Today we’d like to introduce you to Deborah Lindholm.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Deborah. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
The Foundation for Women is a global microfinance organization that has worked in India, many African countries, and San Diego County providing capital to very poor women to enhance their lives and the lives of their families. In a previous business chapter, I was co-founder of an international financial research company. I traveled around the globe – and witness dire poverty, particularly affecting women and children.
I never thought I could do anything about it. Twenty-two years ago I attended a meeting of the La Jolla Sunrise Rotary Club, The speaker that morning who is now a dear friend, Marshall Saunders of Coronado, was speaking about the reality of poverty. He explained that all of us in the room were part of 20% of the population that shares 94% of the wealth; another 20% of the populations share less than 1% of the wealth. I had seen many in that latter 20% in my global travels.
Marshall then introduced us to Dr. Muhammad Yunus and microfinance. Dr. Yunus is an economist from Bangladesh. When teaching at a local university, he took his student to interview people in a nearby village, particularly one woman who was making extraordinary baskets. He asked her how much money she made every day; she replied “Two pennies.” “How can that be when you are making such extraordinary things?” he inquired.
She explained that she had to borrow money from the moneylender at the beginning of each day in order to buy the material she needed, and when she sold the products at the end of the day, the moneylender paid her only two pennies. He asked how much money she needed in order to never deal with the moneylender again – the response “25 cents.”
“Madam, surely you can find 25 cents to never deal with that man again,” She replied that she had never seen that much money in her life. So Dr. Yunus and his students interviewed all the others in the village and found that 42 people needed the equivalent of $17. Dr. Yunus went to his bank and asked them to lend $17 to the people of the village; the bank’s response was, “We do not lend money to people who do not have it.” So Dr. Yunus lent the money to that village – then another – then another…
The Grameen Bank was birthed. When Marshall finished his presentation, I went up to him afterwards and asked him for some referrals to some program. I bought an around the world airplane ticket and went to visit them. My first stop was in Nepal. I met a woman who after some convincing finally agreed to borrow $4. She and her husband were landless laborers; if they found work, they ate – if they did not find work, they did not.
They were living with their two children by the side of the road. With the microfinance loan of $4, she bought a comb, scissors, and a mirror and set up the husband in business as a barber. Within one year the family was living in a house and the two children were in school, all because of $4. Microfinance has been my mission and passion ever since. I knew I could do only so much as one individual, but I believed if I could create a community of people all doing a little, together we could have a huge impact.
And that is exactly what has happened with the Foundation for Women. We began by funding a program in India that had 100 borrowers; we helped it grow to 1.2 million women borrowers. We funded programs in Zambia, South Africa, Niger – and operated a program in San Diego for a decade, touching thousands of women. In 2007, we launched a program in Liberia which we have been operating ever since. Collectively the Foundation for Women has helped to support more than one million impoverished women, touch perhaps 25 million people around the globe.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I have believed from the onset of the Foundation for Women (FFW) that this work is much bigger than me. In fact, I often say when asked about how the Foundation started, “God had a good idea and I was blessed to hear it.” There have been many times that I have wondered, “Really?” Many colleagues and supporters who I thought had my back and were part of the FFW community forever have left, some without a conversation.
I have wondered about how to pay the rent and meet the payroll. I have wondered why everyone does not realize that we are one human family and help each other. I have wondered where the next support will come from. I wondered how the work in Liberia would survive Ebola – how our FFW staff would escape the deadly virus. Despite all, the Foundation for Women is launching its third decade of service to humanity this year.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Foundation for Women – what should we know?
The Foundation for Women is a grassroots microfinance organization committed to eliminating global poverty through microcredit. Our grassroots bottom-up approach has involved thousands of supporters. Together we have helped to fund more than a million women around the world, impacting perhaps 25 million people.
The FFW Liberia program has reached complete self-sufficiency which is a core value of microfinance. We are serving enough borrowers for the interest collected on the loans to cover all operating expenses; we are no longer dependent on donor funds.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love and treasure the diversity, so many people from so many cultures. A representation of our one human family.
Pricing:
- $100 funds the first loan for a woman living on less than $1/day
- $200 funds a primary age child who is not in school to be in school
- $1000 donation = Foundation for Women Circle of Giving Membership
Contact Info:
- Website: www.foundationforwomen.org
- Phone: 858.483.0400
- Email: info@foundationforwomen.org
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