Through it's partnership with GlobalGiving, The North Face is sponsoring the work of Social Entrepreneurs in areas of the world where it sends its athletes. In this segment, we look at the impact of Kashf, a micro-lending institution in Pakistan.

Shaheen Mushtaq, a cheerful, gregarious woman, lives with her husband and five children. She owns a small shop?-she says her business is thriving partly because of her friendly nature.

Five years ago, Shaheen's husband was unemployed and times were hard. With some skepticism, she took a $70 loan from Kashf and bought a small freezer. She used it to store cold drinks and kulfis (local ice cream) and sold these items from her home.

Her husband also found a job at a local sweet shop and began to earn $1.50 a day. With her small business and her husband?s salary, they began to make ends meet.

Shaheen took three subsequent loans consisting of $100, $175 and $345 respectively ? she expanded her shop and now earns a profit of $110 per month. She also utilized some money from the loan that she received from Kashf to invest in a sweet shop for her husband, where he makes traditional sweets that are popular at weddings and festive occasions.

With Shaheen's assistance, her husband and his two partners opened the "Shaikh Siddique Sweet House," where he is now earning $175 every month. Shaheen never received a formal education but she is now determined to send her children to college.

Shaheen laments that before receiving a loan from Kashf her relatives never came to her aid and she was unable to deal with the basic needs of her family. Now, in order to meet emergencies she can easily withdraw her savings and take a working capital loan to level business cycles and gradually expand operations.

"Create economic opportunities for Pakastani women," is a Kashf project on GlobalGiving, brought to you by Acumen Fund. Its goal is to increase the scale of Kashf's lending pool so that Kashf can support more entrepreneurs like Shaheen.

Resources

• Read about "Create economic opportunities for Pakastani women," a project on GlobalGiving
   
• Email Kashf with questions or comments about its projects

Acumen Fund is a global non-profit venture fund serving the 4 billion people living on less than $4 a day. Its projects aim to bring affordable, critical goods and services to the poor in order to elevate their lives.

The hall mark of Acumen Funds projects is their financial sustainability (in the long-term each project will survive without philanthropic donations) and scalability (successful projects will be replicated).

Acumen Fund adheres to a disciplined process in selecting and managing its philanthropic investments as well as in measuring the end result. As a result, the Acumen Fund invests in a small number of social entrepreneurs who possess solutions that can critically transform the life of the poor worldwide: low-cost irrigation to protect the environment and provide sustainable income to farmers, $6 bednets to prevent the 300 million new cases of malaria annually.

Ultimately, the Acumen Fund is committed to building a philanthropic network. This community of investment partners, expert advisors and social innovators bring different areas of expertise and significant resources to solving tough global issues. Its network allows us to find and support the most effective organizations by ensuring pipeline development, thorough due diligence, and ongoing monitoring and support.

Resources

• See a catalog of Acumen's projects
   
• See GlobalGiving's complete list of Project Sponsors

GlobalGiving would like to announce that it recently received a grant from the Hewlett Foundation and a gift from long-time GlobalGiving supporters, John and Ginger Sall. In both cases, the funds will help GlobalGiving work towards its long term goal of becoming the world's richest marketplace for direct international giving.

In July, The Hewlett Foundation announced they would be granting GlobalGiving $400,000 in operating funding over the next year. This largest, most recent Hewlett grant demonstrates Hewlett's continued commitment to GlobalGiving and its efforts to become sustainable.

Also last month, John and Ginger Sall gave $200,000 to GlobalGiving to help it cover costs as it establishes new corporate relationships. As the most recent gift in a long line of support, the Sall's funding will also help GlobalGiving add to its network of project sponsors and build out its catalog and include projects from more than 110 countries.

Resources

• See GlobalGiving's complete list of funders
   
• Read other recent news items about GlobalGiving