Exciting news! We just announced new funding that will help expand our Technology for Microfinance Initiative and Mifos platform. The MasterCard Foundation has pledged $1.23 million to help fund our Mifos Consortium and Cisco Foundation has continued support of our platform with a grant of nearly $500,000.

Below are a few highlights from the release; visit www.grameenfoundation.org to view the full press release. Here are a few links to learn more about the work that we'll be expanding through this funding:

• Fact Sheet outlining goals of our program with The MasterCard Foundation
• Details on our Consortium program bringing together leading MFIs to document
• Deeper integration with Grameen Foundation's industry-leading Social Performance Measurement Tool - the Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI™).

Follow @MCFoundation and @Mifos on Twitter to learn more.

Overview of Contribution from the MasterCard Foundation

The $1.23 million from The MasterCard Foundation will help form the Mifos Consortium. This group of bellwether MFIs will help to develop a benchmark for successful technology management in the microfinance sector and demonstrate the potential return on investment. The consortium program is part of the Grameen Foundation’s 10-year plan of reaching 100 million new clients through MFIs using its Mifos platform. It is also geared towards building the ranks of mid-sized MFIs by enabling members to expand their outreach to at least 300,000 additional clients over two years. The inaugural members include Grameen Koota of India, enda inter-arabe of Tunisia, Al Majmoua of Lebanon, KEEF of Kenya, and KMBI of the Philippines.

Overview of Contribution from the Cisco Foundation

Today, MFIs are being challenged to find cost-effective avenues for reaching into more unserved and underserved rural communities and tracking their clients’ movement out of poverty. The grant of nearly $500,000 from the Cisco Foundation, a long-standing supporter of the Mifos platform, will enable Grameen Foundation to integrate these capabilities into Mifos, and bridge the gap between microfinance supply and demand. This will help drive transformative increases in scale, innovation, sustainability, and social impact of MFIs around the world.