Financial Innovation for Poverty Alleviation
Approximately 20 words left (160 characters).
Sobre ti
Sobre ti
Nombre
Andrew
Apellido
Posner
URL en Twitter
URL en Facebook
Sobre tu organización
Nombre de la organización
The Capital Good Fund
Sitio web de la organización
País de la organización
Estados Unidos, RI, Providence, Providence County
Países en donde este proyecto está creando impacto social
Estados Unidos, RI, Providence, Providence County
Tu organización es
OSC/ONG
¿Cuánto tiempo ha estado operando la organización?
1-5 años
¿Tu organización ha recibido premios y/u honores? Cuéntanos sobre ellos.
2011 Hitachi Yoshiyama Social Entrepreneurship Award
2010: Providence Business News, 40 People to Watch in 2012
2011: Providence Monthly; 10 People to Watch in 2011
Citizen Citation: 2 Providence Mayors
Articles written in:
Providence Monthly, Providence Phoenix, Providence Business News, Providence Journal, Boston Journal, FDIC Reserve Bank of Boston Quarterly Publication and an appearance on CNN
La información que brindes aquí será usada para llenar las partes de tu perfil que hayan sido dejadas en blanco, como intereses, organización, y sitio web. Ninguna información de contacto será hecha pública. Por favor desmarca esta casilla si no deseas que esto suceda..
Innovación
Selecciona la fase que describa mejor el momento en el que se encuentra tu emprendimiento
Establecida (pasó las etapas anteriores y ha demostrado éxito)
¿Cuánto tiempo se lleva poniendo en práctica tu iniciativa?
Operando entre 1-5 años
La necesidad: ¿Cuál es el problema que tratas de solucionar?
Responsible financial service companies have yet to find a way of providing affordable financial services to the poor of America. As a result, payday lenders, rent-to-own centers, check-cashers, etc., reap $70 billion in profits per year. Equitable providers only serve 2% of the demand for financial services among the poor, and even then, those organizations a) have no plan for scale and self-sufficiency, b) use underwriting standards that exclude the poor and c) do not have a model for truly creating pathways out of poverty. Capital Good Fund has, over 3 years, discovered that ) a loan is not enough to get someone on a trajectory out of poverty, b) traditional lending criteria do not work for the poor, and c) interest income alone cannot make the organization self-sufficient.
La solución: ¿Cuál es tu solución? Sé específico.
CGF has developed an unprecedented business model that a) increases social impact, b) increases earned income and c) allows the organization to lend to the very poor while maintaining a high repayment rate. The model works as follows: loan applications are process by phone during a free, 10 minute session and are then run through an algorithm in-house that pre-approved 15% of applicants. The other 85% are referred to Financial Coaching, which is a yearlong relationship between client and coach. After the first three, one-on-one sessions (covering Budgeting, Banking, Credit, Debt, Goal Setting, Savings, Taxes and Health), the client's info is run through a second algorithm, which scores clients based on outcomes achieved during coaching, attendance and the coach's opinion. We charge $120 for coaching, paid back in 12 installments of $10, increasing CGF's earned income and building the borrower's credit. 45 out of 100 applicants receive a service--loans, coaching or both--from CGF.
El Modelo: Muéstranos a través de un ejemplo específico cómo tu solución hace una diferencia, incluye tus actividades primarias
Financial Coaching (FC) is the bedrock of everything we do. Because it is outcomes-based, it allows us to focus on the goals and needs of our clients (E.g., setting up a savings account, building credit, creating a resume, planning for retirement, managing debt, etc.). Also, by offering FC BEFORE making a loan, we can vet clients in a unique way, get to know them and give them the tools they need to succeed. The average FC client saves $1,000/year. We then offer FC graduates loans of up to $5,000 for an income generating activity and $2,000 for any consumer purpose (such as the purchase of a computer, application for citizenship or first and last month's rent on a new apartment). One client, Gretchen, came to us on the verge of homelessness; after FC and two loans, she now profits $2,300 from her eco-friendly catering/meal prep business. Another client, Magda, saved $9,600 in one year, bought a computer and is now launching her own food-based venture.
