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Learn more about the Microfinance Top Performing Nonprofits:

Microfinance: Unitus

Mission: Unitus, an international nonprofit organization, fights global poverty by accelerating the growth of microfinance—small loans and other financial tools for self-empowerment—where it is needed most.

BASIC INFORMATION	EXPERT ASSESSMENT	BENEFICIARY REVIEW

Basic Information
Social Cause: Microfinance
Issue Area: Microfinance

Year Founded: 2000
Problem

More than 2.5 billion people survive on less than $2 a day. In places such as Sub-Saharan Africa, the total living below this line approaches 75 percent. For millions of families in need, microfinance offers the hope for a successful small business and more: increased economic stability, better healthcare and housing, the opportunity for education, and ultimately, the real possibility of self-sufficiency.
Solution

Expertise: In addition to on-the-ground microfinance expertise, Unitus brings executive experience from banking, technology, and corporate consulting backgrounds to employ market-driven solutions to age-old problems of financial exclusion and poverty.

Partner with young, high-potential microfinance institutions: Unitus helps MFIs build capacity, attract capital, and unite with their network to achieve rapid, sustainable growth.

Wide range of client-supported products and services: Unitus helps their partners offer a range of client-supporting products and services such as business skills training, savings programs, and basic insurance plans, which makes microfinance more effective.
Impact

23: number of microfinance partners with whom Unitus works.

10 million: number of families Unitus has helped their partners serve in just 8 years.

Unitus’ partner microfinance institutions are growing 7 times faster than their peers.

Added 5 new MFI partners in Cambodia, India, and East Africa (2008).

Helped their partners more than double their client reach from 3.3 billion in 2007 to over 7 million at year end 2008.
Financial Breakdown

Expenses Breakdown

Program Expenses : 5228144
Administrative Expenses: 1061654
Fundraising Expenses: 720289
Charity Navigator Profile
Contact Information

Website: http://www.unitus.com/
Email: http://www.unitus.com/about-us/contact
Phone: +1 206 926 3700

The contents of this page are primarily from this nonprofit organization's website. The views expressed on this page are those of this organization and not necessarily those of Philanthopedia.

SummaryLearn more about these experts>>

Microfinance experts believe that one of Unitus’ strengths is that it is business oriented with a focus on scalability and effectiveness. They tend to support smaller organizations with the potential to grow.

At the same time, experts believe that they can improve their impact assessment and expand their work with the poor. They can also make some improvements in their operations.

Strengths

Focused on Scale and Effectiveness, Business Oriented

"They work to increase efficiency and effectiveness of microfinance institutions. "
"They are innovative and focused. "
"They are business orientated with a focus on scale combined with effectiveness for clients. "
"They are very strong people with laser sharp focus, and do not try to be all things to all microfinance institutions. They are the leading non-governmental organization transformation advisor. "
"They are good at scaling. "
"They couple private business best practices with a poverty alleviation mission. "

Focus on Smaller Organizations

"They focus on investment in smaller organizations that have a potential to grow."
"They support microfinance institutions at the nonprofit stage with a view of getting profit through UNITUS Capital, which is a sister concern of UNITUS. "

Good at Marketing

"They are good at marketing. "

Have Capital

"They have money. "

Areas for Improvement

Improve Operations

"They need to increase their California and Washington DC presence because they still feel too regional."
"They should become more transparent. "
"They should increase industry cooperation. "
"They should not be afraid to reinvent the model in new regions. "
"They should connect to investors. "
"They should stop forcing nonprofits to become profit making and stop charging high prices for their services. "

Improve Impact Assessment

"They should be clearer on measuring and presenting their level of effectiveness. "
"They should improve on their measurement of impact."

Expand their Work to the Poor

"They should expand their work to the 'ultra poor' in order to understand the limits of traditional microfinance in reaching the rural poor. "
"They should help microfinance institutions reach the very poor. "

The views expressed on this page are those of each individual expert and not necessarily those of Philanthopedia. Note that each quote represents the views of just one person and may not reflect the sentiments of the entire group. We do not disclose the names of the experts who gave each comment to protect their anonymity

" “Unitus could not have come at a better time for us. Tujijenge is introducing several major changes: installing new management information software, launching teller operations, and opening a second branch.... We are piloting individual lending and the use of mobile banking technology. All of these tasks need thoughtful decisions, and we are confident that working with Unitus will help us to achieve our goals.” (Unitus Annual Report 2008)"
-Winnie Terry (Managing Director in Tanzania)

" “ I was inspired to start MokshaYug Access because of the great disparity in opportunites that exist between people in urban and rural India. Most people living in poverty work extremely hard using inefficient systems, and at the end of the day they have very little money left for their basic needs. What excites me is that with the economic boom in urban India—which is bringing in world class resources in terms of people, technology, and finance—we now have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build an economy in rural India, which can make a quantifiable impact on poverty. This inspires me to no end! I have to constantly remind myself that I am merely a guardian of this great business of serving the poor, and that my job is to ensure that the poor are in a better-off condition now than when I found them.”(Unitus Annual Report 2007)"
-Harsha Moily (Founder and CEO of MokshaYug Access)

" “ The Jamii Bora members that have already received support in the form of disaster insurance, business stalls, and loans have rapidly come back into sustainable business and income earning. Their businesses were burned, vandalized, and looted, but their determination to climb out of poverty and the business skills they had acquired could not be burned, vandalized, or looted. That is capital that nobody can take away from them.”(Unitus Annual Report 2007)"
-Ingrid Munro (Managing Trustee of Jamii Bora Trust)

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