I get by with a little help from my (impact investing) friends

Last week, Carrie Hutchison, Marketing and Communications Manager at Calvert Foundation, hosted the first-ever Meeting of Impact Investment Marketing Professionals.

Carrie Hutchison

I love invitations. Love receiving them. Love sending them. When sending, I love the whole RSVP process. I would get married again just for the invitations.

So I was especially excited a few weeks ago when I had a 100% positive RSVP from everyone I had invited to be a part of the first meeting of Impact Investment Marketing Professionals. The genesis for this group was a series of informal conversations I’d had a few months earlier at a Net Impact happy hour organized by my superstar colleague Patrick Davis. At this event I found myself talking to people who – like me – are tasked with promoting the impact investment products at their respective organizations. Through these – and subsequent – conversations I found common themes: it’s hard to explain what we do, we’re the only (or one of the only) ones at our organizations doing marketing – and often all facets of it (including PR and communications), we work at nonprofits with lean budgets, we love what we do.

Encouraged by Institute for Community Economics Director Andy Slettebak, who graciously offered to host at his offices in Georgetown, I put together a loose agenda – and the promise of food and drink – and sent out the invitation. Not only did 100% say they’d come, all but one did! (And he had a very good excuse.)

You know that Blind Melon video where the girl dressed up as a bumblebee struggles to fit in until the end when she finds all the other bees? That’s what it was like! I’ve often told family and friends that I finally found “my people” when I joined Calvert Foundation and the impact investment industry. And what I found that night with my fellow marketers was that I really really found my people.

We have a lot of work to do. We need to communicate a complex and important concept effectively and simply. We have to juggle multiple roles and tasks. We have to prioritize.  But in one night we in many ways expanded our small staffs, since we now have each other to draw upon for ideas and advice. And that is what is so great about this industry. We’re so new and the work we do is so critical to helping low-income communities that we aren’t competitive. All boats float if we succeed. And that’s a nice feeling too.

If you are playing this role at your organization, contact me!

White House Provides Visibility to Impact Investing

Lisa Hall, the President and CEO of Calvert Foundation, was recently invited to speak on policy and regulatory implications for the Impact Investing industry at a convening hosted by the White House, along with Rob Wexler of Adler Colvin and Cathy Clark of the Center for Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.

Lisa Hall

As I walked through the entrance to the White House grounds a few weeks ago for a first-time convening on the "Building an Impact Economy in America," it took me back to more than a decade ago, when I worked as a staffer for Gene Sperling in the Clinton Administration. Back in 1999, I had the opportunity to travel with the President on Air Force One for what the press dubbed "The Poverty Tour," which the administration used to launch the New Markets Initiative, eventually resulting in legislation to spur investment in impoverished communities across the nation. 

We visited distressed communities in urban areas such as Watts in Los Angeles and low-income neighborhoods in rural areas such as the Mississippi Delta. As we drove into Appalachia on the first day of the four-day trip, I was struck by how many people had come out to see the President and Jesse Jackson, who gave a kick-off speech. The number of people who lined the streets was awe-inspiring and impressed upon me how hungry citizens were for support from the government, and how much they wanted tools in place that would help them get jobs, start businesses, and repair their communities.

This kind of visit wasn't typical of a U.S. President at the time. In fact, Clinton's visit to Appalachia was the first by a President since Lyndon Johnson declared his "War on Poverty" in 1965. The Poverty Tour was an attempt to make underserved communities visible - and it worked. The trip drew unprecedented media attention to low-income communities, receiving five consecutive days of coverage on the nightly news.

One of the many bright spots on that trip was a visit to a factory financed by Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation, a certified Community Development Finance Institution that drives investor capital to social causes, creating jobs, funding education, and financing small businesses. Little did I know that a dozen years later I would be leading an innovative organization driving investment dollars from thousands of socially conscious individuals to hundreds of organizations like Kentucky Highlands around the country and the world. Kentucky Highlands is now a borrower of the Communities at Work Fund, a $200 million Citibank fund managed by Calvert Foundation’s wholly owned subsidiary Community Investment Partners. (I’m honored to serve as the Board Chair of Community Investment Partners.)

