Thousand Oaks, CA — When it comes to empowering women living in poverty, The Greater Contribution
makes a huge impact by starting small.
The organization’s monthly micro loans of $50+ to women in rural Uganda, Africa offer support along
with literacy and business skills training, mentoring and peer counseling, so that women can start their
own businesses and lift their families out of poverty.
The Greater Contribution’s formula for success makes dollars and sense. More than 22,000 micro loans
issued to date with a 95% repayment rate. Typical incomes for women in Uganda prior to enrollment =
.35cents per day; after completing the program = $17.73 per day (Increase of 405%).
“In the African culture where women are the breadwinners, our program creates sustainable incomes that
foster pride with our participants and their communities,” says TGC President Karon Wright, who started
the non-profit in 2006 with a group of local women who wanted to make a greater contribution to the
world by helping those most in need. “Best of all, by the end of the two-year program our borrowers are
often employing other women and men.”
The Greater Contribution is a 95% volunteer-based organization known for being frugal with low
overhead so that the majority of all donations go directly to empowering Ugandan women. The
touchstone of the non-profit organization is its ability to forge relationships, both with donors and
benefactors.
The organization works with local partners in East Africa to focus energies in the most remote villages of
Uganda where the need is greatest. Enrollment in the two-year program includes training and support
beyond the monetary funding. Mentors/volunteers meet in groups every two weeks to make loan
payments and support each other, and loans are repaid in full every three months, then repeatedly loaned
out again and again. Outreach also includes working with local organizations to distribute thousands of
free sanitary pads to girls to help improve their menstrual health and enable them to remain in school.
Almost three billion people worldwide live on the equivalent of less than $2 a day. And of those living in
extreme poverty, 75% are women and girls. The Greater Contribution serves the most impoverished
women beyond our borders in Uganda, not with a hand out, but with a hand up, by believing in them.
Contact: Lisa Carey Public Relations
Phone: 818.889.1085
Emai: lisa@lisacareypr.com
