By Martina Welke
Communications Fellow

What Motivates You?

At a professional development seminar in a previous life, I was introduced to David McClelland’s Theory of Motivation, which locates the impetus of human action in three basic needs: the need to influence, the need to achieve, and the need to affiliate.  I’m always skeptical of theories that seem to be overly simplistic—particularly when they attempt to taxonomize something as unpredictable and complex as human behavior—but  something about McClelland’s trifecta resonated with me, and I’ve since found it to be useful for reflecting upon my own choices and the actions of those around me.

I recently found myself ruminating on two themes that routinely occupy my mind—microfinance and communities—and realized that the needs trio provides a great framework for discussing some of the exciting community building strategies that two of my favorite microfinance organizations are beginning to employ.  OikocreditUSA and Vittana are both engaging their lenders in a variety of ways that feed our “basic needs” and incorporate us into an interactive, international microfinance community.

Influence:  Both Vittana and Oikocredit share client stories with investors and offer updates on the impact loans have made.

Vittana, which partners with microfinance institutions in Latin America and Asia to offer student loans, provides a biography for each student listed that includes their goals and the projected earning potential the investment in education could facilitate.

Oikocredit’s new Community Hub features a Meet the Entrepreneurs section where investors can read detailed stories about individual clients and browse through profiles of Oikocredit’s partner organizations in order to better understand the influence their loan could have.

Achievement: Both sites have plenty of information to help illustrate collective and individual achievements.  Vittana’s Community Page includes an update summarizing the total amount loaned through the website and the total number of community members.  A summary of individual’s loan history is listed on the each lender profile page.  In the spirit of friendly competition, Vittana organized a March Madness lending contest, during which lenders were encouraged to organize groups and compete with other Vittana groups for the most members and dollars loaned.  The leading groups were highlighted on Twitter and in comunity e-mails to recognize their achievement.

Oikocredit also updates lenders on the total amount loaned and allows lenders to track individual loans.  The site clearly outlines 5 Levels of Engagement for community members, so that those motivated to become increasingly involved in the organization might map their progress.

Affiliation: The opportunities to affiliate with other community members through both on and offline activities are abundant after joining OikocreditUSA or Vittana.  As I alluded to earlier, both websites offer users the chance to create and populate lending groups. The OikocreditUSA hub allows members to create blog posts, share photos, and even video chat with other community members.  Additionally, members can download a toolkit with materials to host a Community Organizer Toolkit that inculdes materials for developing local groups and hosting informational houseparties.

Never underestimate the power of a party.  Over the weekend, I attended a Seattle party that Vittana hosted in partnership with SeaMo to celebrate passing the $100K loan benchmark (which happened in early March) and the great success of their March Madness campaign (they exceed their goal of $50K in loans and fully funded every student listed on the website).  As I mingled among a few familiar and many new faces, I happened to bump into OikocreditUSA’s new Northwest regional comunity organizer.  I chatted about all the great developments on the OikocreditUSA website and the exciting potential for growth.  I toasted to Vittana’s wonderful achievements.  I met other people with an avid interest in microfinance (and even someone who shares my enthusiasm for cupcakes!).  At the end of the night, I left feeling well-fed–in McClelland’s terms–and very motivated to do more.

Georgina and roommate Amy.

Most of what you can read about Haiti right now is in post-earthquake news.  But how about a little bit of pre-earthquake description to put the whole disaster in perspective?

I spent a lot of time writing about my experience in Port-au-Prince (pre-earthquake) in 2008 while I was an intern at Fonkoze, Haiti’s most well established microfinance institution.  Twice a day, I walked through the streets on my way to work, absorbing everything I could.  As a current member of the global development team at Re-Vision Labs, my hope is that by sharing excerpts of my journal it will inspire people to join or stay active in the relief community.

Below are three passages taken from different entries in the journal I kept in Haiti, each of which discuss my walk to work.

Haiti is a difficult country to live in, but a good sense of humor makes it a lot easier.  My roommate Amy and I laugh a lot about how even the smallest tasks here can be emotionally draining.  Our daily walk to work is a perfect example.  Within a span of ten minutes, Amy and I face countless hazards and nuisances.  Every day we have to fight other pedestrians, vendors, parked cars and flea bitten strays for precious sidewalk space.  The alternative is walking along the side of the road (the gutter), where you run the risk of getting sideswiped by a car, accidently stepping in a sewage cesspool, or worst of all, falling into an uncovered manhole.  Although many of these things are avoided with luck, the bad smells cannot be bypassed.  Most days it’s a delightful mix of garbage, body odor, and fried food.  It is impossible to arrive at work smelling nice.  Amy and I have an ongoing joke that our walking around Potoprens is kind of like a level of a videogame that can be defeated only by making it to your final destination without using up all of your “health”.    Accidently step in a cesspool….50% health!

