A site visit is an opportunity to receive 2-3 days of pro bono consulting from experts in microfinance in the United States. Lend for America will facilitate site visits to selected Campus MFIs to connect you with experts who will help you and your team overcome challenges.
How it Works
Before
We coordinate two or three planning calls during which we clarify your goals and outline the agenda for the visit. Before we arrive to campus, we will ask you to share materials from your recent work, for example, client loan packages, processes already in place, organization bylaws, and others.
During
We ask host organizations to organize a full schedule that makes good use of the consultants’ time. Included in the schedule should be an opportunity for the visitors to speak to your entire student staff (at a staff meeting or similar). We also ask you to organize the team to attend relevant sessions during the schedule.
After
We ask hosts to email notes from the visit and a report that details expected outcomes as a result of the visit. At three and six months, we ask hosts to fill out a post-site visit survey.
What you can expect
Intensive full-day trainings with advice you can immediately implement to improve your campus MFI’s work.
Only LFA members are eligible to request a 3 day site visit.
Example Schedule
Expected Outcomes
- Make more loans
- Increase number of clients served
Site Visit Menu
- Product/market fit
- Resource allocation
- Fundraising
- Financial management
- Infrastructure/database
- Customer experience & service quality
- Portfolio performance
- Reputation of organization in the community
- Outreach
- Legal Structure/Board