

process of piloting ACCION USA’s field representatives

program.

*Refer a client to ACCION USA

(# clients referred x 250) = Total

These students, again, must be knowledgeable about

ACCION USA’s lending process. Students might typically

refer clients that they do not have the capacity to serve

(in terms of lending) to ACCION USA.

*”Like” ACCION USA on Facebook

(500 points for the campus with the most

“likes,” 400 points for second place, and 300

points for third place)

The ACCION USA Facebook feed is updated frequently

with news about the organization and happenings in

the field. After completing the action, each student can

report the action by voting for their campus in a poll

(Sample poll title: Which campus should win the



ACCION USA Student Campaigns Challenge?) on the

ACCION USA Facebook page.

Sign up for the ACCION USA monthly student

e-newsletter

(# students x 10) = Total Points

The monthly e-newsletter will report on student

campaign progress and highlights. The e-newsletter will

also highlight a student-team-of-the-month and share

tips and best practices for effective ways to raise

awareness about U.S. microfinance.

Organize a blockwalking event

(500 points)

This would only be cost-effective with a large number

of people at locations close to ACCION USA’s offices and

near campuses where students have a good

relationship with the locals.

Further Recommendation 1: At the end of the first semester, the student team(s) from the campus that

receives the most points will be awarded recognition and a speaker visit from a top ACCION USA

representative. Second and third place campus team will receive ACCION USA promotional materials

such as t-shirts, ACCION USA MP3 players, pens, or other swag. Representatives from the campus that

has the most points by the end of the year will be awarded a trip to the annual Microfinance USA

conference and their conference entrance fees waived.

Further Recommendation 2: ACCION USA should quantify the impact of a dollar’s donation to ACCION

USA. Below is a calculation using FY2008 figures.



ACCION USA Functional Expenses (FY2008) Amount % of Total

Program Services – Lending $9,827,099 79%

Management and General $1,836,106 15%

Fundraising $765,485 6%

Total $12,428,690 100%

Source: ACCION USA Form 990



C. Summary of Potential Values Added by Partnership Program

TO STUDENTS TO ACCION USA TO ENTREPRENEURS

Resume building opportunities

(experiences in marketing,

consulting, and fundraising)

Publicity about ACCION USA and

U.S. microfinance online and in

local communities

Flyering or online marketing

strategy help from students

ACCION USA campaign swag

(e.g. “Buy Local, Lend Local” t-

shirts)

Donations that can help cover

operational costs

Sales and publicity from student-

hosted events that raise

awareness of the businesses of

local entrepreneurs

Opportunity to speak to and get

advice from microfinance

professionals

Client referrals from student

field representatives who meet a

client that seems to satisfy

ACCION USA’s pre-loan

requirements

Opportunities to plug into the

network of other entrepreneurs

working with students and

ACCION USA

Opportunity to speak to

microfinance clients

Investments from student

organizations to a loan fund

Publicity for the student

organization from being featured

by ACCION online at the student

website or on ACCION USA’s

blog

Investments to ACCION USA’s

clients on KIVA

Internship opportunities in

microfinance

Field representatives who advise

the client on the loan process

can save time for loan

consultants, thereby reducing

the cost of servicing a loan

Opportunity to use classroom

theory in real life practices



D. Recommended Partnerships with Non-Student Organizations

a. Campus Kiva

Campus Kiva has over 50 university lending teams on KIVA already. It is co-hosting a national conference

for students involved in microfinance in D.C. with MFIConnect in the Fall. We’ve talked to Campus Kiva

about setting up a panel on U.S. microfinance at the conference and cross-referring to each other’s

programs on our respective websites.

b. MoreMarbles.com

MoreMarbles.com connects university consulting teams mentor (often MBA students, though

undergraduates are welcome) that are advised by a faculty. The teams work on 50-500 hour projects

that take at most a semester to complete for companies that typically earn between $1 million and $50

million in sales. The CEO of MoreMarbles.com has talked to ACCION New Mexico about a loose

partnership that would connect student consulting teams with potential ACCION New Mexico clients.

c. MFIConnect

MFIConnect is the site for students who want to connect to other students working on projects in

microfinance. It is hosted on Ning.com, which means that there is an elaborate forum for viewers to

post questions and add to discussions about microfinance. MFIConnect’s general focus, however, is only

on international microfinance.

d. Gumball Capital Gumball Capital is a Stanford University student-led non-profit that challenges students to be social

entrepreneurs by raising as much money as they can with a loan of $27, 27 gumballs, Gumball Capital t-

shirts, and a timeline of 10 days. Since its founding in February 2007, Gumball Capital participants have

raised over $20,000.

