Microfinance has evolved as an economic development approach intended to benefit low-income groups. The term refers to the provision of financial services to low-income clients, including the self-employed. Financial services generally include savings and credit, and some microfinance organizations also provide insurance and payment services. Source: MABS.

ACCION USA (ACUS) is a Community Development Financial Institution providing loans and other financial services to low- and moderate-income entrepreneurs in the U.S. who are unable to access bank credit for their businesses. With economic opportunity, these entrepreneurs, primarily minorities and women, can build assets and better provide for their families. ACCION USA is a member of the largest microlending network in the U.S., reaching over 9,900 clients with $86 million in business credit.

Project Enterprise (PE) encourages and assists entrepreneurs and small businesses in underprivileged communities in Harlem, East New York, Central Brooklyn, Flatbush and the Bronx. PE has created access to business loans, development services and networking opportunities. Overall, this helps entrepreneurs increase their standard of living, create jobs for their communities, and build financial assets. To expand the influence of microcredit, PE has entered into a partnership with its paradigm, the Grameen Foundation.

Colorado Enterprise Fund (CEF) is a nonprofit community development financial institution whose mission is to foster economic opportunity through business ownership by providing loans and management assistance to disadvantaged business owners, including women, minorities and low-income persons. To fulfill this mission CEF provides micro and small business loans up to $150,000 to entrepreneurs who are unable to obtain financing from traditional sources and management, thus helping them to improve their business skills and knowledge.

Count Me In (CMI) champions the cause for women�s economic independence by providing access to business loans, consultation and education. The first online microlender, CMI uses a unique women friendly credit scoring system to make loans of $500-$10,000 available to women across the United States who have nowhere to turn for that all-important first business loan. Since inception, CMI has loaned out $1 million and helped more than 400 women increase contacts, skills and confidence.

Alterfin is a co-op society whose mission is to contribute to the development of local financial networks in third-world countries that are oriented towards opportunity-poor or oppressed groups in society. Alterfin provides finance mainly through credit, but also through guarantees and temporary share participation. Alterfin�s portfolio at the moment amounts to more than $5.5 million. Alterfin�s resources have been used to finance an estimated 9,000 microenterprise and small business entrepreneurs, including farmers.

ACCION International (ACCION) is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to giving people the financial tools they need: microenterprise loans, business training and other microfinance services, to work their way out of poverty. ACCION is an umbrella organization for a network of partner microfinance institutions that provide loans to entrepreneurs in 21 countries, including the U.S. Together, the ACCION Network has disbursed $7.6 billion in microloans to more than 4.7 million borrowers.

Opportunity International, the world's largest Christian microfinance organization, is committed to solving global poverty. By providing loans, training, counseling and other financial services to people in chronic poverty, Opportunity International sees lives transformed. Small loans allow poor entrepreneurs to start or expand a business, develop a steady income, provide for their families and create jobs for their neighbors.

Community Ventures Corporation (CVC) is a community-based, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of urban and rural residents throughout central and northern Kentucky. CVC�s central mission is to provide individuals and families with the skills, income, and assets necessary to achieve financial independence. Since its inception, CVC has provided over $9 million of funding in the form of microenterprise, small business, and affordable housing loans.

EcoLogic Finance (EF) is a nonprofit offering affordable financial services to community-based organizations engaged in activities like organic and fair-trade agriculture, sustainable fishing and ecotourism. EF�s loan capital supports low-income communities whose business activities foster environmental conservation and grassroots economic development. Managing nearly $13 million, EF offers financing to rural producer cooperatives that lenders traditionally deny, due to small size, lack of collateral, and the financial risks associated with the circumstances of their locale.

The first cross border securitiation of loans to microfinance institutions (MFIs). The MFIs, in turn, make microloans to low income people in developing countries of $100- $2000 each. The first closing --$40 million in July '04-- reached about 40,000 microentrepreneurs and in turn their families and their communities. The second closing is likely to do the same. This effort has the support of the Grameen Foundation, USA, the Omidyar Network and the Skoll Foundation plus a US government agency, OPIC. This use of the capital markets to finance MFIs paves a path for more such efforts as this field develops.

MicroVest (Bethesda, MD) is a $23 million investment firm providing debt and equity capital and management oversight to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in emerging markets. It is the first private equity microfinance investment firm in the United States. MicroVest�s goal is to expand the capacity of existing, profitable MFIs throughout the world while building capital markets that work for the poor. MicroVest was founded by CARE, MEDA and the Seed Capital Development Fund - three non-profit organizations with longstanding credibility in the microfinance industry.

Banco Solidario, a regulated bank based in Ecuador, provides financial services to microenterprises, small/medium businesses, and consumers, many of which would not be able to enter the marketplace under normal conditions. It aims to protect the profitability of its shareholders� capital while staying true to its social mission. As of December 31, 2004, across its microcredit, small/medium business, housing and consumer lending businesses, Banco Solidario had 135,858 clients and a US $ 177 million portfolio.

Aavishkaar Goodwell is a for-profit business development company that provides equity finance and hands-on support to entrepreneurial microfinance organizations in India on a socially and commercially sustainable basis. Aavishkaar Goodwell aims to improve access to affordable financial services for millions of families in order to contribute to poverty alleviation and sustainable development. We do this by developing and scaling up entrepreneurial microfinance organizations in India and integrating them into the mainstream financial sector. Aavishkaar Goodwell aims to realize "benefits of scale": a substantial social impact and an attractive financial return. Aavishkaar Goodwell is backed by private sector and public sector investors. We are building a portfolio of USD 25 million of smart capital investments in 30-40 start ups and 8-10 fast growing MFIs.

Goodwell is a for-profit business development company that invests in entrepreneurial microfinance organizations on a socially and commercially sustainable basis. Goodwell aims to improve access to affordable financial services for millions of people in the 'Base of the Pyramid’ in order to contribute to poverty alleviation and sustainable development. We do this by developing and scaling up entrepreneurial microfinance organizations and integrating them into the mainstream financial sector. Goodwell aims to realize “benefits of scale”: a substantial social impact and an attractive financial return.