Chicago, February 2, 2023 – Opportunity International, a leading global nonprofit, today announced the successful completion of its three-year Waymaker Campaign, raising $101 million of philanthropic capital that will leverage over $1 billion in social impact funding from local banks and financial institutions to provide loans, investments and wraparound services to 25 million people living in endemic poverty so they can build their incomes and educate their children.

Opportunity launched the Waymaker campaign in January 2020 with the goal of raising $100 million to provide $1 billion in loans, investments, training and support to equip families and smallholder farmers living in poverty in 30 countries in the global South, with the capital and the skills they need to get jobs, start businesses, improve their farms, build low-cost schools, and increase their incomes. The organization’s focus is on reaching high-need groups like women, girls, and people living in extreme poverty. 

“The successful culmination of this campaign during a period of economic uncertainty, global conflicts and a global pandemic is a testament to the passion of our donors and supporters for giving some of the most vulnerable people on the planet a hand-up to build incomes, feed their families, educate their children and improve their quality of life,” said Atul Tandon, CEO of Opportunity International. 

“We’re honored to have been a part of Opportunity’s historic Waymaker campaign, as the organization can now achieve an unprecedented level of impact for people who need us most,” said Joel Johnson, former President, CEO and Chairman of Hormel Foods Corporation Inc., and one of four co-chairs along with his wife Beth Johnson. “The exponential outreach these funds will enable in communities of extreme poverty is a much-needed beacon of hope in this world.”

Warren Staley, former Chairman and CEO of Cargill, Inc., also co-chaired the campaign alongside his wife Mary Lynn Staley. “We are particularly excited about the private-public support in this transformative movement to rid the world of extreme poverty and lack of quality education for the most vulnerable,” Staley said. “In addition to the generous support of our private donors, several corporations and foundations and the United States government have supported Opportunity to exceed the Waymaker Campaign’s fundraising and impact goals.” 

ABOUT OPPORTUNITY INTERNATIONAL 

Opportunity International is a global non-profit celebrating 51 years of equipping people with tools and business solutions to work their way out of poverty. Opportunity provides 18.7 million families with innovative financial resources, training, and support to grow their small businesses and send their children to school. In 2021, Opportunity International and its partners released $2 billion in capital across 30 countries and helped fund 8,400 schools that reached 2 million children. Since its founding in 1971, Opportunity International has loaned over $19 billion, and 95 percent of the organization’s clients are women.              

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