We at Microfinance at Berkeley (MFB) have helped small, Bay Area businesses access pro-bono consulting services, sponsored Kiva microloans of up to $10,000, and on-campus student body marketing since 2012!
To learn more about the three core branches at MFB, please read on!
Microloans
As a Kiva partner, Microfinance at Berkeley helps small businesses achieve interest-rate free microloans by increasing business owners’ chances of moving forward in their application, and providing donations to the early stages of the microloan to ensure that the business can make it through to the final, public giving stage. Through these efforts, we have successfully completed nearly 30 microloans totaling $235,000 since our inception, and hope to do many more!
Consulting
Every semester, the students at Microfinance at Berkeley lead 4 projects with local small businesses, working incredibly closely with the owners to try and solve some of their everyday pain points. On top of being a fantastic learning experience for our members, we have been overwhelmingly excited to help implement real change, including: social media marketing workshops, website creation & redesign, identifying target audiences, marketing to the student body, listing businesses on food ordering apps, streamlining day-to-day operations, finding alternate suppliers to alleviate costs — just to name a few!
Marketplace
Every semester, MFB holds a marketplace on UC Berkeley’s Lower Sproul Plaza, where we invite small business owners from all over the Bay Area to hold a farmer’s market on campus. Our marketplaces are always a space for gathering between small businesses and the student body, and we are always excited to see all the lasting relationships that form by bringing awareness to shopping local! From our first marketplace in 2018 with just 4 vendors, we have now expanded to hosting over 10 small businesses each semester (ranging from gelato to homemade soap products), and we cannot wait to keep growing next year.
How You Can Help :)
Your donation would be so incredibly appreciated, as it would help us at Microfinance at Berkeley not only continue our mission to provide accessible resources and help to local businesses, but to grow our operations and hopefully take on more and more microloans and consulting projects each year.
If you would like to learn more about us, please visit our social pages!
Website: microfinanceatberkeley.com
Facebook: facebook.com/microfinanceatberkeley
Instagram: instagram.com/microfinanceatberkeley
Thank you so much for taking the time to get to know Microfinance at Berkeley, and we appreciate anything at all that you can give to help support small business. Have a great Giving Day, and remember to SHOP LOCAL! <3
| Rank | State | Gifts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | CA | 3 |
| 2 | AA | 0 |
| 2 | AE | 0 |