We also offer free tax prep, and have already returned $275,000 to the community. We have lent out $220,000 to our borrowers, 100% of whom are low-income, while maintaining a 90% repayment rate. Finally, we have graduated over 150 people from our FC program, built our own curriculum, and build two unique underwriting algorithms that allow us to serve the poorest of the poor.
El mercado: ¿Quiénes son tus pares y competidores? Identifica a otros que también estén trabajando para dar respuesta a las necesidades que tú abordas y en qué te diferencias de ellos. ¿Cuáles son los desafíos que estos jugadores podrían representar para tu éxito o crecimiento?
Our competitors are non-profit lenders, bankers, sub-prime lenders and usurious actors such as payday lenders. We are unique because: 1) our pricing is much lower than many lenders, 2) we provide one-on-one, outcomes-based financial coaching in order to build the client's credit, increase earned income and underwrite, and 3) in addition to microbusiness loans, we are one of the few non-profit lenders that offers consumer loans of up to $2,000, and many of our loans, including our citizenship loan (which covers the $675 cost of applying) have gotten national attention.
Esta presentación se trata de
Impacto social
Historia de la fundación: Queremos saber acerca del momento en el que hiciste "¡Ajá!". Comparte la historia de dónde y cuándo el/los fundador(es) vio (vieron) el potencial de esta solución para cambiar el mundo.
When co-founder Andy Posner was getting his MA in Environmental Studies at Brown University, he was working on innovative models for financing energy-efficiency. Around the same time, he read Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus and saw how microfinance could unlock the capacity of the poor to better their own lives. After two years of lending, Andy realized that loans are not enough to move someone out of poverty, that traditional underwriting criteria don't work for the poor and that interest income alone on small loans won't cover expenses. He then developed the financial coaching-as-underwriting model while he was on vacation at his parent's house, and has since refined, tweaked and implemented the model in a way that has turned it into a first-of-its kind engine for social change through innovative financial services.
Por favor, describe el objetivo de tu iniciativa: un resumen de lo que están tratando de lograr
Broadly speaking, we seek to serve 1,000 people in FY 2013.
Specifically, we track the following outcomes in Financial Coaching and lending:
a. # Of people that open bank accounts or increase utilization of bank accounts
b. Dollars saved (in a savings account and through budgeting)
c. Average % increase in credit score
d. Average increase in monthly disposable income
e. # Of people whose debt situation has been improved (i.e., lower debt-to-income ratio, debt restructure or settlement.)
2. # & Dollar value of loans disbursed
a. Broken by loan type and purpose
b. Loan performance
i. Default rate
ii. Portfolio at risk (90+ days late)
iii. How many become citizens
iv. How many get computers
¿A qué barrera(s) a la inclusión financiera tu solución busca dirigirse? (selecciona todas las pertinenetes)
Falta de productos financieros asequibles adaptados a las necesidades de las comunidades marginadas y excluidas.
Si ha seleccionado "otro", por favor especificar qué otras barreras a la inclusión financiera tu solución busca dirigirse
¿Para qué comunidades marginadas o excluidas tu solución creará un acceso a servicios financieros valiosos, asequibles, seguros e integrales?
We focus on serving low-income (80% of area median income or below) families. 55% of clients are Latino, 30% African American and the remainder Caucasian. The majority of our clients lived in the Greater Providence area, and all are under or un-banked. Finally, 55% of clients are female, 45% male.
¿Tu solución podría operar en otros conextos o regiones? Si así fuera, ¿en dónde?
We believe that once we prove our model in the 'petri dish' of Rhode Island, we will be able to scale it to many other states. Our model has several aspects that are replicable/scalable:
1) Our underwriting methodology is easy to tweak for other contexts
2) We use university students to provide financial coaching, thereby lowering costs; there are universities in all 50 states from which coaches can be recruited
3) Our financial coaching curriculum can easily be tweaked to be made relevant to other states.
Si tu solución tuviera un éxito espectacular, ¿cómo serían las cosas diferentes en 10 años?
