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Corporate Social Responsibility
News
11.22.2006 - 11:37am ET
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ACCION Named One of Nation's Top Social Entrepreneurs in 2007 Fast Company / Monitor Group Social Capitalist Awards
Pioneer Microfinance Practitioner Recognized for Fourth Consecutive Year
(CSRwire) BOSTON, MA, Nov. 22, 2006 - ACCION International, a Boston-based nonprofit
and world pioneer in the field of microfinance, is among the 43 winners of
the 2007 Fast Company / Monitor Group Social Capitalist Awards, marking the
fourth consecutive year that ACCION has received the prestigious award.
The program honors nonprofits, or 'social entrepreneurs,' across the
nation who combine creativity and ingenuity with business solutions to
address social ills, ranging from poor healthcare in developing nations to
unequal education access, homelessness, unemployment, substance abuse and
global poverty.
ACCION's mission is to give people the financial tools they need, such as
microenterprise loans, business training and other financial services, to
help them work their way out of poverty. ACCION made its first microloan,
in Brazil, more than three decades ago. Since then, it has consistently
sought to implement leading-edge methods and technologies for alleviating
poverty, helping to build sustainable institutions based on solid business
and commercial principles. The microfinance organization currently works
in 22 countries and, through the U.S. ACCION Network, in 35 U.S. cities
and towns as well.
ACCION and the other 42 award winners--of which three engage in
microfinance--will be featured in Fast Company's December/January 2007
cover story, appearing on newsstands from November 21, 2006 to January 16,
2007. (See complete list of winners below.)
"ACCION is extremely proud to be recognized with the Social Capitalist
Award for a fourth straight year," said María Otero, president and CEO of
ACCION International. "This honor affirms the key role microfinance plays
in helping to address global poverty. Each day, ACCION enables
sustainable social benefit by empowering microentrepreneurs, giving them
the opportunity to afford running water, to pay for their children's
education, to earn a living wage."
In order to participate in the evaluation process, Social Capitalist Award
nominees were required to submit two years of operating and financial data,
a statement of mission and objectives, and answers to a survey to assess
strategy and activities. Winners were selected by an independent
board.
Guiding Socially Responsible Investing
"We applaud the efforts and business acumen of ACCION which, well beyond
its dedication to scalable solutions for poverty alleviation, is a
business-oriented organization of vision worthy of imitation in both the
nonprofit and for-profit sectors," said Mark Vamos, editor of Fast
Company.
"By approaching social capitalism in a rigorous, data-driven fashion, our
evaluation process reveals the truly amazing nature of ACCION--and of all
of our winners," Vamos said. "And while rating non-profits is
controversial, Fast Company thinks it is a necessary step for the sector
to grow and improve. Frankly, it's a way to see that these excellent
organizations get the recognition they deserve."
Fast Company partners with the Monitor Group, a global strategy-consulting
firm, to select award winners. Monitor Group created the methodology used
to compare nonprofits of different sizes and ages across social sectors.
The Monitor Group also manages the evaluation process for the awards
program and measures each organization's work in five categories: social
impact, entrepreneurship, innovation, aspiration and growth and
sustainability.
"Prior to the Social Capitalist Awards, no ranking process or 'seal of
approval' existed as an authoritative standard for achievement among
social entrepreneurs," said Mark Fuller, chairman and CEO of Monitor
Group. "Our evaluation measures the impact and effectiveness of these
non-profits, making it, among other things, an ideal investor's guide for
those who want their charitable dollars to get the highest 'social' return
possible."
ACCION and other award winners will be recognized at a ceremony in New
York City, on Tuesday, January 9, 2007.
About ACCION International
ACCION International is a private, nonprofit organization with the mission
of giving people the financial tools they need--microenterprise loans,
business training and other financial services--to work their way out of
poverty. A world pioneer in microfinance, ACCION was founded in 1961 and
issued its first microloan in 1973 in Brazil. ACCION International's
partner microfinance institutions today are providing loans as low as $100
to poor men and women entrepreneurs in 22 countries in Latin America, the
Caribbean, Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and in the U.S. In the last
decade alone, ACCION partners have disbursed more than 14 million loans
totaling more than $9.4 billion; 97 percent of the loans have been repaid.
For more information, visit www.accion.org.
About Fast Company and Monitor Group
Fast Company, founded in 1996, is a magazine for and about the creative
class. It is a journal of change and changemakers -- dynamic, compelling
leaders in both the for-profit and nonprofit spheres who are making
dramatic innovations to shape the future. Visit www.fastcompany.com for more
information.
The Monitor Group is a family of professional services firms, linked by
shared ownership, management philosophy and knowledge assets. Each entity
in Monitor's global network is dedicated to providing products and
services that fundamentally enhance the competitiveness of its clients.
Visit
www.monitor.com for more information.
The 2007 Social Capitalist Awards winners are:
ACCION International (Boston, Mass.)
Aspire Public Schools, (Oakland, Calif.)
BELL (Dorchester, Mass.)
Citizen Schools (Boston, Mass.)
Civic Builders Inc. (New York, N.Y.)
Calvert Social Investment Foundation (Bethesda, Md.)
Ceres Inc. (Boston, Mass.)
City Year (Boston, Mass.)
Civic Ventures (San Francisco, Calif.)
College Summit (Washington D.C.)
Corporation for Supportive Housing (Oakland, Calif.)
DonorsChoose (New York, N.Y.)
EcoLogic Finance, Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.)
Endeavor Global (New York, N.Y.)
A Fighting Chance (New Orleans, La.)
First Book (Washington D.C.)
Global Fund for Women (San Francisco, Calif.)
Grameen Foundation USA (Washington D.C.)
Hands On Network (Atlanta, Ga.)
Heifer International (Little Rock, Ark.)
Housing Partnership Network (Boston, Mass.)
Jumpstart (Boston, Mass.)
KickStart (San Francisco, Calif.)
New Community Corporation (Newark, N.J.)
New Leaders for New Schools (New York, N.Y.)
Nonprofit Finance Fund (New York, N.Y.)
PATH (Seattle, Wash.)
PeaceWorks Network Foundation (New York, N.Y.)
Pioneer Human Services (Seattle, Wash.)
Population Services International (Washington, D.C.)
Raising a Reader (Menlo Park, Calif.)
RARE (Arlington, Va.)
Room to Read (San Francisco, Calif.)
Rubicon Programs (Richmond, Calif.)
Scojo Foundation (New York, N.Y.)
SEED Foundation (Washington, D.C.)
Springboard Forward (Mountain View, Calif.)
Teach for America (New York, N.Y.)
TransFair USA (Oakland, Calif.)
Unitus Inc. (Redmond, Wash.)
WITNESS (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Working Today (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Year Up (Boston, Mass.)
For more information about the Social Capitalist Awards program, visit
www.fastcompany.com.
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