Our guide through Boukan Kare said repeatedly that Haiti would cast a voodoo spell on us.  After two months in Port-au-Prince, I would agree that there is indeed something magical about this place.  When I dare to take my eyes off of my immediate surroundings on my walk to work and look at the horizon, I can see lush emerald mountains.  Its thick vegetation is broken up by clusters of homes and “Flamboyant” trees with spectacular fire-engine red blossoms.  The rich color palate bleeds into the urban landscape in the form of brightly colored advertisements hand painted on every wall space.  Taptaps (public transport) with wild, almost psychedelic, paint jobs putt through the streets, carrying Haitians, produce and sometimes even chickens.  The constant buzz of Kanpa (Haitian music) and Haitians bantering in the streets lasts from sunrise until long after sunset.

My experience here has for the most part been limited to my walk to and from work every day, which can make grasping the true scope of poverty here somewhat difficult.  Even so, I have come to understand the misery that exists in Port-au-Prince through this repetitive act.  On the surface, the city appears to be at least halfway functioning.  People sit in the shade, chitchatting with their neighbors, selling food, clothing or other miscellaneous junk.  Only after observing this the neighborhood for three months do I see those things which were not immediately apparent.  Every day I pass by the same elderly gentleman, motionless, legs crossed, trying to sell one of the same five magazines he has had since I arrived.  The avocado lady seems increasingly desperate to swindle me out 25 cents for a freshly picked avocado.  School is in now session, but most of the neighborhood kids continue to sit patiently alongside their parents on the sidewalk throughout the day.  I now understand that the bronzed hair, yellow eyes and stunted bodies of the people walking towards me in the streets are the result of lifelong malnutrition.  I could go on for pages describing small things that I have come to notice, but no words can really communicate the suffering that exists in this country.

There is certainly a lot to feel pessimistic about when it comes to Haiti.   I would however, like to add that I was in Haiti during a series of four hurricanes that devastated the country in 2008.  Never in my life have I been so amazed by the resilience and selflessness of a population, having witnessed first-hand while Haitians sacrificed their own scarce time and resources to assist those in desperate need.  Haitian pride and determination are the reason that I am confident Haiti will recover from this unprecedented disaster and one day flourish.

Last night I had the privilege of joining some Re-Vision Labs colleagues and two accomplished Seattle social entrepreneurs in a conversation about global development and sustainable business models.  Samantha Rayner and Cole Hoover are part of the International Management Team of Lumana, a microfinance startup serving clients in Ghana.  In less than two years, the Lumana team has implemented a comprehensive entrepreneurship program in two communities in Ghana with ambitious plans to increase their client base and enhance client services in the coming months.

As an undergraduate business student at the University of Washington, Rayner was inspired by the teachings of Muhammad Yunus, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in microfinance.  She began researching global microfinance markets and learned that only 1% of funds invested in microfinance worldwide were going to Africa.  In 2008 Rayner’s research took her to the village of Atorkor in Ghana, where she partnered with Chief Samuel Adjorlolo to provide the business training and small loans to several village entrepreneurs
(read news article about Chief Adjorlolo and Atorkor here).

During her first trip to Ghana, Rayner worked with six cooperatives, each with five to eight members, to develop a pragmatic business training curriculum and lending process.  Rayner dedicated much of her time to job-shadowing cooperative members in order to gain insight into Atorkor’s economy.   In the seashore village with a population of about 2,000, many people already operated three or four small businesses, such as selling porridge, weaving printed cloth, or fish-mongering.

Upon her return to Seattle, Rayner started talking to fellow Foster Business School students about creating a sustainable business model that could be replicated in other villages.  Rayner currently works with a team of 15 volunteer in Seattle, many of whom were recruited from her network of classmates and community collaborators.  Hoover joined Lumana’s International Management Team as the Outreach Coordinator, and Re-Vision Labs founding partner Brett Horvath currently serves on the Board of Directors.  Hoover pointed out that helping to build Lumana has allowed him the opportunity “to take all these things that you’ve learned from the amazing Seattle business mentorship community and start trying them out, which is really, really cool.”

