March 12, 2021
By Opportunity International
On Saturday, February 20, 2021, we presented the first of a series of 50th anniversary awards. The first Founders Circle Awards went to a group of Opportunity International pioneers who helped us innovate our strategies and programs to better serve clients. These awards celebrate the earliest days of initiatives that have come to define Opportunity s work and we are so excited to go back and remember how these programs began.
In 2004, a young Opportunity International employee wrote a white paper for his boss. He saw HIV/AIDS ravaging communities in Africa, and he postulated that our Trust Groups in Africa would be broken by this crisis. His fear was that in this scenario where neighbors successes were inextricably linked to each other, Trust Groups wouldn t permit a neighbor into the group if they knew they could become ill and die.
March 4, 2021
50 for 50: Founders Circle Award Winners Susy Cheston, Martha Cray, Jill Dailey Smith, and Linda Vander Weele
By Opportunity International
On Saturday, February 20, 2021, we presented the first of a series of 50th anniversary awards. The first Founders Circle Awards went to a group of Opportunity International pioneers who helped us innovate our strategies and programs to better serve clients. These awards celebrate the earliest days of initiatives that have come to define Opportunity s work and we are so excited to go back and remember how these programs began.
In the early 1990s, a group of Opportunity International donors in the United States wanted to build a system that would allow Opportunity to lend to those who needed resources most, including women all around the world.
February 26, 2021
By Opportunity International
On Saturday, February 20, 2021, we presented the first of a series of 50th anniversary awards. The first Founders Circle Awards went to a group of Opportunity International pioneers who helped us innovate our strategies and programs to better serve clients. These awards celebrate the earliest days of initiatives that have come to define Opportunity s work and we are so excited to go back and remember how these programs began. Enjoy the first spotlight on a winner:
In 2005 and 2006, then-Opportunity CEO Chris Crane found himself at the intersection of the big picture and the specific story.
The big picture was from Dr. James Tooley of the International Finance Committee, who had discovered the power of low-cost private schools that were springing up to bridge the gaps and failures of public education systems.