Fonkoze

Fonkoze
Founded 1994
Founder Fr. Joseph Phillipe and Anne H. Hastings
Type Domestic: 501(c)(3), Haitian Non-profit, Haitian Bank
Focus Poverty
Location
Area served
Haiti
Method Microfinance
Revenue (2016)
$2,784,685[1]
Expenses (2016) $2,841,131[1]
Website www.fonkoze.org

Fonkoze is Haiti's largest microfinance institution serving poor and ultra-poor women in rural Haiti, with 44 branches located throughout the country. The name Fonkoze is an acronym for the Haitian Creole phrase "Fondasyon Kole Zepòl" meaning "Shoulder-to-Shoulder Foundation." Its mission is to empower Haitians, primarily women, with financial and development services to lift themselves out of poverty. Fonkoze's development programs include Adult Education, Ultra-Poverty Alleviation and Boutik Sante, a health program designed to create a new business opportunity for Fonkoze's existing clients while also providing much-needed health products, services and education to rural communities throughout the country. Fonkoze is a family of three organizations working together to achieve its mission:

  1. Fonkoze Foundation: a Haitian non-profit which provides development services such as health education, literacy and business skills training.
  2. Fonkoze Financial Services, a Haitian financial institution which operates most of Fonkoze's financial services portfolio.
  3. Fonkoze USA, a 501(c)(3) non-profit which provides technical, communications and fundraising support for its Haitian partners.

History

In 1994, 32 grassroots leaders drew up Fonkoze's founding papers, and in 1995, the organization received official recognition under Haitian law. Father Joseph Philippe, a Catholic priest, recruited Washington-based management consultant Anne H. Hastings to run the organization.[2]

In 2004, Fonkoze joined with Zanmi Lasante and Joseph N. Lasante, a major Haitian rural health care provider. The two foundations collaborated to build a bank and hospital in Boucan Carre.[3] In 2009, Fonkoze held a major conference on the effects of the current recession on Haitians and Haitian Americans.[4] In 2012, Fonkoze's Solid Women video won a Do-Gooder award for its story of five Haitian women who used Fonkoze microloans to help successfully rebuild their community in the wake of the 2010 earthquake.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 "Fonkoze USA Inc" (PDF). Foundation Center. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  2. ↑ http://www.fonkoze.org/aboutfonkoze/whoweare/ourhistory.html
  3. ↑ http://www.socialfunds.com/news/article.cgi/1552.html
  4. ↑ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-luce/fonkoze-haitian-diaspora_b_193550.html
  5. ↑ http://www.thedailydogooder.com/2012/04/24/solid-women/
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