Mission
The vision of the Fonkoze Family is a Haiti where people, standing together, shoulder to shoulder, have pulled themselves out of poverty. Our mission is to work together to provide financial and development services to empower Haitians--primarily women--to lift their families out of poverty. Fonkoze USA secures financial and technical support for its Haitian partners, Fonkoze Foundation and Fonkoze Financial Services. Fonkoze USA educates the American public about it's partners' work in Haiti, facilitates technical assistance, raises money to support their services and programs, and provides the due diligence and reporting for donors.
Ruling year
1997
Executive Director
Mrs. Mabel Valdivia
Deputy Director
Sherry Todd-Green
Main address
1900 L St NW Suite 304
Washington, DC 20036 USA
EIN
52-2022113
NTEE code
Economic Development (S30)
Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution (P12)
IRS filing requirement
This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.
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Communication
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Microfinance
Fonkoze provides access to sustainable financial services, enabling the rural poor to increase incomes, build assets and reduce their vulnerability to external shocks.
Chemen Lavi Miyo (CLM or Pathway to a Better Life)
CLM empowers the poorest families in Haiti to lift themselves out of ultra-poverty. Using the Graduation Approach, the program provides intensive support and coaching to women (and individuals with disabilities) throughout an 18-month process.
Boutik Sante (Community Health Store)
Boutik Sante is a health social franchising initiative that brings health products, education and services to rural Haiti - where access is typically non-existent, limited or unreliable. Fonkoze's team of registered nurses trains microfinance clients to become Community Health Entrepreneurs (CHEs). They learn to conduct basic health screenings and deliver health education sessions.
Adult Education
Fonkoze adult education programs advance the livelihoods of participants by building skills in a collaborative, empowering manner. Five educational modules are offered: Basic Literacy, Business Skills, Health and Disease Prevention, Environmental Protection and Sustainable Agriculture, and Children's Rights.
Value Chain Development
Fonkoze's Value Chain Development programs strengthen economic opportunities for small businesses in Haiti by establishing and reinforcing market linkages. The program focuses on businesses and associations that are underserved by the financial sector in Haiti.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
Finance for the Future Award 2018
External reviews
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of savings accounts used by clients
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Adults, People of African descent
Related Program
Microfinance
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Total number of microfinance savings accounts (primarily in rural Haiti).
Number of clients who become literate because of literacy education programs by the nonprofit
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Adults, People of African descent
Related Program
Adult Education
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Total number of participants passing Fonkoze's Alfa Bon (Literacy) course
Number of borrowers served through the nonprofit's programs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Adults, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Microfinance
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Total number of active borrowers (primarily in rural Haiti) with access to reliable financial services to improve their livelihoods.
Number of families who have participated in our ultra-poverty alleviation program CLM since inception
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Economically disadvantaged people, Homeless people
Related Program
Chemen Lavi Miyo (CLM or Pathway to a Better Life)
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
With the support of their CLM Case Mangers, program participants must achieve a number of things in order to graduate - including generating income and building a 9x9 meter home with a latrine.
Total dollar amount of loans issued
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Adults, People of African descent
Related Program
Microfinance
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Value of loans disbursed to underserved communities across Haiti.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Fonkoze is a family of institutions that work together to provide the financial and non-financial services to empower Haitians--primarily women--to lift themselves out of poverty.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Fonkoze is composed of three organizations, including Fonkoze Financial Services, Fonkoze Foundation, and Fonkoze USA. Since its founding in Haiti in 1994, Fonkoze's leadership has agreed that microfinance services were essential in lifting Haitians out of poverty, yet these services needed to be complemented by additional development support in order for Fonkoze's clients to translate their loans into viable livelihoods. And so, in addition to a full spectrum of microfinance services, we also offer development services such as health, adult education, business skills development, and programs for the most vulnerable.
Fonkoze USA conducts communications, fundraising, and outreach activities to generate support for our two partners in Haiti, Fonkoze Financial Services and Fonkoze Foundation. Fonkoze Financial Services provides microfinance services, including credit, savings, money transfer, currency exchange, and payroll processing to its clients. Fonkoze Foundation supports Fonkoze Financial Services clients by providing development services
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Since its founding in 1994, Fonkoze's community-based network has expanded to 60,000 Fonkoze Financial Services borrowers—organized into 2,000 centers, each composed of six to ten Solidarity Groups, each composed of five women. Fonkoze Foundation has effectively leveraged this grassroots network to deliver programs and services throughout the country. In 2010, for example, Fonkoze Foundation's 22-month, $8.2 million Kore Fanmi program utilized the client network to support earthquake victims and their families. An American Red Cross study noted, “In a very short time, Fonkoze was able to reach almost 30,000 beneficiaries... branches across the country facilitated program deployment, without additional cost, and allowed Fonkoze to reach [households] living in remote areas."
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
With over hundreds of thousands of borrowers and savings clients, Fonkoze is the largest microfinance institution in Haiti. In 2020, Fonkoze disbursed $32 million in loans. With remittances making up 38% of Haiti's Gross Domestic Product, Fonkoze Financial Services' facilitation of international money transfers is an essential contribution towards the Haitian economy; in 2020, it saw $114 million in transfers.
To date, Fonkoze Foundation has "graduated" over 9,000 of the most vulnerable families in Haiti out of ultra-poverty. Over 185,000 women have participated in adult education classes, including basic literacy and business skills. Fonkoze Foundation's innovative social franchising program has enabled 1500 small entrepreneurs (all women) to sell over-the-counter health products and services to nearly 3 million beneficiaries.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
Fonkoze serves micro-entrepreneurs, mostly women in Haiti.
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How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person), Case management notes, Community meetings/Town halls, Constituent (client or resident, etc.) advisory committees,
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
Fonkoze has systematically collected data on client needs and their ability to move the needle on various poverty indicators through our social performance monitoring system. Going forward Fonkoze will implement a program called poverty stoplight adopted from Paraguay for the Haitian context, this program will allow clients to set their own goals and identify areas they wish to work on utilizing the supports provided by Fonkoze. We believe this initiative will allow greater ownership of clients futures and their ability to determine their own paths to prosperity.
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners,
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded,
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection,
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Fonkoze USA
Board of directorsas of 05/19/2022
Ms. Laura Stephens
Beth Daniels
Social worker, retired
Marguerite Lathan
Psychotherapist
Larry Arbuthnott
Director of US Card, Capital One
Jorie Roberts
Attorney at Law, Virgin Islands
Laura Stephens
Jean-Garnier Bélizaire
First Vice President, SunTrust
Katie Leininger
Lisa Clark
Legal Professional
R. Jerry Nemorin
Founder & CEO, LendStreet
Lauren Doyle
Mackenzie Keller
USAID
Kaveh Azimi
Roxann Chargois
Western Area Director, Links
Claudia Cyrill
Majorie Dorcely
Michele Hartigan
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 02/05/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
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