Celebrating 15 years of the UUFM-Micro Project!

A hand up, $25 dollars at a time.

In January 2008, the Social Action Committee (now Education and Justice) started the UUFM-Micro Project supporting entrepreneurs around the world through Kiva.org microloans.

We initially collected over $6500 with this program, and through lending and re-lending over the past 15+ years, together we have been able to make loans to nearly 4,400 people in 89 countries around the world, totaling almost $110,000 (as of 1/2023).

Microloans give people who don’t have access to traditional means of capital loans via local microfinance institutes who specialize in these small loans. With loans there is always the risk of loss (through defaults and currency exchange losses) and we thought the initial fund would last about a decade, but here we are 15 years in and still going strong. We currently have about $3600 rotating through the fund – more than half of what we started with!

We hope to keep this project going for another 15 years, or more! If you would like to contribute to this project, donations are always being accepted. We typically lend in $25 increments, but donations in any amount are graciously accepted and greatly appreciated.

You can find more information and a donation form in the brochures that are available in the entry or on the UUFM-Micro Bulletin Board in the Fellowship Hall (look for the big world map). Email uufm.micro@gmail.com with any questions.