Pellie shares her impressions of the impact and the power of micro loans
Josephine owns a small retail shop in the remote village of Lukonda in the Kayunga district in Uganda Before she began operating her village phone business, people in her community had to walk over three miles to make a phone call... Learn More
Check out the huge changes made possible through Micro Loans!
Be a monthly donor today!
Justine operates a small retail shop in the village of Kigando in Kiboga district in Uganda. She is currently in her 5th loan cycle and earns over 65% more than she earned before becoming a loan client. She has used her loans to pay...Learn More
Become a SUSTAINER by signing up as a monthly or quarterly donor and help continue your support of those so desperately in need.
Micro loans help start small businesses that will sustain a woman and her family, and enable them to work their way out of poverty.
Your donations are loaned out and repaid over and over, so a single donation can help many families lift themselves out of grinding poverty.
Who We Are - Our Mission
Our Vision:
To be a leader in the worldwide movement to eliminate extreme poverty by 2025.
Our Beginnings:
The Greater Contribution was founded by Karon Wright, Diany Klein, Elise O'Keefe and Kathy Tamashiro who were driven by a desire to give back to the world in the most significant way possible.
You can read about these founding members as well as the read the bios of current board members on the Who Is TGC? page.
- We believe that all people are entitled to the basic necessities of life.
- We believe in the value of all life regardless of race, creed or color.
- We believe that everyone has the right to live without suffering.
- We believe in the ability of even one person to make a difference in the lives of those living in impoverished conditions.
- We believe that impoverished communities need more than a handout; they need help developing infrastructures to break the cycle of poverty.
- We believe that what happens to one human being happens to us all.
What We Do
The Greater Contribution provides micro loans to the world's poorest women and their families to enable them to create or expand a small business. In many of the poorest countries of the world, these businesses are the only way for women to work their way out of poverty.
Micro loans are repaid every 90-120 days and the money is loaned out over and over again, multiplying the number of people who can begin the journey out of poverty. Small loans, BIG impact! Read more...
Latest From Karon's Blog
Grief and Sadness in Buyobo
12.18.2013 This was a sad day. We arrived at the primary school in Buyobo to deliver donated school supplies for these very poor schools...
Markets and Transportation
2.17.13 Today we visited more local businesses created and run by the women borrowers. Typical products being sold include produce...
Loan Repayment Day
Our first full day in Buyobo, Uganda, five hours outside of Kampala, where our loan headquarters, was to be spent observing loan... repayments....
2013 Gratitude Tour
Returning to Uganda after 21 hours in airports and airplanes, we arrived in Kampala, Uganda at 1am. After a short night of sleep we headed to Buyobo...
- Seventy percent of the world's poor are women, largely because of their limited access to education or to productive resources like land and credit.
- Women entrepreneurs invest the profits from their businesses in ways that have a longer-lasting, more profound impact on the lives of their families and communities.
- Research confirms that the key economic priorities for poor women - to a far greater extent than for men -continue to be health care, the education of their children, and housing.
- A growing worldwide trend is woman-headed households, in which a mother provides the sole support for her children.
- According to UNICEF, at least half of the 12 million children aged five or younger who die each year, die from malnutrition associated with severe poverty. The most direct way to improve children's survival and welfare is to strengthen their own mothers' ability to take care of them.
- When women have a sustainable income, are decision-makers, and have strong social networks and safety-nets, they are in a much stronger position to advocate for their rights.