The visibility of the Poverty Tour has long faded into the background. Bill Shore, Executive Director of Share Our Strength, recently Tweeted about an article in last Sunday's New York Times titled "Somehow, the Unemployed Became Invisible." A recent nationwide survey conducted by HBS professor Michael I. Norton and Dan Ariely found that Americans “drastically underestimated the level of wealth inequality in the United States.” It's time to bring the spotlight back where it belongs. Norton is exploring whether educating Americans about this inequality will increase their support for better economic policies. There are many others who want to bring more attention to the needs of underserved communities and create avenues of opportunities for the people who live there. I have the privilege of working with them every day.

Which is why I was absolutely thrilled to be invited to the White House last month for a convening on "Building an Impact Economy in America” (watch the video clip here). The Aspen Institute, which co-sponsored the convening, defines the Impact Economy as the supply of capital and those firms demanding the capital in pursuit of both profit and social impact. The Administration wants to build a policy agenda that will drive investment in American businesses and also generate financial and social returns. This event brought together many of the people I am privileged to work with, such as: Ron Phillips of Coastal Enterprises, a long-time Calvert Foundation borrower; Debra Schwartz of the MacArthur Foundation, one of our earliest grant supporters and a true believer in the vision; and Bob Annibale of Citi, who has used his influence within a large corporation to drive investment dollars and attention to both domestic work like the Communities at Work Fund and microfinance initiatives internationally. My former boss Gene Sperling, now President Obama’s top economic adviser, was also at the event and spoke eloquently about the administration’s efforts to rebuild the economy and create jobs for Americans. 

The White House has recognized the power and efficacy of investing for both financial and social return. Those attending the convening were there to advise the government about how to “remove barriers, streamline regulations and target existing government resources to support the building of an impact economy.” At its core, the event was about creating prosperity and alleviating economic suffering throughout the country. I believe that just as Johnson did in 1965 with his Great Society and Clinton did in 1999 with his New Markets Initiative, President Obama has the opportunity to use the power and influence of his office to bring more attention to underserved and low-income communities which have been disproportionately affected by our current economic challenges. 

Jonathan Greenblatt of the Aspen Institute described the meeting as "historic"; he believes the "Impact Economy" will soon be a term “that is as well-known as microfinance or charter schools, a trend that overturns an old order, shakes loose ossified ideas and spawns social benefit scale as a result.” The meeting was an important first step toward establishing a national strategy for the impact economy. It is our hope that we can build on the momentum of this gathering and translate the conversations into tangible results for the impact investing industry, and the country, as a whole. 

Calvert Foundation’s vision of a world with "5% for impact" - where 5% of every investor’s portfolio is dedicated to impact investing – appears to be within reach. I look forward to continuing to engage with officials in the Administration about ideas for the future to help build an impact economy which can fuel an overall economic recovery that benefits all members of our society. Let’s all encourage the White House to host more convenings and continue bringing more attention to these issues, ultimately creating more government policies and programs that enable private, social impact investments in the most vulnerable communities in our nation. 

Microfinance in Eastern Europe?

Anthony Randazzo is a Senior Investment Officer with Calvert Foundation's Lending & Services Team. He focuses on loan origination efforts for international investments in microfinance, water and sanitation, and renewable energy. Last month, Anthony met with microfinance industry leaders at the 14th Annual Microfinance Center Conference in Prague, CZ, the city where he kicked off his professional career nearly two decades ago.

Anthony Randazzo

I once told my Czech friends that their language – with its mind-bending grammar, and tongue-twisting pronunciation – is a paradox: the more I studied it, the less I understood. Though I did eventually master it while living in Prague from 1992 to 1993, my recent exchange with a waiter at the 14th Annual Microfinance Center Conference in Prague showed how quickly language skills atrophy. In my best Czech, I asked to order a coffee. The waiter stared back at me, smiling. I thought maybe he didn’t understand, so I persisted, “Prosim, mohu nabidnout kavu?” He eventually responded, politely holding back his amusement, “Well, I would gladly accept, but perhaps you wish to order a coffee instead, sir?” Embarrassingly, I had confused nabidnout (to offer) with objednat (to order). “Yes please,” I humbly conceded, in English. 

Despite my embarrassing exchanges with the wait staff, I was delighted to attend the MFC conference this year. With several hundred participants from 45 countries, it is arguably the most important annual microfinance industry event in Eastern Europe. Past MFC conferences have been held in Sofia, Ulaanbaatar, Belgrade, and Astana. Naturally I was thrilled to learn it would be held in Prague this year, providing an opportunity to return to a place where I lived and worked in the early days of my career.  

