Working Capital for Community Needs

Working Capital for Community Needs (WCCN) is a 501(c)3 charitable nonprofit organization with headquarters in Madison, WI, whose mission is to create opportunities for access to microfinance, services and markets to improve the lives and communities of the working poor in Latin America. WCCN works with partner Microfinance[1] Institutions (MFIs) and Fair Trade Cooperatives[2] in Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Peru.

History

WCCN was originally founded as the Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua in 1984 by former members of the Alliance for Progress,[3] including current Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug LaFollette.[4] WCCN was active in the U.S.-Nicaragua "sister city" movement, organized medical aid campaigns, and sent other forms of material aid to Nicaragua. Activities also focused on political activism and solidarity.

After the Contra War ended in 1990, WCCN sought out a new way to aid Nicaraguans living in poverty. In 1991, WCCN led a socially responsible trade and investment delegation that laid the groundwork for subsequent work on economic development. In 1992, WCCN, together with the Nicaraguan Council of Protestant Churches (CEPAD),[5] developed the first private microfinance fund in Nicaragua (called PRESTANIC) to serve as a source of financing for small businesses and low-income farmers. In 2008 WCCN began to diversify its lending activities to countries beyond Nicaragua. In 2010, WCCN changed its name to Working Capital for Community Needs. In the same year, WCCN began investing in value-chain financing (also called agricultural financing), especially in fair trade coffee, and partnered with MicroPlace,[6] an online broker-dealer which allowed investors to invest as little as $20, until the company's closing in early 2014.

Mission and Philosophy

WCCN’s mission is to create opportunities for access to microfinance, services and markets to improve the lives and communities of the working poor in Latin America. WCCN’s priorities are microfinance, women’s empowerment, fair trade and housing.

Investments

WCCN lends money directly to microfinance institutions or farming cooperatives in partner countries, which in turn support local people through small loans and technical assistance. The average loan to an individual end borrower was $945 as during 2013. Over 3,000 individual investors and 62 institutional investors support WCCN. WCCN has lent over $98 million in impact investments to support Latin American entrepreneurs and farmers since 1991. In 2013, WCCN lent to 31,000 micro-borrowers and made $10 million in new loans. More than two-thirds of WCCN’s individual borrowers during 2013 women.[7]

The Capital for Communities Fund

WCCN created The Capital for Communities Fund to address one of the root causes of poverty and social injustice: lack of credit for the poor and disenfranchised. The Capital Communities Fund operates by channeling funds from socially responsible investors to Latin American non-governmental organizations (partner agencies) that specialize in providing credit and access to international markets to marginalized sectors of Latin American Society. Loans to farmers, cooperatives and small businesses affect the local communities as funds circulate and generate employment at the local level.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Microfinance
  2. ↑ Fair trade
  3. ↑ Alliance for Progress
  4. ↑ Doug La Follette
  5. ↑ http://cepadnica.org
  6. ↑ http://www.forbes.com/sites/rahimkanani/2011/12/04/the-microplace-ambition-unleashing-35-billion-in-financial-services-funding-to-the-worlds-working-poor/
  7. ↑ WCCN's 2013 Annual Report - see wccn.org/annual-reports
  8. ↑ WCCN's Capital for Communities Fund - see wccn.org/capital-for-communities-fund

External links

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