Since Lumana serves a relatively isolated rural population, the client service model differs from other microfinance institutions located in urban areas.  Hoover explained that the Lumana team realized early on that a focus on agriculture was essential for providing clients with food security.  Rayner is proud that Lumana has “made [microfinance] work in a community that has traditionally been very difficult to reach.”

Lumana currently has two loan officers and eight entrepeneurship educators working in Ghana.  Clients are required to take business training before

qualifying for a loan, which has proven to be an important part of Lumana’s success.  Hoover emphasized that “education always helps, especially if you’re doing in a targeted way that benefits [the clients].”

Other global development organizations and several media outlets have taken note of Lumana’s rapid success.  Rayner and Hoover traveled to New York in January for the 2nd Microfinance and Sustainable Development Summit, where Rayner was honored to speak on a “Models that Work” panel alongside other social entrepreneurs.  Last month, Lumana was the featured organization at Microfinance and Microbrews, a recurring event sponsored by SeaMo, the preeminent Seattle microfinance network.  Lumana has also been highlighted in The Seattle Times, The Daily at the University of Washington, and the Foster Business School Journal, in addition to many other news sources.

Plans for growth at Lumana include launching a fellowship program, expanding service to six or seven nearby villages, and building partnerships in order to offer more comprehensive client services.  Eventually, the leadership team would like Lumana to become an information hub for the villages it serves in order to help clients access healthcare, further agricultural training, and entrepreneurial mentorship opportunities.

I look forward to watching Lumana’s progress and providing future updates.

In 2001, Washington experienced a 6.8 magnitude earthquake. Although some infrastructure and buildings required extensive repairs, not a single life was lost. When compared to the tens of thousands of lives lost in the 7.0 magnitude quake in Haiti, it is clear that poverty was a key factor.

Already one of the poorest countries in the world, our neighbors in Haiti need our help.  They have lost their government, their roads, their homes, and – I would imagine – their hope.  And we can do something for them.

Seattle Greendrinks, SeaMo, Re-Vision Labs, and Global Washington have joined together to co-host “Washington for Haiti” in recognition of the urgent need for support.

Some may ask why it is necessary to hold an event, rather than just encouraging direct donations. We agree that direct donations are critically important, but we feel compelled to provide an opportunity for the Seattle community to gather and learn from experts and witnesses, since the more we know about the tragedy, the more likely we are to commit to supporting the long term changes needed to ensure that a disaster of this magnitude never happens again.

Please Join Us

When: Thursday, 28 January 2010, 6pm-9pm

Where: Pike Brewery, 1415 First Ave Seattle WA

What: A Benefit to support the work of one of Haiti’s most well-established economic development organizations, as they play a key role in emergency relief and long term reconstruction efforts.

Who: Hear from speakers representing Fonkoze and other organizations working on the ground in Haiti, as well as live music from Sunday Evening Whiskey Club.

Cost: $20 suggested donation at the door, with all proceeds going directly to Fonkoze.

Read more of this >>

Last week, on a dreary, rainy Seattle night, 500-600 people walked through a door in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle.

Inside, they mingled. The room was filled with conversation about sustainability, about ambitious goals, and about fundamental world change.

Terry Provance and Re-Vision Labs gave everyone something new to think about: how our money can change the world. And not with donations, with real investments in people.

Join The Movement

The economics of the past clearly haven’t worked, as we have seen over the past several years, but particularly in the last year. The economic norms don’t have humanity in mind, they are not for the good of the people, they are for the good of the few. The rich few.

Money is one of the things that makes the world go round, there’s no denying it – when the economy goes south, we all feel it.  However, I firmly believe individual actions make a difference. I believe each of our actions together can change the world.

So let’s redefine finance, change how money works or doesn’t in our world. Let’s put our money where our passion is and truly, completely, invest in our future.

How Does This Movement Work?

Instead of investing your money in a money market fund, or keeping it in a savings account, you put it into a microfinance fund like Oikocredit. That fund is used to provide loans and business services to people in the developing world who cannot obtain a bank loan for their business plan (because they are poor and have no collateral or previous credit history). These loans have a 95-99% success rate – much higher than typical small business loans. And in 35 years, Oikocredit has repaid every single lender with their money plus interest.

It is a strategy for bringing people out of poverty by helping them become self-sufficient. And it is a strategy for changing the world by changing what we do with our investments: why give our savings to a big bank who cares nothing about you, your money, or the greater good of the world? You can do more with your money.

How Is That A Movement?

Because we can only change the world if we all do it together.  So that requires each of us to take a few moments and literally join the movement – not just invest, but spread our excitement and encourage our friends and families to invest in people.