Prague was a different city back then. Only a trickle of tourists, but an estimated 5,000 American ex-pats (mostly college graduates escaping the ‘92 recession) were the only foreigners in the city. Czechoslovakia was still a unified country. The transition from totalitarianism to free market democracy was in full gear. I remember when the first McDonald’s restaurant opened. Instead of shunning fast food, Czechs welcomed this icon of American culture. I think for them it symbolized a newfound freedom, and they lined up for several blocks to get their first taste. Today, the center of Prague is awash in tourists, and fast-food restaurants abound. But Prague has refused to lose its magic, and in my opinion, is still one of the most magnificent cities in Europe. 

While most casual observers associate microfinance with the regions where it first emerged (South America, India, and South Asia), there has been a thriving microfinance market across most of Eastern Europe, and many microfinance networks (ProCredit, FINCA) have some of their largest operations there. In fact, about one third of Calvert Foundation’s microfinance portfolio is invested in Eastern Europe and two of our five largest investment exposures are in former Soviet countries (Azerbaijan and Georgia). That microfinance took off in Eastern Europe should come as no surprise. Forty-five years of state-controlled economic policy left the region in stagnation. However, the end of the Cold War created opportunities for individuals to start their own businesses, both formal and informal, and microfinance has played a key role in empowering those individuals to manage their own affairs. The wave of private entrepreneurship has revitalized Eastern Europe since the end of state-sponsored socialism.   

This entrepreneurial spirit was in the air at the MFC Conference. With the senior management of nearly every major East European microfinance institution (MFI) in attendance, it is a convenient venue to get business done. With Prague chosen as the location this year, the number of attendees was particularly high. While the conference always lines up interesting debates and discussions, a lot of serious negotiating is done on the side lines of the event. In the course of 3 days, I met with the CEOs of six microfinance institutions in which Calvert Foundation is invested, and interviewed an additional 5-6 prospects, often alongside staff from partner organizations Triple Jump and MicroVest.

There were also some thought-provoking roundtable discussions on the MFC agenda, which was entitled Reorienting Microfinance towards Balanced Growth. Interesting debates were held on the future of microfinance. One spirited panel discussion featured the contrarian views of Milford Bateman, author of Why Microfinance Doesn’t Work, who was invited to speak alongside the president of FINCA International, Rupert Scofield, and other microfinance heavyweights on the subject of Reorienting Microfinance: Generating New or Repairing the Old?   

Mr. Bateman was most likely invited to inject some critical thought into the discussions. Since the conference typically attracts only ardent believers in microfinance, I admired his courage. Bateman contends that microfinance inhibits the growth of a balanced economy by fostering the proliferation of self-employed micro entrepreneurs, all of whom compete in the same markets. This drives down profits and prevents the development of a modern, diversified economy. He also argues that there is little independent evidence demonstrating that microfinance creates jobs or alleviates poverty since studies produced by industry insiders are naturally biased. Mr. Scofield (and others) fired back, arguing that microloans had had a transformative impact on the lives of poor individuals. Scofield gave examples of $50 loans he helped make in the highlands of Guatemala that allowed farmers to buy fertilizer. He witnessed first-hand the dramatic improvement this had on crop yields and family nutrition. It also eliminated the market for loan sharks, who ruthlessly charged 5-10% interest per day for credit.   

As I watched the debate unfold, I felt that this kind of criticism is quite healthy. The microfinance industry can and should improve its ability to tell its story. Industry-wide efforts are underway, such as the SMART Campaign (a global effort to achieve common principles for protecting clients such as transparent pricing and ethical collection practices) and the Social Performance Taskforce (a platform for disseminating best practice for microfinance institutions to achieve their social mission). Still, measuring impact in a more scientific way would generate convincing evidence of the transformative benefits that many of us have witnessed in our work but which are not readily quantifiable. At Calvert Foundation, we rely on commonly used metrics to quantify impact (such as the number of female borrowers served by the microfinance institutions we support) but often these benchmarks fall short. One good example we have is an MFI in India that measures the poverty levels of clients that enter and exit their microloan programs. Nearly all of the borrowers that they take in live below the poverty line, but after five loan cycles the majority of these same clients are no longer poor. Metrics like these tell a great story, but are not easily obtained. They demonstrate that microfinance enables individuals to manage their finances more effectively, smooth out their consumption and build up assets. Still, microfinance is not the poverty alleviation equivalent of a silver bullet. It is just one of many tools in the poverty alleviation toolbox.  

