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About MatchSavings.org
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MatchSavings.org is a campaign of World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU), the largest non-profit organization to support the growing international movement of credit unions and other financial cooperatives. WOCCU established MatchSavings.org in October 2008 to help educate people living in poverty about the benefits of saving and to provide them an incentive to get started. Your gifts help match the savings of an individual in a remote community who has never before had a savings account.
WOCCU is currently working with one partner credit union, Caja Yanga, in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. Caja Yanga sends employees into rural communities to introduce the credit union and the financial services it offers. The communities rarely have a financial institution of their own, so the credit union's visit is the first opportunity people have to open a savings account and access loans and insurance at affordable rates. Caja Yanga offers them the opportunity to open a six-month matched savings account to get started, which is where you come in.
When you make a gift through MatchSavings.org, your contribution is transferred to Caja Yanga to match the deposits of individual savers like those you meet on MatchSavings.org. The savers decide from the start what their savings goals are: improve housing, finance education or expand their microbusiness. They commit to depositing a set amount when the credit union staff member visits the community each month in order to receive a match on the principal amount they save. After faithfully saving for six months, the individual may withdraw the savings plus interest and receive your match.
With your support, we hope to expand MatchSavings.org to more credit unions and first-time savers in more countries.
How it works...
About World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU)
WOCCU works with credit unions and other financial cooperatives around the world to bring high quality and affordable financial services to people in need. WOCCU also collaborates with national governments to develop and improve credit union legislation and regulation, which makes the institutions more sustainable and safer for their members. In 2008, WOCCU's technical assistance programs strengthened credit unions in 16 countries and reached 6.5 million people. Learn more
MatchSavings.org is funded by charitable contributions to WOCCU's Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions, a U.S. 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that supports WOCCU's development work. Learn more
In Brian's words...
How does WOCCU measure success?
Brian Branch, EVP & COO, World Council of Credit Unions
About Caja Yanga Credit Union
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Savers who commit to the MatchSavings.org program become members of Caja Yanga credit union in Córdoba, Mexico. Caja Yanga is situated in the coffee and sugarcane growing region of Veracruz state in southeastern Mexico. The credit union was established in 1988 and serves more than 40,000 members from rural, mountainous areas of Veracruz.
As part of a WOCCU program supported by the Mexican government's Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fishing and Food (SAGARPA) through its Proyecto de Asistencia Técnica al Microfinanciamiento Rural (PATMIR) project, Caja Yanga is one of 53 credit unions in Mexico to bring its services—by motorcycle, boat or by foot—directly to poor people living in hard-to-reach, marginalized communities. The credit union is oftentimes the only affordable place people can start a savings account or take out a loan in these communities.
In the members' words...
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Videos by Catherine Cheney
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©2010 World Council of Credit Unions | www.woccu.org
