Lend for America hosts many resources for you to start and grow your microfinance initiative. Start by reading through the Start-Up Kit. Check out our video trainings and webinars on our Vimeo channel. Let us know how you like these resources and what else you’d like to see here.
Start-Up Kit
This free online resource is for campus MFIs to have an always available reference during the first years of start-up.
Lend for Philly
LFA built a mobile app that could be used on any smartphone to conduct a basic needs assessment about microenterprises in the greater Philadelphia region. With our development team, we designed an app that enabled student practitioners to log GPS locations of microenterprises and basic information about the owner including contact phone number, name, number of full-time employees, and the businesses biggest needs.
Webinars
Become a Pro at Reading Credit Reports – This webinar is for practitioners on how to read credit reports. Learn key terms, tricks and tips, and test your knowledge with the full recording below.
Other Recorded Trainings
Every fall, LFA hosts a national conference for members and start-up MFIs to access practical advice from experts and each other. We video record sessions and post the most useful ones here. All session powerpoint slides are on the conference agenda site at lfasummit2014.sched.org and lfasummit13.sched.org.
Credit as an AssetDifficult Collections Conversations
Nuts & Bolts of Lending
Closing the Deal: Turning Leads into Clients
Tax Prep as a Tool for Ending Poverty
Risk Management 101
Business Development Basics
Making Good Loans
Fifty Shades of Financial Coaching: A Framework for Building Financial Capability in Your Community
Art of Being an Advocate: What Campus MFIs Need to Know about Building Relationships
Who Decides? Loan Committees and Board of DirectorsCash Flow is King: Analyzing Business Income in the Real World Part I
Cash Flow is King: Analyzing Business Income in the Real World Part II
Finding Your First Loan Applicant
Help! I’ve Got an Unresponsive Loan Applicant
Declining Loan Applicants is Microfinance 101
Why Food Related Microbusinesses Make Great Campus MFI Clients
Habits of High-Impact Business Coaches
Growing Beyond Your First 20 Clients
Hear from Campus MFI Leaders
The links here are selected videos of member-led presentations from previous LFA Summits
Learn from Us: Lessons from Student Leaders
Being Broke in America
Tech Tour: Useful Systems for Campus MFIs
Turn Your Campus MFI into a Career
Member Spotlight: Elmseed Enterprise Fund at Yale University
Member Spotlight: LEND at Northwestern University
Member Spotlight: JIFFI at University of Notre Dame
Member Spotlight: Forza Financial at University of Alabama
Member Spotlight: Arizona Microcredit Initiative at Arizona State University
Publications
Marketing for Micro 101 is a publication authored by FIELD at the Aspen Institute and released in conjunction with Lend for America that reviews important elements to consider to start offering microenterprise services in campus communities.
Data That Works is authored by FIELD at the Aspen Institute and released in conjunction with Lend for America that provides a step-by-step guide for identifying, collecting, and analyzing data related to program performance and client outcomes. Targeted at student-led microenterprise programs, each chapter tackles a topic along the spectrum of data collection and management, such as defining information needs, refining an intake form, setting benchmarks for your organization, and using data effectively with staff, board, and funders.
Research Papers
Can Campus MFIs Address Issues of Scale? Learn the history of the campus MFI movement. In 2009, FIELD at the Aspen Institute studied existing university based microenterprise development programs.
University Movement Catches Fire In 2012, FIELD wrote a second paper to document the evolution of the movement and highlight two case studies about the Capital Good Fund and the Community Empowerment Fund. Read the full study online here.
The Campus Microfinance Institution Using data from surveys collected in the 2012-13 school year, as well as case studies and testimonials from student practitioners, LFA demonstrates how the campus MFI model has a proven effect on students’ personal and professional growth, providing a unique volunteer experience for students involved.
Other Resources
FIELD at the Aspen Institute
www.fieldus.org
Association for Enterprise Opportunity
www.aeoworks.org
Opportunity Finance Network
www.opportunityfinance.net
Community Development Banking Listserv
www.opportunityfinance.net/cdb
+Acumen Courses
http://plusacumen.org/courses/