So I say, bring on the criticism. It will only help the microfinance industry to realize its weak points and look for ways to improve. Complacency leaves us vulnerable to reputational risks. Like making embarrassing mistakes in Czech to a waiter in Prague, we should avoid being overly confident, and strive to continuously improve.

Honoring Wayne Silby at the 41st Joseph Wharton Award Dinner

Lydia Cutrer is a Jr. Investment Officer with Calvert Foundation's Risk Management Team, focusing on the Domestic Lending Portfolio. As a Graduate of the Wharton School and active member of the Wharton Alumni Club of DC, she was one of several Calvert Foundation representatives in attendance to celebrate the recognition of Calvert Investments and Calvert Foundation Founder Wayne Silby at the 41st Annual Joseph Wharton Award Dinner.

 

Lydia Cutrer

Last week, D. Wayne Silby – founder of both Calvert Foundation and Calvert Investments – was among four Wharton University alumni honored at the 41^st Annual Joseph Wharton Award Dinner, sponsored by the Wharton Alumni Club of DC. The honorees were recognized for their substantial career success and leadership, strong ties to the Wharton School and University of Pennsylvania, and a solid commitment to public service. While they varied in age and experience, the “fabulous four” all embodied the spirit of the award as each shared with the audience a tangible passion for their life’s work through moving remarks about their personal journeys.
  

Wayne Silby commented that, although he and Calvert Investments co-founder John Guffey endeavored to make a lot of money out of college, he realized the potential of channeling capital in a way that would be productive to society and became committed to this pursuit. Wayne talked of his continued efforts in underserved communities, particularly in China, through the Calvert Social Investment Fund and other personal ventures. The Club’s President and the dinner’s emcee, Alan Schlaifer, quoted from Calvert Foundation CEO Lisa Hall: “Wayne is not only a visionary, he has also been able to bring to fruition what others cannot even envision." 



Of the nearly 125 guests in attendance, the Calvert name was well represented in celebration of Silby’s achievements. Along with Lisa Hall, the Calvert contingent also included fellow Wharton alumni Reggie Stanley (Calvert Foundation Board Member and Calvert Investments’ Chief Marketing Officer), Lydia Cutrer (Calvert Foundation Jr. Investment Officer), and Daryn Dodson (Associate with Calvert Investments).

The youngest honoree, Alison Malmon, described the tragedy of losing her older brother in her sophomore year at Penn as the result of his depression leading to suicide. Though she could not initially understand how her smart and active brother took his own life, she began to learn the drastic need for mental health support for students and young adults. She founded Active Minds, Inc. on Penn’s campus and over the past eight years, the organization has grown to nearly 340 college chapters. Another honoree, His Excellency Jose L. Cuisia, Jr., Ambassador of the Philippines to the United States, credited his education at Wharton, long career in banking, and supportive wife and five daughters with helping him build a foundation to serve his people. Joyce Hunter, CEO of Vulcan Enterprises LLC, is a fearless advocate and sought-after advisor for Health and Human Services. She spoke of her impassioned focus on health information technology after her father became sicker because the hospital where he was admitted did not have access to his medical records.

The night was a heartfelt testament to the power of leadership, innovation, integrity, passion, and commitment to others representative of both the Wharton and Calvert names.

Greening Education

Margot Kane is an Investment Officer working on Calvert Foundation’s domestic portfolio, particularly in the areas of small business, social enterprise, and our Green Strategies to Fight Poverty initiative. This is her account of the 1st Annual Green Schools National Conference in Minneapolis she attended in the fall, and what it means for our future as investors and citizens.

Margot Kane

The conference audience was rapt listening to the young leaders of the Youth Summit – “students for green and sustainable schools” on the stage. They were the last plenary speakers that morning (after other impressive and experienced speakers, such as Philippe Cousteau – Jacques’ grandson) and they got a standing ovation to thunderous applause - which is remarkable on the second day of a packed conference at 9 in the morning. Along with the rest of the audience, I was so impressed with how aware these teenagers were of the world around them and their impact upon it, and how excited they were to reach out to other youth across the country and spark what seems almost like a social movement, focusing on people and values, rather than something that lives in the dry realm of carbon emissions and kilowatt hours. 