Our goal is to serve 100,000 people in 10 years. In so doing, we will not only make a significant dent in poverty for those clients, but we will also have empowered a large number of people whose voice is not currently heard in local, state and federal policy discussion. Also, once we have such a large network of clients with whom we have a relationship, we can leverage that relationship to offer other products/services, such as health care and environmental services, that meet their needs in an equitable manner.
¿Qué tendría que haber cambiado para que esto sucediera?
Making this change requires that CGF acquire the requisite up-front capital to build our infrastructure and human capital so as to be able to scale. Also, policy changes will have to be made at the federal level, for instance restructuring unemployment and welfare so as to get rid of the current disincentive to increasing income because doing so eliminates the cash benefits. Finally, the federal and state governments will have to increase spending on job training, change regulations so that banks aren't too big to fail, expand access to food stamps and low-cost health insurance, and ensure a level playing field so that all can benefit from economic growth (which will most likely entail restructuring the tax code).
¿Cuál ha sido el impacto de la solución hasta la fecha?
• 100% of clients that needed to open a checking account have done so
• the average amount of money automatically transferred to savings is $660; however if you just look at those that actually set up automatic transfer, the number is $1,100
• 90% of clients that were eligible to set up direct deposit of a paycheck into their checking account did so
• 82% of clients that needed to open a savings account did so and actively used it
• 75% of clients that needed to applied for a job and at least secured an interview after coaching
• 60% of clients that needed to do so disputed an error on their credit report and had it fixed
• 50% of graduates that wanted a loan were approved for one
• 81% of graduates reported that they were able to reduce expenses as a result of coaching
$220K lent to the community w/ a 90% repayment rate
$275K returned to the community through tax prep
150 financial coaching graduates
Cuál es tu impacto proyectado para los próximos 5 años?
Serve 25,000 people with financial coaching, loans and tax prep. Achieve an average increase in credit score per client of 80 points, and an increase in savings of $2k. Maintain a 90% repayment rate. Expand financial coaching to include health outcomes. Enable 60% of clients to move out of poverty after 5 years with CGF.
Las iniciativas ganadoras presentan un plan fuerte de cómo van a alcanzar y realizar un seguimiento del crecimiento. Identifica tus metas a seis meses para el crecimiento de tu impacto
Identifica tres grandes tareas que tendrás que completar para llegar a las metas de seis meses.
Tarea 1
Build data systems
Tarea 2
Raise 200,000 in grant money.
Tarea 3
Train 10 new financial coaches to handle more clients
¡Ahora piensa en grande! Identifica tu meta de impacto a 12 meses.
Identifica tres grandes tareas que tendrás que completar para llegar a tu meta de impacto a 12 meses
Tarea 1
Continue building out our data systems
Tarea 2
Do a regression analysis to refine and improve our underwriting algorithm
Tarea 3
Raise $650,000
Sostenibilidad
Cuéntanos sobre tus alianzas.
We work with a wide array of social service agencies, the office of the general treasurer and broadband rhode island. Additionally, we partner with employers and local school districts so as to offer our suite of products and services to families and employees.
¿Actualmente te estás dirigiendo a otras poblaciones, lugares o los mercados para tu innovación? Si es así, ¿dónde y por qué?
We focus exclusively on low-income families, and predominately on minorities and people of color. We also focus on the Greater Providence area, because the majority of low-income families in RI live in that area. Because people of color are the most likely to live in poverty and lack access to financial services, we have chosen to focus on them.
¿Qué tipo de sistema operativo y factores internos de la organización hacen que tu innovación sea un éxito?
Capital Good Fund has a culture that we like to describe as what happens when silicon valley meets a soup kitchen. In other words, we combine a spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation with a deep seated dedication to social justice that allows us to innovate while staying true to our mission. Our youth and willingness to receive help from more experienced board members/advisors allows us to be bold and smart at the same time.
Por favor, pon en claro las necesidades u ofertas que hayas mencionado anteriormente y/o sugiere categorías de apoyo que no están especificadas en la lista
I believe that in order to achieve significant social change I must give my time to others looking foster change. In that vein, a spend a lot of time giving speeches, mentoring social entrepreneurs and sharing my ideas/thoughts/innovations with others.