Who Does It Help?

Here is a bit I wrote on the Oikocredit website about a woman named Flora:

Flora lives in a region of Kenya where 90% of people in the area live below the poverty line on less than $2 a day. When Flora’s husband was killed and their cattle stolen in 2001, she cried, feeling helpless and hopeless. But with four young children to support, she desperately needed to rebuild her life. With a series of loans – and a lot of hard work – she was able to re-establish her herd and eventually open a small grocery store. Little by little Flora started thinking big again and taking control of her life.

Flora has never forgotten her own struggle and is devoted to helping others in her community. She offers fair credit in her shop to customers who need it. In addition to a home for her family, she has also built rooms to rent out. This housing means others can live affordably and benefit like she has from the town’s growth. Today, she not only feeds and clothes her family; she pays school fees for her two brothers and plans to send her own children to college. Her future dreams include opening another business. Not only does Flora have improved her own life, but she has also become the inspiration for other single women in her community. Photography: Samburu Teachers Sacco

But quite honestly, it doesn’t just help Flora.  It helps you, and me, and our friends, our families, our neighborhoods, and our world. I firmly believe that part of living in a sustainable world is helping our neighbors, helping spread the wealth and happiness to other communities, and being there when others need us most.  Sometimes the best thing we can do for the planet – and for ourselves – is to help others.

Why am I so excited about creating a movement with our partners at Oikocredit?

The founders of Re-Vision Labs set out to change the world as a business, and we don’t choose our clients lightly.  Oikocredit has been around for 35 years, with an amazing mission and truly selfless people working together. They also take huge strides to make sure their work is socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable.  They want to improve the world just as much as we do, and they believe, as I do, that we can change the world by changing what we do with our money.  Learn more at the new interactive website we’ve created with Oikocredit.

There are other great microfinance organizations as well.  If you want to look around at other microfinance organizations to pick which one works best for you, just make sure you investigate them as we did with Oikocredit.  Make sure they are offering loans at reasonable rates to people in the developing world, and that they offer services beyond loans – support services like courses in creating a business plan, accounting, marketing, etc – these things are what make the biggest difference.

Thank You For Joining Us

Last week we gathered 144 names of people interested in becoming a part of the movement in microfinance.  We gathered $1,000 in donations to the Seattle Greendrinks Oikocredit investment fund.  We gathered a lot of excitement and interest in a new way of investing.

And this is just the beginning.  This is just Phase 1, the pilot project. We will be expanding this movement around the country, and eventually around the world. So if you know anyone who may be interested in helping us champion this cause, PLEASE let us know! Leave a comment, send us an email, give us a ring. Thank you for helping us truly make a difference in the world.

We thank our community so much for joining us, and for having open ears and warm hearts. Together we can change the world.

It all started because I was young, visionary, and progressive-minded.

(Perhaps your story starts like this as well.)

Over the five years since I graduated college, I’ve spent a shocking amount of time working in my dream job.  This has been possible primarily because I’ve given myself the permission to go into debt when the projects and work that matter most to me don’t come with a paycheck.

On several occasions I’ve volunteered for months to support a visionary project, land a position in a bold (and of course, risky) new start-up, or launch that start-up myself.  Always these projects were immediate, exciting, and leveraged the things I cared most about – pushing back on climate change, booting the bad guys out of office, incubating young social entrepreneurs. I’ve learned a ton, and done some cool stuff.

But of course, these values-driven ‘freedom-stints’ of mine have added up to considerable debt.

Now, in theory, this debt isn’t bad.

Friends of mine have taken out school loans and I’ve taken out (far smaller) loans to invest in myself and my own off-roading approach to making a difference. (No, you can’t take out education loans to apprentice with a philosopher. But you sure CAN try.)

The difference, however, is that my friends owe money to the government at approximately 3%, and I owe money to my credit card – at approximately 14%.

So here I am, living my values as best I know how, and sometimes I feel extra generous and powerful when I cut out some cash to send to charities and game-changing political campaigns. Over the last year, these modest but heart-felt offerings have added up approximately $600.  (Mmm…being a donor gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling.)  And of course that doesn’t include the small businesses I go out of my way to frequent and the artists I support by buying (like, paying for) their albums.

But then, after the careful allotment of these meager cash resources and dutiful embodiment of my deeply progressive values, each year I write one very special check to cover the 14% interest on my loans. I write it to the tune of $924* – roughly 1.5x my annual donations to progressive causes – and make it out to Chase Bank.

I’m sorry. CHASE bank?