It seemed to me that these youth, who were addressing nearly 1,000 in the audience at the first Annual Green School National Conference, felt a very immediate need to address climate change and environmental destruction. I wondered if it’s because those dire projections that scientists predict for years not far away – 2020, 2030 – are about ultimately them and their livelihoods. Those are years when they will be graduating from school, building careers, “growing up,” raising families, and more – likely all in the face of rising sea levels, dying species, increasingly violent weather, and battles over resource depletion. This is a very scary future. It reminds me a little bit of growing up with the Cold War/nuclear holocaust bogeyman, except this one is more likely to happen.

I remember walking out of one session of this conference really envious of the integrated curriculum described by a charter school where every section is taught through the lens of caring for the planet, which seems so sane in hindsight (have you seen the South Park “Captain Hindsight” episode? I highly recommend it), and yet so revolutionary, and such a relevant way to connect kids to the point of it all. Instead of making math a line of numbers on a page and formulas to memorize, separate from the beauty of trees and music and ocean waves, it’s all part of the same planet and patterns and purpose, including humans.

The take-away I had for my role at Calvert Foundation was an inspiration to finance green schools! Also, this conference and other experiences have taught me that “green” is not a discrete topic or asset class. It’s part of the form and function of something. Things like building a school with natural light, using non-toxic materials, providing healthy air and water and physical activity for students, are all things that will improve and serve the true purpose of a school, which is above all else the education of the youth attending it. Every school built otherwise has diminished its potential returns vis-à-vis this function at the outset. There is some data emerging from the green schools movement around attendance rates and teacher retention in green schools and other interesting outcomes that measure the health and professional and education success of all those who spend their daylight hours in a school building. I also learned that green building works best when it is part of the comprehensive vision of an institution, after a few baselines (like recycling, turning off machines, energy efficient appliances, using compact fluorescents, etc).

At Calvert Foundation, we are exploring ways we can weave environmental considerations into all of our investing activities but also into our day-to-day office lives (like reminding each other to turn off computer monitors at night and instituting better recycling practices).

On the investment side, I think there is strong support among our investors and our staff that long-term reduction of poverty among communities requires increased environmental efficiency, resource conservation, reduction of our reliance on petroleum, ecosystem and biodiversity protection, water safety, etc. This is because environmental degradation and resource scarcity often have the greatest immediate impact upon impoverished communities, and it can create, exacerbate, and prolong poverty, displacement, and conflict. All those working towards community development and well being can’t afford to ignore the environmental threats and realities facing communities worldwide.

Lastly, I walked away from this conference with the sense that the potential for individual action is huge. If students can start a recycling program, or build a PV panel on the roof of their school, then we can each do little things to set the bar higher. I’m setting up a compost bin this spring, for starters using vermiculture - with worms! It’s one of the best options for a small urban household. I’m just hoping I can handle all that up-close-and-personal worm time.

Industry-wide efforts work to protect investors and microentrepreneurs

Eliza Erikson is the Chief Lending Officer at Calvert Foundation.

Eliza Erikson

I have spent almost 15 years working in emerging markets and inclusive finance, starting right after college when I worked with two microfinance institutions in Guatemala. How the industry has changed from those days when sustainability, much less profitability, was just a glimmer in our eyes! Funding for microfinance increased exponentially after the United Nations deemed 2005 the International Year of Microcredit and Dr. Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. With additional funding came exponential growth – and additional challenges.


Industry Leadership in Driving Ethical Microfinance Practices

Impact investors like Calvert Foundation face specific challenges when deciding which microfinance institutions meet our social criteria for investment. With an emphasis on ensuring that borrowers in our portfolio are practicing responsible microfinance, we must rely on various sources of information including our own data collection. In recent years funders and borrowers alike have joined to set out common principles for what constitutes ethical and responsible operations in the microfinance sector. The United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) initiative has more directly targeted the microfinance sector with its recent unveiling of the Principles for Investors in Inclusive Finance (PIIF) initiative. Calvert Foundation is thrilled to announce that we are one of the 40 initial signatories to the PIIF initiative. We encourage you to review the principles more closely, which can be found here.

