Philanthropy Action

Category: Poverty Alleviation

There are 130 entries in this category.

Oct 17, 2008

Does the Design of Loans Impact Repayment Rates?

The first panel of the conference was on “Credit Product Design: Monitoring and Enforcement” – put more simply, how does the design of microfinance products affect repayment rates? Two very interesting studies were presented, one that examines the impact, or lack thereof, of moving from weekly to monthly repayments and another that looks at the impact of implementing a credit bureau.

Oct 17, 2008

Cutting Edge Research on Microfinance

We’re attending a conference of microfinance researchers hosted by Innovations for Poverty Action and the Financial Access Initiative. The conference is not your typical microfinance conference – all the presentations are by academic researchers who are conducting randomized controlled trials to learn how, how much and why microfinance works (or doesn’t). That being said, the research is not being done for academic purposes alone but to learn with microfinance organizations how they can improve their products and their impact. Jonathan Morduch set the stage by considering both the tremendous progress that has been made in research on microfinance in the last decade and the huge remaining gaps in knowledge we have. These gaps are critically important because although the industry has grown rapidly (from roughly 14 million clients a decade ago to 150 million clients today) the number of people without access to formal financial services remains in the billions.

Sep 29, 2008

Who Will Bail Out the Non-Profits?

The impact of the declining economy and shrinking financial services industry will likely be severe for many non-profits. The fall in donations while needs for services rises is yet another reason we should be questioning the existing regulations for foundation and donor-advised fund payouts.

Jul 21, 2008

Interview: United Way of America CEO Brian Gallagher

Recently we discussed United Way’s refocusing, the meaning of accountability, and the state of philanthropy in general with CEO Brian Gallagher.

Jul 16, 2008

An Emerging Markets Cellular Behemoth Means Opportunity

A company the size of a merged MTN and Reliance Communications would have the potential to make capital investments in infrastructure that could drive faster subscriber growth in emerging geographies. A larger and more exciting possibility is the possibility of using cellphones to dramatically lower the cost of small transactions.

Jul 11, 2008

The Role of Genetically Modified Crops in World Food Security

Most discussions of the role of GM crops in the current food crisis fail to address whether non-technical solutions such as land stewardship and efficient water use have been fully explored.

Jul 03, 2008

More Young People Looking for Post-College Stints in the Volunteer Corps

More recent college graduates are applying to join volunteer organizations such as Teach for America or the Peace Corps. Yet in the last few months two relevant stories have come out about the Peace Corps specifically, both of which suggest that its historical reliance on young volunteers has played a role in the organizations’ reputation as a particularly ineffective conduit for humanitarian relief.

Jun 17, 2008

Doing the Right Thing is Not Always Easy

Message fatigue can come about for any number of reasons. For one, constant bombardment with information about how bad things are can cause people to feel that their individual actions are meaningless. Equally concerning, however, is that the information donors need to make good decisions often becomes contradictory as an issue gets more attention.

May 22, 2008

Silver Linings and Dark Clouds Surround the Food Crisis

It seems that everyone except for the US Congress has woken up to the food crisis. The topic has made the cover of many magazines, and is featured almost daily in major national newspapers. Most debate has now turned to the causes and solutions, if any, to the situation. While there are some silver linings, the biggest dark cloud of all is centered over Washington, DC this week where the US Congress will overturn a presidential veto and pass the 2008 farm bill.

Apr 24, 2008

Explosive Growth in Conditional Cash Transfers

Conditional cash transfer programs (CCT) are rapidly gaining popularity around the world. While there are studies which show that CCT programs have a positive impact, there’s still a lot we don’t know about how well they work, why they work, and how to structure programs for maximum benefit to both recipients and society. To help answer these questions, we recently spoke with Dr. Leigh Linden, an assistant professor of economics at Columbia University.

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