50 Weeks of Opportunity
Each week for the next 50 weeks, we will share a piece of Opportunity’s history—major or minor, sobering or inspiring, we have gotten where we are today by facing some of the world’s greatest challenges, with you by our side. Please join us in celebrating the many impactful moments that have built the foundation on which we will embark on our most audacious vision yet: ending extreme poverty.
Last Chance to Triple Your Impact–The Banking on Africa Summer Campaign Ends Tonight
Congratulations! Because of your support, our Banking on Africa campaign has reached its $75,000 summer goal, making crucial progress toward the day when all people in Sub-Saharan Africa will be able to access powerful financial services that enable them to break the cycle of poverty. Inspired by your enthusiastic support, the 2-to-1 match has been extended until the campaign closes tonight at 11:59 p.m. PST. This is your last chance to triple your gift’s impact, creating lasting change in the…
Read MoreTop 5 Creative Fundraisers by International Nonprofits
Last February, 29 super-dedicated young professionals and entrepreneurs went to Orlando, Florida to jump out of a plane, skydiving to raise funds and awareness for Opportunity Tanzania‘s microfinance initiatives. Inspired by our supporters’ fundraiser at 18,000 feet, we entered Jump for Opportunity as the “Most Creative Fundraiser by a Charity” in this year’s Classy Awards. If you like our fundraiser, you can vote for Jump in the Classy Awards by clicking here. Of course, we’re not the…
Read MoreSupport our Clients, Buy a Sevenly T-Shirt
Wear your passion for microfinance with pride. This week only, Sevenly is selling a specially designed t-shirt to benefit Opportunity International in honor of our Banking on Africa campaign concluding this Saturday. Sevenly is a company of Christian social entrepreneurs whose mission is to design and sell t-shirts to raise funds and awareness for nonprofit organizations they feel are making a big impact in the world, and they’ve selected Opportunity as their featured nonprofit of the week. The…
Read MoreMy First Trust Group Experience, a Traveler’s Report from Uganda
We rose early today and split into two groups with ours visiting a Trust Group in Kampala, which is the bustling capital of Uganda. We meandered down the shopping district, winding our way through an orderly confusion of shops, street vendors and a sea of humanity. It was hot and dry and the red dust rose over the marketplace like a cloud mixing itself with the heavy smell of outdoor cooking and fumes from the boda bodas as they streaked by. We found our destination, which was one of two wooden covered…
Read MoreMeet Thomas, a Loan Officer in Moshi, Tanzania
Meet Thomas. Thomas is a loan officer in the Moshi branch of Opportunity Tanzania. When I asked him about himself he said he likes hip hop music, traveling, and helping out clients. His Trust Group adores him, as they should, he is a wonderful man who helps out whenever possible. We talked about some of the challenges of being a loan officer on the bus ride to a Trust Group meeting and he confided in me that he doesn’t like disappointing clients by not meeting all of their needs but tries hard…
Read MoreEmpowerment through Microfinance–Meeting Rwandan Microfinance Client Dorosera Mukagahima
Dorosera Mukagahima made our long two-hour bus ride worth the trek to her remote village. She’s the elected treasurer in her Trust Group of about 30, mostly women. In her business she buys and sells goats—about three at a time. She proudly told us of her sturdy mud brick home with a metal roof, situated on an acre of land that she owns. Life hasn’t always been this good. She explained that a couple years ago when she joined the Trust Group her “brain was closed.” She says she was confused,…
Read MoreUnlocking Potential Through the Power of Education
Opportunity’s financial products, educational programs and business training help impoverished families, especially women, develop their capacity to the fullest. Where poverty is the way of life, people’s potential is often overshadowed by the struggle to survive. But when equipped with the right tools, even the most vulnerable are able to change their own world and create a better future for their children. We stand alongside our clients with a mission to provide those tools—the financial…
Read MoreAn Outstanding Group of Ugandan Microfinance Clients
These people meet weekly in this very, very rough setting to repay their loans. They must each be current on their payments for the group to be deemed current. They all are. On their own (not an idea from the bank) over the past few years this informal group has established a “reserve fund.” The fund is now “over reserved” so as a group they are buying a motor scooter and hiring a driver to start a taxi service owned by the group. Amazing. I am just blown away. They have done this on an average…
Read MoreTanzania Reporter: Our Day at Arusha’s Faraja Center for Young Women
Reporting back from the recent YAO Insight Trip to Tanzania, Tanzania Correspondent Contest winner Kelly Flanagan shares photos from the community service day she and her fellow travelers spent at the Faraja Young Women Development Unit in Arusha. The Faraja Center is a residential facility that helps rehabilitate young female victims of human trafficking, offering them vocational skills training–such as English, sewing, cooking, handicrafts, computer skills and more–to help them build a better…
Read MoreVote for Jump for Opportunity, a Finalist in the Stay Classy Awards
We’re excited to announce that the Opportunity submission Jump for Opportunity has been selected as one of the top 25 Most Creative Fundraisers by a Charity in the 3rd Annual Classy Awards – the largest philanthropic awards show in the country. The awards are produced by Stay Classy, an online fundraising platform for nonprofits. Thanks to all Opportunity supporters who voted in the first round, we now have the chance to earn $15,000 and gain recognition for our work through this national competition. We…
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