In addition, Calvert Foundation had an early role in supporting the principles behind the SMART Campaign, another funder coalition which aims to keep clients first in microfinance. By focusing on key issues like overindebtedness of clients, transparency in pricing, and appropriate collection practices, the SMART Campaign has laid the foundation for defining ethical business practices among microfinance institutions. We are honored to have had the opportunity to work alongside our partners on these various initiatives in responsible investment.

Going the Extra Mile – Local Currency Lending

We are also working hard to protect micro-entrepreneurs against currency risk. Until fairly recently, investors were only providing hard currency, in the form of dollars or Euros, to microfinance institutions. The majority of MFIs were turning around and lending that capital either in U.S. dollars or local currency, and absorbing the devaluation risk themselves or pushing it down to the weakest link in the chain, to the microentrepreneurs who were responsible for paying much more in local currency terms when the currency devalued. Not only was this a serious credit risk for investors, but also seemed to me a moral dilemma that social investors should help resolve. Indeed, some of us deemed it microfinance's “original sin.”

Last November, Calvert Foundation closed its first deal with Microfinance FX Solutions, or MFX Solutions, to provide a loan in Kenyan shillings to Kenyan Women’s Finance Trust (KWFT). The loan was fully hedged to the U.S. Dollar, protecting Calvert Foundation and its more than 7,500 investors from the risk that the Kenyan shilling would devalue against the dollar and KWFT would be unable to repay the loan. The loan was denominated in local currency, so that neither KWFT nor its clients would assume that same devaluation risk. It was the quintessential win-win.

In the more developed currency markets of the U.S. and Western Europe, hedging foreign exchange risk is common, widely available, and relatively cheap. Many banks are in the business. The same is not true of less liquid, developing country markets where hedging is prohibitively expensive or just plain unavailable. A group of us came together to try and help address the problem – Calvert Foundation, Calmeadow, ACCION International, Microrate, and Global Partnerships. It didn't stop us that we had little background in traditional foreign exchange derivatives. We did some research, consulted with experts, and wrote a business plan for MFX Solutions, a new social enterprise that would offer modern currency risk management to the microfinance industry. We knocked on a lot of investor doors, most of whom were challenged by the novelty of our model. Omidyar Network was brave enough to step up as a generous anchor investor, along with Triodos Bank and Incofin, two leading impact investors that were interested in using MFX's services for to hedge their own investments. I am thrilled that MFX Solutions is now a reality and has closed more than $50 million in business, helping to fund more entrepreneurs more safely in developing countries around the world.

Looking Ahead to Finance Future Innovation

As an investor, there is often a tension in wanting to support an organization that has an executing business model and is making an important impact, but that has not yet reached a sustainable financial stage; often, in support of those emerging innovators, we will invest a small amount at an earlier stage to catalyze growth and encourage additional investment. Through our Mission Plus portfolio we ensure that up to 3 percent goes to organizations like this. We think it’s our responsibility to finance not just the organizations that are the current leaders of the inclusive finance movement but the future sources of innovation that will push the industry to greater heights.

Holiday shopping? Skip long lines and stress, and purchase a Gift of Compassion instead!

With the holiday season upon us, the search for the perfect gift is on. If you haven’t found it yet, do not panic! ABC Home & Planet Foundation offers a unique holiday gift that provides the opportunity to share joy and gratitude with your loved ones.

ABC Home & Planet Foundation offers “Gifts of Compassion,” which allows you to make a fully tax deductible gift in honor of your loved one. Each Gift of Compassion is a donation to a visionary non-profit organization providing critical services to underserved communities. Each organization has been carefully chosen and screened for its transformative impact by the ABC Home & Planet Foundation. Calvert Foundation is one of those organizations, and is again participating in the Gift of Compassion Program this year.

Gift recipients receive a printed 100% post consumer recycled paper card about the gift in a one-of-a-kind silk sari pouch made in India, which can double as a lovely tree ornament or sachet for jewelry.

What greater gift can be given to a loved one than offering a safe haven for an orphaned child? A birth kit for a rural mother in Nepal? Malaria nets for pregnant women in Africa? New sheets for the formerly homeless in New York? Literacy lessons for an Afghan girl? Make this holiday season memorable by inspiring meaningful change in the world. Gifts of Compassion are available for purchase at abchomeandplanet.org.