e. $2 Dollar Challenge The $2 Dollar Challenge challenges students to live on $2 per day for five days and was founded by

Professor Sean Humphrey of La Ceiba (a student-led microfinance initiative at the University of Mary

Washington). The $2 Dollar Challenge currently recommends donations to go to Opportunity

International, an international NGO.

f. ACCION International ACCION International runs Microbike, a national fundraising campaign to raise awareness about

microfinance. Student participants only pay $10 to organize their own event (dates are 10/1 and 10/3),

and all participants receive free t-shirts as well.

g. Catchafire Catchafire connects working professionals with skills-based volunteering projects for non-profits.

Registrants can sign up to volunteer to create logo designs, print materials, promotional materials,

develop brand identity, etc. for non-profits.



VI. Best Practices from Other Student Programs

A. LearnVest Ambassador Program

LearnVest ambassadors promote LearnVest on campus. They are responsible for creating and executing marketing

strategies in accordance with their campuses’ university policies.

LearnVest.com Best Practice Takeaways

Highlight the benefits of participating in a campus program

Publicize the other schools that are involved in the initiative

Give students the challenge of designing and executing their own marketing plans

B. DoSomething.org

DoSomething.org challenges people (targeting a mostly young demographic) to take on projects on any issue that

matters to them. The non-profit provides monetary grants to clubs as well as action guides for project ideas. At the

bottom of every action guide is a place where viewers can indicate their commitment to executing the project by

typing in their e-mail address, e-mailing a friend about the project, or finding more about other causes.

DoSomething.org Best Practice Takeaways

Make it easy for students to sign up to get involved in a project

Keep track of student involvement

Publish short action guides on how to accomplish different campaigns or projects.

C. Grameen U

“The Grameen U Challenge is a competition among Grameen U Groups in campuses to raise the largest amount of

money in the most creative ways. The winning village will be showcased on our Grameen U blog, invited to visit our

Grameen America headquarters in New York and will receive VIP passes for Grameen America Day.”

“Remember that every $1,500 raised represents one loan to help a low-income family lift itself out of poverty. You

may also register your groups and donate via our website.”

“Campus Reps will report back to the Grameen U President through a monthly check-in call and will post on our

Grameen U blog. This will serve to inspire all of Grameen U Clubs on different campuses with new ideas and

creative ways to fight against poverty.”



Grameen U Best Practice Takeaways

Quantify the impact that a donation has. (E.g. “Every $1,500 raised represents one loan.”

Grameen U is recruiting for one student volunteer – a “Grameen U President” – to keep

track of initiatives on different campuses. This title gives the student a lot of responsibility

and ownership over the initiative.

D. The One Campaign

ONE Campus Challenge counts points by asking students to “report their actions” by filling out a form that provides

evidence that they completed the action. For example, a campus can win 50 points if a student becomes a fan of

ONE on Facebook. ONE runs monthly challenges, and awards prizes such as ONE t-shirts and stickers, campus visits

by ONE staff, trips to DC by selected representatives of the winning school(s), documentary screening rights, and

speakers on campus.

The One Campaign Best Practice Takeaways

Every action taken by a student is measured, weighted, and quantified! Students can win

points for their campus for actions as simple as putting a comment on Facebook.

The One Campaign has successfully mobilized students to make videos, blog, and run with

creative ideas to spread awareness about ONE on their campuses by offering amazing

end-of-the-year prizes such as trips to DC for a ONE conference and a trip to Africa for the

top motivated students.

VII. Final Table of Findings and Recommendations

Final List of Findings Recommendations to ACCION USA (according to findings)

Organizations like ACCION

International (fundraising

via Microbike), Campus

Kiva (online lending), the $2

Per Day Challenge

(fundraising),

MoreMarbles.com

(consulting), and the

Gumball Challenge

(fundraising and social

entrepreneurship) are

already popular amongst

Rather than spend a lot of time focusing on the creation of

new action guides for fundraising or awareness campaigns,

ACCION USA can partner with organizations that are already

managing enthusiastic networks of students who support

microfinance.

ACCION USA can make potential partnerships with these organizations

public on its website and encourage students to indicate their interest in

supporting ACCION USA after signing up for these challenges. Many of the

student teams that participate in the $2 Per Day Challenge or Gumball

Challenge fundraise for the purpose of raising loans for KIVA; to incentivize

students to pay closer attention to domestic microfinance, ACCION USA can

offer publicity on its student website for the student teams that are the



student networks that want

to do something to support

microfinance

Source: Interviews

most successful at lending to ACCION USA’s clients on KIVA.