That’s right. THE Chase Bank. The one that last year took twenty-FIVE billion dollars of OUR American money and has just announced that it will deliver an astonishing twenty-NINE billion dollars in BONUSES to its CEOs.   (Translation: We got hooooodwinked and I’m paying the villain). $25,000,000,000 of our common money is no longer available for the climate fight, or economic independence for the poor, or any of the other causes I care about…because it’s locked up in some fat cat’s 3rd residence or H2.

$25 Billion?!! That’s mind-boggling. I can’t even IMAGINE what $25 Billion is.

But I can tell you what that $924 is.

$924 is a serious chunk of my friend Oliver’s mustache during his Mustache for Kids Campaign at DonorsChoose.  $924 is 92 Gaggles of geese (I still don’t know what a gaggle is, but Heifer says I could by 92 of them with my Chase Check.)  $924 is my VIP seat on a local candidate’s victorious election night, or half way to my contribution limit on Obama’s campaign.

In short, this particular $924 is my ticket to Shmuck-Dom.

And for me and my – what did I call it again? “young, visionary, progressive-mindedness?” – that’s just embarrassing.  And it’s particularly embarrassing because (sneak attack!) this is Microfinance Week at Re-Vison Labs.   In preparation for tonight’s big Greendrinks event with Oikocredit USA, we’ve been talking a lot about the power banks and creditors.

But, luckily, so has the rest of the country.

The Move your Money Campaign is raging across social media sites, building momentum off a fantastic video that Gabriel posted earlier this week.

And watching those clips of George Bailey the ethical banker made me think right away of another hero of good finance.  Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank and Nobel Prize winner, pioneered the concept of microcredit by financing loans to poor people with his own money. (Check out this short video for the story.) I originally learned about Yunnus while working (in between ‘freedom stints’) at another great financial institution – ShoreBank – which is a well-loved Chicago-based bank that uses many of the lessons of community-based credit that Yunnus pioneered.

So, with all this background in good money practices, what was I THINKING, letting this $924 slide?

I guess I just WASN’T thinking. I wasn’t, frankly, adding it up.

So this is it, Chase, it’s over. You and me? We’re done. I’m moving all my uber-expensive debt elsewhere because I can’t stand the idea of sending you another dime.  I don’t know how I’ll do this just yet, but I’ll figure it out.

And in the meantime, this is my challenge to all my values-driven friends: Add up the power of your money – whether it’s in the black or in the red.  And if you don’t like what you see, move it.  Because the good guys are out there.

And we can’t afford the rest of this stuff.

*Technically, it’s 12 little checks and I’ve already subtracted the principal to make my point.  The $924 is just the interest.

We at Re-Vision Labs are only trying to change the world, something that is a group project, so we like to see other grassroots efforts in our community. Through the alumni association at Bainbridge Graduate Institute, I connected with my friend Kristine who is involved with addressing the serious problem of human trafficking. She asked if anyone had any microfinance connections and since we do, with the venerable Oikocredit, I inquired as to why.

Overlake Christian Church, an organization Kristine participates in, has been partnered with international organizations preventing, rescuing and offering healing to those victimized by human trafficking.

As anyone who frequents this blog no doubt already knows, Microfinance Institutions (MFI’s) operate in some areas where human rights take a backseat and exploitation is still a problem. So I think the folks at Overlake are asking – does the MFI “value chain” offer an opportunity to help the people who are outside event the boundaries of the “unbankable” – the victims of human trafficking.

A group based at the Overlake Christian Church near Seattle, Washington, are working on initiatives in orphan care and human trafficking issues and beginning their work in Kenya with orphan care and in Thailand with human trafficking.

Their goal in Kenya is to facilitate adoptions for 2000 street children in the next three years.  They will provide transitional housing for the children and provide training and support to families able and willing to adopt.  We believe it is important to build families and that these children know the love of parents.  Microfinance will be incorporated to make it possible for families to adopt.  We also see microfinance as a way to keep children from becoming orphans.

Their goal in Thailand is to prevent children from being trafficked.  They also are working on rescuing 1000 girls in Pattaya in the next three years.  They will be using microfinance as a tool to empower these women and to help them support themselves.

They hope to build a business plan that is replicable and sustainable so they can move into other countries.

This group is connecting with people and organizations who have been working in the microfinance space to gain knowledge about best practices on the ground. So I invited a few of the folks from OCC to EVO this Tuesday for the launch of our new community organizing movement for Oikocredit. Hopefully the place will be jammed with folks who can help. C’mon down.