Cover Story : Small Loans, Big Picture

World Vision Micro puts funding into the hands of those who need it the most while integrating Web and print

Lucy Abrasado's loan application isn't likely to pass across a Wall Street banker's desk anytime soon. Not that financial heavyweights would necessarily turn a nose up at the application to expand a pig farm—but the $250 request is probably too small for major underwriting.

That's why Abrasado's picture instead appears on literature from World Vision Micro, the Federal Way, Wash.-based fundraising program for Christian humanitarian nonprofit World Vision's microlending services.

World Vision Micro allows U.S. donors to, in essence, underwrite farm expansion for the grinning resident of the Philippines or other projects for the poor in developing economies. (In the brochure, she stands amid a sunny backdrop of pine trees, rather than sitting in a banker's office.)

The piggery expansion is just one of the loans World Vision Micro is seeking to fund through U.S. donations. Through online marketing efforts started in September 2009 and stepped up via an integrated print campaign introduced in March 2011, World Vision Micro has raised $1.2 million from 6,500 donors to lend to entrepreneurs. Plus, the software World Vision purchased from Swiss-based GMC Software Technology to start the print marketing effort is expected to create efficiencies that will save the organization $1 million a year. In six months, the tool's already saved the nonprofit hundreds of thousands of dollars—paying off its purchase price.

And, partly thanks to the software's as-yet-untapped capabilities, many more marketing initiatives may soon begin.

In the meantime, Abrasado's grin livens up the loan-requesting literature that adheres to World Vision's mission, "Building a better world for children," rather than building up the bottom line for a fat cat on Wall Street. Instead of monetary assets, the brochure notes that Abrasado has three children, and in lieu of an extensive business plan, three short paragraphs explain her needs.

Employing the one-to-one donor communications model World Vision already has in place for its child sponsorships, Abrasado's unique URL on the World Vision Micro site leads loan underwriters to an online profile that shows her request is fully funded by eight donors and is 21 percent repaid. A button atop her profile allows potential donors to find the 84 other entrepreneurs whose loans still needed funding as of mid-July.

"We knew that we needed a feedback loop for donors to know that their money made a difference," says Tim Sawer, vice president of channel and new product development for World Vision. "And we also knew that the aspect of choice was quite important. And so, if we could somehow connect a feedback loop so that people knew what their money was doing, but they got to choose and be engaged ... we knew that we could do the same thing with a loan ... [and] they would continue to become engaged."

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• ONLINE MARKETING
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