Process for finding microfinance charities

This page outlines our process for choosing which microfinance institutions to contact for the purpose of identifying outstanding microfinance charities.

• Our questions focus on MFIs' attention to social impact, so our first screen was evidence that an MFI had completed MixMarket's Social Performance Standards (SPS) report, a self-reported questionnaire on various issues related to social impact. As of early April 2010 (when we started this work), about 170 MFIs had completed reports.
• We then checked whether each MFI either (a) had accepted donations recently or (b) was actively soliciting donations (according to their MixMarket profile). Of the initial 170, 114 organizations met this criterion.
• Finally, we looked at three specific questions in each MFI's SPS report: (a) do they track clients' standards of living; (b) do they track the reasons why clients drop out of the program OR offer voluntary savings. Applying this screen left us with 59 MFIs.

In the first round, we contacted MFIs with an SPS report which were located in sub-Saharan Africa and not self-sufficient as part of our 2009 economic empowerment grant research. In the second round, we contacted three MFIs that had substantial public information available on their operations. In the third, we contacted 23 MFIs that seemed promising based on their reported drop out rate or offering of voluntary savings and amount of recent donations, or because they had been the subject of a Social Impact Monitoring case study by Imp-Act. In the fourth, we contacted the MFIs listed by Mix Market as having submitted both an SPS report and a social rating report by an independent rating agency (and which we had not yet contacted and appeared, from their website, to focus on microfinance). We also contacted three MFIs that reported both holding more than $1000 in voluntary deposits and measuring clients' standard of living. Finally, we contacted four of Kiva's top partners1 (in terms of total loaned through Kiva). In total we emailed 43 MFIs, heard back from 25, and spoke on the phone with 18. 11 of the 18 provided us with enough information to complete a full review. The table below details the current status of communication with each of the MFIs we contacted:

Organization	Reason for contact	Response
AgroCapital	Top Kiva partner	Did not respond to our email
Al Majmoua	Reported tracking reasons for drop out, a drop out rate of less than 25% and non-zero donations in the most recent year	Spoke to us by phone
ALSOL	Reported tracking reasons for drop out, a drop out rate of less than 25% and non-zero donations in the most recent year	Did not respond to our email
AMK	Stood out for publicly available information	Review completed
Aqroinvest	Reported tracking reasons for drop out, a drop out rate of less than 25% and non-zero donations in the most recent year	Did not respond to our email
ASKI	Independent social rating report	Spoke to us by phone; told us they don't use donations for microfinance
CDRO	Reported tracking reasons for drop out, a drop out rate of less than 25% and non-zero donations in the most recent year	They responded, but we decided not to proceed due to language barrier
CEPRODEL	Independent social rating report	Declined to participate in review process
CEVI	Reported offering voluntary savings and measuring clients' standard of living	Did not respond to our email
Chamroeun	Reported tracking reasons for drop out, a drop out rate of less than 25% and non-zero donations in the most recent year	Review completed
Coop 20 de Abril	Reported tracking reasons for drop out, a drop out rate of less than 25% and non-zero donations in the most recent year	They responded, but we decided not to proceed due to language barrier
Crecer	Subject of a Social Impact Monitoring case study	Did not respond to our email
CREDIT	Top Kiva partner	Did not respond to our email
CUMO	Reported tracking reasons for drop out, a drop out rate of less than 25% and non-zero donations in the most recent year	Review completed
DAMEN	Reported tracking reasons for drop out, a drop out rate of less than 25% and non-zero donations in the most recent year	Review completed
Enda Inter-Arabe	Reported tracking reasons for drop out, a drop out rate of less than 25% and non-zero donations in the most recent year	Declined to participate in review process
FDL	Independent social rating report	Did not respond to our email
FIE Gran Poder	Independent social rating report	Did not respond to our email
FINCA Peru	Reported tracking reasons for drop out, a drop out rate of less than 25% and non-zero donations in the most recent year	Review completed
FINCA Uganda	Reported offering voluntary savings and measuring clients' standard of living	Did not respond to our email
FMFB	Reported offering voluntary savings and non-zero donations in most recent year	Review completed
Fondo Esperanza	Independent social rating report	Spoke to us by phone
Fonkoze	Stood out for publicly available information	Review not completed
Fundación Paraguaya	Reported tracking reasons for drop out, a drop out rate of less than 25% and non-zero donations in the most recent year	Review completed
Fundeser	Independent social rating report	Did not respond to our email
ID-Ghana	Economic empowerment grant	Review completed
IMON International	Top Kiva partner	Did not respond to our email
Khushhali	Reported offering voluntary savings and non-zero donations in most recent year	Did not respond to our email
MBK	Stood out for publicly available information	Informed us that they are a for profit company
MEC AFER	Reported tracking reasons for drop out, a drop out rate of less than 25% and non-zero donations in the most recent year	Did not respond to our email
Microloan Foundation	Economic empowerment grant	Review completed
NWTF	Subject of a Social Impact Monitoring case study	Phone call upcoming
ODEF	Reported tracking reasons for drop out, a drop out rate of less than 25% and non-zero donations in the most recent year	They responded, but we decided not to proceed due to language barrier
Prestanic	Independent social rating report	Did not respond to our email
PRISMA	Reported tracking reasons for drop out, a drop out rate of less than 25% and non-zero donations in the most recent year	They responded, but we decided not to proceed due to language barrier
PRIZMA	Subject of a Social Impact Monitoring case study	Did not respond to our email
Pro Mujer Bolivia	Reported tracking reasons for drop out, a drop out rate of less than 25% and non-zero donations in the most recent year	Did not respond to our email
Pro Mujer Peru	Reported tracking reasons for drop out, a drop out rate of less than 25% and non-zero donations in the most recent year	Did not respond to our email
Progresar	Reported tracking reasons for drop out, a drop out rate of less than 25% and non-zero donations in the most recent year	Review completed
Sabaragamuwa	Reported offering voluntary savings and measuring clients' standard of living	Did not respond to our email
Sinapi Aba Trust	Top Kiva partner	Phone call upcoming
Small Enterprise Foundation	Economic empowerment grant	Review completed
VFC	Reported offering voluntary savings and non-zero donations in most recent year	Spoke to us by phone

• 1. Kiva. Field partners. http://www.kiva.org/partners (accessed December 8, 2011). Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/63mg0zsj0. (This data originally accessed in mid-2010 but we did not archive it at that time.)