Calvert Foundation Teams With Eileen Fisher to Support Microlending on Mother's Day; Microfinance Programs Have Assisted Over 79 Million Women, Up from 10 Million in 1999.

BETHESDA, Md., April 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In recognition of Mother's Day (May 10, 2009), Calvert Foundation is undertaking a major "Honor Mom" campaign to channel new resources from investors and donors into international microlending initiatives benefiting women, who are lifting themselves and their families out of poverty.

Calvert Foundation is working with partners such as Kenya Women's Finance Trust to allow investors and donors to honor their mothers through this alternative to traditional Mother's Day gifts. As part of this campaign, those who make a donation to Calvert Foundation designate honorees who will then receive a card from Calvert Foundation featuring a personal success story about microfinance and indicating that a gift has been made in their honor.

"Donors who participate in our 'Honor Mom' campaign will show struggling working women around the world how much they are appreciated, while paying tribute to motherhood," said Calvert Foundation President and CEO Shari Berenbach, an industry expert who has been involved in microfinance for over 20 years -- and a mom herself to 14-year-old daughter Moriah. "This is a chance to help in the name of mothers everywhere."

To help promote this campaign, Eileen Fisher, a leading American clothing designer, has donated a $250 gift card good at EILEEN FISHER retail locations and on EILEENFISHER.com. Donors who participate in the campaign, as well as their honorees, will automatically be entered into a drawing to win the gift card. (See calvertfoundation.org/mom for how to enter and official rules of the drawing.)

Eileen Fisher is an active Calvert Foundation investor -- and mother of two -- who has supported microlending through her personal investments for years. "As an investor you earn a financial return, but more importantly you are creating the opportunity for a woman -- a mother -- in the developing world to earn the chance to better care for herself and her family. I couldn't have gotten to where I was today without help from others. I am so glad to be able to support women microentrepreneurs," she said.

Berenbach added: "We know that women do two-thirds of the world's work, but receive only 10 percent of the world's income and own less than 1 percent of land. Our microlending programs targeting women strive to help level this decidedly uneven playing field. Calvert Foundation investors can make a real difference in the lives of tens of thousands of women and the communities in which they live."

Berenbach highlighted three examples of Calvert Foundation microlending beneficiaries that have a direct and positive impact on the lives of women, many young mothers supporting families:

Kenya Women Finance Trust Limited is unique in Kenya, as the largest and only micro-finance Institution exclusively for women. It is built on the belief that women can transform their lives, those of their families and the way the world works through entrepreneurship. Kenya Women Finance Trust has grown from small beginnings in 1981 into an Institution with 100,000 members from seven of Kenya's eight provinces.

• CREDIT of Cambodia serves people with a low to medium standard of living that wish to improve their family's livelihood. It has over 18,000 active borrowers of which 95 percent are women. A sample client impact study showed that since joining CREDIT 61 percent of clients experienced an increase in their income (44 percent of these doubled their income) and 71 percent said their diet had improved.
• Pro Mujer Mexico serves over 21,000 poor women in Mexico, providing microloans and a wide variety of training on topics ranging from personal empowerment and reproductive health to domestic violence prevention and computer skills. Collectively, these services help the working poor start or improve small businesses, thus increasing their incomes and living standards.
• According to a 2007 report released by the Microcredit Summit Campaign (www.microcreditsummit.org), microfinance has helped over 79 million women living in the poorest areas of the world up from 10 million in 1999. Furthermore, women are more likely to pay loans back on time than their male counterparts, and investing in women increases family expenditures on health and education, nutrition, and protection against emergencies.

ABOUT CALVERT FOUNDATION

For over 13 years, Calvert Social Investment Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, has extended a lending lifeline to disadvantaged communities. With more than $200 million in assets, we use capital from over 4,000 investors to provide affordable loans to nonprofits, microfinance institutions, Fair Trade coffee cooperatives and social enterprises -- all of which cannot typically qualify for or afford financing from traditional banking sources. These organizations focus on affordable housing, microfinance, environmental sustainability, job creation and community development. More information is available at http://www.calvertfoundation.org/mom.