Students are drawn to

microfinance because they

can see the direct impact of

their fundraising efforts

from their ability to get

their money back.

In order for non-loan funds to become popular, ACCION

USA must make the case for the impact of an unrestricted

grant. (See: Impact of $1 donation, or my attempt to

quantify the impact)

When most students hear

“microfinance,” they

automatically think

“poverty alleviation” and

“international

microfinance.”

Source: Survey, Interviews

In the messaging of its student partnerships program,

ACCION USA should present a good story of the interesting

history of domestic microfinance and its place in the

context of international microfinance.

Convincing students of the importance of domestic microfinance and

the potential for students to make an impact must be done well on the

student website.

Students are savvy with

technology and are

comfortable with social

media presences on

Facebook, Twitter, and

Youtube.

Sources: interviews, direct

observation of student club

websites

ACCION USA should challenge students to make Youtube

videos about U.S. microfinance.

An ACCION USA-run Youtube contest can generate great publicity for

ACCION USA and domestic microfinance. ACCION USA should perhaps first

issue a 1-minute challenge video and then ask students to enter the contest

by “replying” to that video. Automatic prizes for students include

recognition, publicity for the individual and the student organization, and a

line on the resume. ACCION USA may also opt to award small prizes such as

client merchandise or “Lend Local, Buy Local” t-shirts to the editors of the

best videos.

ACCION USA should utilize Facebook as much as possible for

its student website.

Many website forums suffer from the lack of being revisited. In order for

the forum on www.studentsforaccion.org to take off, students must either

have an incentive for visiting the website to check updates regularly, or

have a stake in the success of the forum. Facebook is a great, easy-to-use

tool for link sharing and communication. Given many students’ tendency to

log in to Facebook frequently as a stress-reducing activity, ACCION USA

might do well launch a Student for ACCION USA facebook page that, when




“liked,” can feed updates and links to the newsfeeds of its supporters. In

addition, Facebook makes Facebook-website integrations easy with its

social media plugins.

There is potential in the idea of supporting small businesses

by connecting web-savvy student volunteers with

entrepreneurs who may not be as web-savvy.

Liabilities issues, however, must be addressed. (See next bullet).

There are liability issues

involved with allowing

students host a training

workshop or “consult”

microentrepeneurs using

ACCION USA resources or

the ACCION USA name

Source: Interviews

Instead of asking students to support microentrepreneurs

through business consulting without direct supervision,

ACCION USA can ask students to get involved with websites

such as Moremarbles.com or another official organization

whose focus is on consulting.

ACCION USA may not have the time or the expertise to manage

student volunteers who want to support microentrepreneurs directly.

In the cases where an ACCION USA client could benefit from the

services of a student volunteer (the creation of a Facebook profile for

online marketing purposes, for example), ACCION USA might refer the

client to a partner organization that could then decide whether or not

it could help the client. This model relieves ACCION USA of the

responsibility of vetting both clients and volunteers and making sure

that clear expectations are laid out before the start of the project.

“Collaboration with other

student groups and

microfinance institutions to

determine the biggest

needs and niches for

student involvement would

be fantastic. When trying to

formulate a mission for the

group it would have been

very helpful to have had

input from leaders in the

field to determine in what

areas students can have the

most impact.”

Source: Survey

ACCION USA may fill a true need by providing a space for

students to network and interact with microfinance

professionals and other student clubs.

This space can be a forum or a website – or a forum on a website.

An online catalog of the different organizations involved in

supporting domestic microfinance and the best ways to contact

them may be helpful as well.

Students are interested in ACCION USA can challenge students to find potential



meeting and speaking to

microfinance clients.


microfinance clients in their own communities by doing

some market research on the financial resources available

to microbusiness owners and

Students can be very

innovative at fund raising,

hosting events, and inviting

speakers to campus

Source: Interviews

It is important that for the design of the student program,

ACCION USA give students the freedom to be creative while

acting within the parameters of ACCION USA’s program

goals

There are liability issues

involved with the

“Guarantee Fund” idea

Source: Interviews

Instead of asking students to back up the loan through a

“guarantee fund” and incurring liability risks in accepting a

client whose ability to repay is risky, ACCION USA may think

of simply asking students to refer eligible clients - without

the strings of the guarantee fund

Students want to speak to

microfinance practitioners.


Offer internships, webinars, and speaker engagements to

students

students and u.s. microfinance final report

Documents