ACCION USA (AUSA)

Type	Body Corporate
Industry	Microfinance
Founded	1991
Headquarters	New York
Area served	United States
Key people	Joseph Blatchford, founder
Products	Financial Services Microfinance
Website	http://www.accionusa.org/

ACCION USA is an American microfinance organization headquartered in New York, NY.

Contents 1 About 2 Operational statistics 3 Awards and acknowledgements 4 Related ventures 5 External links 6 References

[edit] About

ACCION USA offers microloans and other financial services to low- and moderate-income entrepreneurs in the United States who are unable to access bank credit for their small businesses. Services offered include a small business loan program, a "Credit Builder" loan program, and a financial literacy program offered in several languages.

ACCION USA is an affiliate of ACCION International, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization operating globally, with the mission of giving people the financial tools they need to work their way out of poverty.^[1] The domestic ACCION programs started in Brooklyn, NY in 1991, and grew from there to include low-income communities in Chicago, New Mexico, San Diego, and Texas. Including ACCION USA’s offices in Atlanta, Boston, and Miami, the U.S. ACCION Network is the largest of its kind in the United States, having disbursed over $210 million in small business loans to more than 20,000 entrepreneurs.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Operational statistics

During the sixteen years of its work in the U.S. ACCION has loaned out approximately $210 million to over 20,000 micro-entrepreneurs. The historical average loan size claimed by ACCION USA is $5,300. Cumulative loss rates are claimed to have been 7%.^[2]

A three-year study of 849 borrowers reveals that after just two small business loans over 17 months, U.S. ACCION Network clients increased their:

• take-home income by 38 percent, or an average of $455 per month

• average monthly profits by 47 percent

• business equity by 42 percent

[edit] Awards and acknowledgements

• In 1998, the U.S. ACCION Network received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Microenterprise Development for Program Innovation.^[3]

• In 2001, ACCION was chosen as one of America’s 100 best charities by Worth Magazine.^[4]

• In 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 ACCION received Fast Company's Social Capitalist Award for “changing the world by using entrepreneurial genius to solve some of the most daunting social problems.”^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Related ventures

ACCION International created Accion USA as a not-for-profit subsidiary to oversee and implement all its lending activities in the United States. Accion USA has three forms of operating, which collectively form the U.S.ACCION Network:

1. As a “franchiser” in which it licenses the name and trademarks to independent, non-profit organizations that have their own legal status, board of directors, and staff.
   1. ACCION Chicago
   2. ACCION New Mexico (also serves Arizona and Colorado)
   3. ACCION San Diego
   4. ACCION Texas
   5. The former ACCION New York merged with ACCION USA in 2009.^[5]
2. Accion USA offices that are run directly, which are located in Boston, Miami and Atlanta. Each has a local Advisory Board and staff who are employees of ACCION USA.
3. An internet lending program whereby microentrepreneurs can apply for loans regardless of their physical location in the United States.

[edit] External links

1. ACCION USA
   1. ACCION Chicago
   2. ACCION New Mexico (also serves Arizona and Colorado)
   3. ACCION San Diego
   4. ACCION Texas

[edit] References