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Entrepreneurship
Lift communities out of poverty, one business at a time

IMPORTANT MESSAGE ABOUT MEDA TRUST

Dear MEDA Trust supporters,

Thank you for helping the working poor in Afghanistan and Nicaragua find new roads out of poverty through your sponsorship of microloans.

The creation of MEDA Trust in 2006 provided us a great opportunity to offer supporters like you a chance to become closer to MEDA clients. When we designed MEDA Trust, we wanted to help you engage friends, colleagues and family members – to pass along your faith, values and concern for the poor to your children and grandchildren.

Three years ago, we embarked on the Afghanistan Challenge, where donations to our microfinance work in Afghanistan were matched dollar for dollar by the Government of Canada. You may have noticed that we no longer offer Afghan loans on MEDA Trust. That’s because – thanks to your support – we have met our goal to provide loan capital for microfinance in Afghanistan. That work continues through a group of microfinance banks with which MEDA remains closely connected.

With our commitment in Afghanistan now fulfilled, we had an opportunity to review the feasibility of our MEDA Trust initiative, and have decided to dismantle MEDA Trust effective March 31. Until March 31, you can still visit MEDA Trust to view loans, make new loans to Nicaragua and track repayments. Your donations to date will continue to be used by our partner microfinance institutions to fund new loans.

As the world of microfinance has grown beyond loans to offering savings and other financial services that many in the Western world take for granted, MEDA has broadened its areas of expertise to help financial institutions in developing countries meet the growing needs of their customers, ensuring they have continued access to financial services.

The advent of social media is providing new and exciting ways to engage others – so stay tuned for more information on our changing online landscape! Again, thank you for your continuing support, and your commitment to creating business solutions to poverty.

Allan Sauder
President

Transferring Funds

To transfer funds to your Giving Group, select the option "Transfer Funds" under the "My Portfolio" menu. You can then enter the desired amount of funds and the email address of your group administrator. After confirming the transfer, the funds will be transferred to your group administrator's portfolio. Please note the funds will only be visible under the administrator's portfolio page.

 

 

Example:
If you wish to start a group with family members, each member is able to transfer their personal funds into the care of the designated group administrator. This can be a great way to help teach children about lending money and responsibility. If the child is the group administrator, parents, grandparents and other relatives can transfer funds for the child to manage on behalf of the entire family. The rest of the group is still able to view the loans funded by the group and the repayment of the loan under the "Group Details" page and their personal portfolio pages.