Our Strategy

Global Partnerships invests capital and management expertise in microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Latin America who in turn make financial and social services available to people living in poverty. Our MFI partners share our goals of helping more people and leaving no one behind, including women and the rural poor. 

GP selects MFI partners after an exhaustive screening and due diligence process. Our partners are chosen for their ability to provide both financial opportunity and social impact in the lives of their clients. We work with MFIs who fit into one of three business models: Financial Service Providers, Integrated Service Providers, and Community Wealth Creators.

Financial Service Providers expand opportunity by offering microfinance products such as microcredit, microsavings, microinsurance and tuition assistance loans. These organizations tend to grow rapidly and focus on introducing new financial services aimed at meeting the needs of poor people.

Integrated Service Provides focus on serving the very poor, especially women, and integrating health services and education into the process of providing microcredit to clients. The borrowers benefit from the microloans, the access to non-financial services and the social network that is facilitated by the MFI. 

Community Wealth Creators are often organized like cooperatives and operate in rural areas where economic opportunity is most limited. They offer some of the most affordable microfinance products and reinvest profits to create borrower savings and/or foster community economic development.

How We Work

Global Partnerships raises philanthropic and investment capital to provide opportunity for people living poverty. GP raises charitable gifts through personal appeals, events and mail campaigns. Charitable contributions support our operations and programs including identifying, screening and monitoring our MFI partners. 

We also raise investment capital from institutions and accredited investors, which is then loaned to our MFI partners through our Microfinance Funds.

In addition to microfinance investment funds, GP employs several other strategies for achieving high impact on poverty alleviation:

• Expanding a permanent regional presence with highly qualified Latin American staff members on the ground, performing extensive due diligence and close monitoring of our MFI partners.

• Fostering strategic alliances with peer organizations such as placing investment capital for organizations like the Grameen Foundation and Developing World Markets, which further increase our impact on poverty.

• Working with our peers to solve challenges such as protecting borrowers from foreign exchange risk and measuring social impact, and utilizing microfinance distribution channels as a platform for delivering health and education services.