Dear friends,

This was a year of good progress in the midst of a global economic crisis. It is our pleasure to report that Global Partnerships ended the fiscal year with more than $40 million invested in 28 partner microfinance institutions (MFIs) serving more than 850,000 people living in poverty throughout Latin America.

We continued to sharpen our investment focus this year, concentrating our resources in support of MFIs that are
mission driven, financially sound, and are reinvesting profits for the benefit of people living in poverty. We call these MFIs
“social enterprises,” and we believe that these organizations will lead the way in Latin America in terms of serving people
in less profitable markets and combining microfinance with fully sustainable solutions to poverty in areas like education,
health and rural enterprise development.

In an era when commercial MFIs concentrate on the most profitable markets and services, social enterprise MFIs fill a
critical gap in the marketplace. Providing affordable growth capital to these institutions is one way that Global Partnerships can help. Another is to bring business acumen to bear on critical issues. From the outset of the global economic crisis, we helped our partners respond early, leveraging our Latin American team’s expertise to help them understand the potential effects of the crisis, analyze their exposure, and proactively implement strategies to weather the storm.

Such partnerships are a jumping-off point for strategic collaboration, particularly in developing fully sustainable
solutions beyond microfinance. Many of our MFI partners are looking for ways to increase their social impact while
strengthening their competitive position. As this report goes to press, we are launching a unique project with two nonprofit
partners—PATH and Pro Mujer—to expand the capacity of microfinance institutions that use the village banking model
to offer sustainable health education and health services.

Today, our partners are equipped with the knowledge and resources to serve women like Benigna Quispe Cerda. Benigna, pictured below, is a rural Bolivian woman who might look familiar to you. Photos of her and her dairy cows have graced several Global Partnerships publications in the past year. The story behind the photo merits telling. Thirteen years ago, Benigna joined a communal bank organized by CRECER in rural Bolivia, and took out a small loan to build a dairy cow business. With the help of CRECER’s loans and training in business skills and leadership, she has since built a successful business, selling milk and cheese to established markets. She’s been able to send her son to school and to build a brick house where she lives with her mother, brother and sister. She has become a leader in her community, including serving as president of her communal bank.

We begin this Progress Report with Benigna’s story, to remind ourselves for whom we work. Thanks to the trust and support of our donors and investors, Global Partnerships has been working to expand opportunity for people like Benigna for 15 years. We are grateful for all that you have done to make our progress possible and for helping us lay a foundation for even greater impact in the future.