Welcome to GreaterContribution.org

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Welcome to GreaterContribution.org

WHAT WE DO

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 families 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, thus multiplying the number of people who can begin the journey out of poverty.  Small loans, big impact!  More

 

LEARN ABOUT OUR WORK

WHY WOMEN HELPING WOMEN?

Approximately seventy percent of the people who receive loans from The Greater Contribution are women. We are often asked why. The reasons are rooted in both the practicality of fighting poverty in the most effective way possible and in the realities of life in the developing countries where we work. They are:

  • 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.
We have learned that when we loan to women, we are really loaning to the whole family and often the whole community.  Learn more


 

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World Poverty Quiz

How many people are being lifted out of poverty each month with micro loans?

Answer: 10,000

Making a Difference

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world...

...Indeed it's the only thing that ever has."

-- Margaret Mead



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Making a Greater Contribution is a blog for dialogue about just that–making a difference in the world, i.e. a greater contribution.  With 2.7 Billion people worldwide barely surviving on less than $2/day, there is much to talk about and even more to do.   In this blog, Karon Wright, President of The Greater Contribution, invites a dialogue about the issues of poverty, micro loans, women's empowerment and more..

Greetings and welcome to my first ever blog.

The title of this blog was the original impetus for the founding of this organization in March of 2006 when I co-founded The Greater Contribution.  To date we have funded 3040 microloans in the developing world, benefitting over 15,000 women and their families helping them to work their way out of poverty.  I welcome the opportunity to share some ideas, observations and thoughts and to dialogue about the issues related to poverty and its alleviation.   Here goes….

I often think about what motivates people give to charities like ours.  Last weekend, I had the chance to observe people being motivated to support our work.  Two of our wonderful volunteers threw their second annual dinner party to benefit The Greater Contribution.  Listening to both of these ladies describe to their friends why they support TGC and their passion for helping women in poverty was so inspiring.   Their guests had come at the invitation of these two ladies, their friends.  They paid to attend the dinner and then, unasked, made additional donations of more than twice the amount they paid for the meal!  It was an evening full of kind, compassionate people who were excited to help.  The energy and the spirit at the event was so sweet and so touching.  I came away with a very full heart.  

So what motivated these people?  I think there were several reasons, some of them pretty simple.  They were there because someone who believed in what we are doing invited them.  They heard from their friends about the value of micro loans.  They heard that 70% of those living in poverty are women with children and that micro loans work---they do really transform a family's life.

But I believe the reasons go deeper.  Despite the tough economic times we're living in, most of the people at that party, have a comfortable life style and they recognize that half of the world's population lives very different lives.  They recognize how huge the disparity is between a family living in Southern California and a family struggling to survive in sub-Saharan Africa.  In addition, there is a recognition of the similarities between ourselves and those struggling in poverty.  Isn't it a universal desire to live a life free from hunger, disease, degradation and meaningless struggle?  Looking at the lives of the poor, we all can be grateful that by sheer accident of birth, we were not born into poverty in one of the developing nations of the world.

I believe the people at the party were moved from a feeling of compassion to taking action because they know that changing a life is a far better investment than the latest electronic gadget.  I believe that many people, especially those who are baby boomers like me, are interested in doing something really meaningful with their time and their money.  I believe they are motivated to try to make the world work for everyone.  Micro loans provide the opportunity for all of us to do that - to make a greater contribution to our world.

As a lifelong learner, I've always enjoyed discussing ideas and I hope you'll share your thoughts, questions and feedback.  Why do you give to charitable organizations?