More than $70 million disbursed over 20 years
Maria & Rosa are clients of WCCN’s Ecuadorian partner agency FACES. FACES provided a low-interest loan to Rosa to raise pigs, increasing the family’s income, and medical services and therapy to Maria. FACES provides below-market rate loans to families with special needs children and to special needs adults helping them achieve economic independence. FACES also provides special needs children and adults crucial health care, therapy and job training so they can fully participate in society. Photo by Michael Kienitz
By Carlos Arenas, WCCN Executive Director
Working Capital for Community Needs (WCCN) arrived at the 20th anniversary of its loan fund with an exciting milestone of more than $70 million in loans disbursed. Approximately $60 million has been deployed in Nicaragua, where WCCN lent exclusively until four years ago. About 70,000 people benefitted from the funds. Only one loan has underperformed, meaning a write-off ratio of 0.4% over a 20-year-period.
The models WCCN used to channel funds to the working poor changed over the years, along with the names of the loan fund and geographic focus. The original fund (1991-1998) was called the Nicaraguan Community Development Loan Fund (NCDLF) and was the idea of economist Carter Garber. The NCDLF raised investments exclusively for the use of CEPAD-PRESTANIC’s loan portfolio, as the first microfinance organization in Nicaragua, and disbursed almost $11 million during its seven years of existence.
WCCN’s second fund was the Nicaraguan Credit Alternative Fund (the NICA Fund). With the NICA Fund (1999-2008), WCCN started conducting due diligence analyses before lending to any microfinance group. At its peak, the fund reached 15 microfinance organizations and co-ops in Nicaragua. The NICA Fund disbursed approximately $38 million dollars in Nicaragua in its nine years of existence.
The current Capital for Communities Fund (C4C Fund) and the Community Needs, LLC, WCCN’s wholly owned subsidiary, date back to late 2008, and currently lend to 22 organizations in six countries. With the C4C Fund and the LLC we have taken the lessons learned with the NICA Fund model to five additional countries. Also, we have added fair trade lending to finance producer co-ops in the Latin American region. The C4C Fund and the LLC so far have lent approximately $21 million during the last four years.
rancisco Barquero, WCCN’s Regional Loan Fund
Representative in Nicaragua
During the 10 years I’ve had the privilege of leading WCCN, I have overseen the deployment of more than $55 million dollars. That would not have been possible without the extraordinary work done by my predecessors and many others involved in the inception and development of the fund during these 20 years.
Sonia Taddy was the director of WCCN when we started the loan fund, and Julie Andersen was in charge during the challenging transition from the NCDLF to the NICA Fund. Our representative in Latin America, Francisco Barquero, deserves special recognition because he has been working for WCCN’s loan funds since the inception of the NICA Fund 13 years ago.
WCCN has had six loan fund managers so far: Sheldon Rampton, Scott Nicholson, Christina Jennings, Dwight Haase, Jon Bishop and Emily Allred. Emily has been the longest serving loan fund manager, staying in that position for more than six years and making important fund managment improvments.
Members of the old NICA Fund’s oversight committee played instrumental roles in the design and improvement of our lending policies and procedures. These members include Brad Barham, Soren Hauge, Diana Fletschner, Anne Reynolds, Sue Lloyd, Randy Mullis, Jon Peacock, Sheldon Rampton, Eliza Waters, Derrick Gee, Kathryn Carlson, Peter Staudenmaier, Natalie Gons, Jodi Hanna, Mel Braverman and Dwight Haase. WCCN’s current board, of course, is responsible for our latest activities.
WCCN’s loan fund is strong because it has been a collective effort from the beginning. Despite the great contributions of all the people listed here, no single individual can claim responsibility for our successes. The fund’s success in the next 20 years will depend on this continuous collaborative effort.