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Global Partnerships 

Description

Founded in 1994, Global Partnerships (GP) is a nonprofit impact investor. We pioneer and invest in sustainable solutions that help impoverished people in Latin America and the Caribbean earn a living and improve their lives. We invest in exceptional microfinance organizations and cooperatives, our partners, which serve more than one million people living in poverty with affordable loans, job skills training, commercial markets, health services and green technologies.

Mission Statement
Global Partnerships expands opportunity for people living in poverty.
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Global Partnerships
1932 1st Ave Ste 400 
Seattle 
WA
98101 
(206) 652-8773 

Elizabeth Castleberry 
Chief Development Officer 

Programs

Global Partnerships Programs

Through our partners, we focus our investments in a set of impact areas that we believe are particularly effective in countering poverty. The areas where we invest for impact include:

  • Microentrepreneurship: Combining education with access to credit can help microentrepreneurs create more successful businesses that provide a higher quality of life for themselves and their families. We invest in partners who bundle credit with practical financial and business education.
  • Health services: Cost and quality of healthcare often present overwhelming obstacles for poor families. We believe that families should not have to make difficult choices between spending more time and resources on their health, their family or their business. Our investments support partners that strategically combine credit with delivery of health education, disease screenings and affordable health services.
  • Green Technology: Access to affordable, environmentally-friendly technologies such as solar lights, panels and water heaters can save households and small business time and money while also improving their quality of life. We invest in early stage efforts to learn what unique role microfinance and cooperative partners can play in making green technologies more accessible and affordable.

Recent Successes and Current Challenges

Global Partnerships launched the Health Services Fund aimed at serving 100,000 people through a network of partners. The first health pilot, launched in Leon, Nicaragua, is now serving 30,000 women and will be expanding in future months. Additional pilots are underway in Haiti and Honduras with the goal of building health programs that can be self-sustaining and will not require grant support for ongoing services.

Philanthropy is the resource that unlocks early stage opportunities like the health program. We use it to seek out promising ideas from around the world, form innovative partnerships, fund pilot initiatives and pioneer sustainable solutions.

Evaluation


Global Partnerships partners with innovative, mission-driven microfinance institutions that reach people traditionally left behind—such as women and the rural poor—with microloans and other services that can help families break the cycle of poverty.

Proven Success
With staff based in Seattle and Managua and a 15-year track record, GP currently serves more than 817,000 borrowers through 27 microfinance partner institutions in seven Latin American countries.
 
Best Practices
GP invests in microfinance partners that combine a sustainable business model with exceptional levels of social impact going beyond just microfinance. GP is actively exploring new ways to work with local partners to assist in providing services such as health education, business training, and agricultural assistance-- helping people in poverty meet basic needs beyond microfinance.

Collaboration
Part of GP’s success is based on establishing relationships with strong local microfinance partners. In October 2009, GP partnered with PATH and Pro Mujer to work together to create and launch a financially sustainable health program for Pro Mujer in Nicaragua, with the goal of creating a model that can be replicated elsewhere.

Financial Health
Since 2006, GP has steadily increased the number of borrowers they are reaching through their microfinance partners in Latin America with $39 million (USD) in capital invested and an average 98 percent repayment rate. GP is primarily funded by contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations; however, GP also earns revenue through the management of three microfinance funds and through the provision of microfinance investment services to a strategic partner. Lastly, GP’s annual fundraiser, the Business of Hope luncheon, is one of the world’s largest celebrations of microfinance.

(Evaluated by the Seattle International Foundation, a supporting organization of The Seattle Foundation)

Grant History with The Seattle Foundation:

Grants Awarded through The Seattle Foundation Grantmaking Program:

DateAmountPurpose
There are no recent grants awarded to this organization.

Financials

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