Microfinance Gaining Philanthropic Currency

Microfinance efforts are becoming the cause of choice among wealthy philanthropists, reports BusinessWeek Online.

Microfinance is the practice of lending to the poor, often through unsecured loans of $50 to $150 that are used to purchase animals or mobile phones, or even to build schools.

Now some of the highest-profile philanthropists are embracing microfinance as a way to alleviate poverty, especially those who have earned their wealth in the technology sector.

Last year, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provided its first microfinance grant to Opportunity International. Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Computers; Pierre Omidyar, a co-founder of eBay; and Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the co-founders of Google, have all supported microfinance and use the lessons they learned from their success in the tech sector to bolster it.

Read The Chronicle’s article on microfinance efforts.

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