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Announcing an Important New Resource: "Microfinance: A Guide for Grantmakers"Grantmakers Without Borders is very pleased to announce the release of an important new publication: "Microfinance: A Guide For Grantmakers". In late 2008, Grantmakers Without Borders began a period of research and focus on microfinance as it is carried out in the Global South. Microfinance had rapidly become a leading and in some cases the only poverty alleviation strategy among grantmakers, resulting in a shift of donor attention and financial assistance away from other important interventions and critical services. Somewhat surprising to Gw/oB was the fact that so much money was being directed towards microfinance despite the fact that, until very recently, no studies or evaluations adequately measured the actual impact of access to microcredit on reducing poverty. Indeed, we had to ask ourselves: Should the anecdotes and stories of successful borrowers, aggressively used to promote microfinance, be the underpinnings of a billion-dollar development strategy? As a membership organization of private foundations, grantmaking public charities, individual donors and philanthropic advisors, Gw/oB felt a responsibility to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of microfinance as a tool for social change and poverty alleviation, to learn whether microfinance institutions were realizing their advertised effects, and to support grantmakers as they evaluated the role microfinance played in their grantmaking. In "Microfinance: A Guide for Grantmakers," Grantmakers Without Borders explores the history and evolution of microfinance, prevailing arguments from advocates and critics about the industry, and philosophical differences on models of delivery and measurements for success. We share recent research findings on the impacts of microfinance on poverty alleviation and offer cautionary tales regarding the full-scale adaptation of microfinance. Finally, we offer recommendations for grantmakers to consider as they determine the role of microfinance within their own grantmaking. Download a copy of "Microfinance: A Guide for Grantmakers" now!
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