We hope this e-mail finds you well. As students at Rice University, we are often sheltered from the problems of poverty that debilitate families in America and around the world. To address this problem, last year, we founded a student-run non-profit organization: Owl Microfinance. Our fundraising commitment was one of twelve honored by President Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative University conference just a few weeks ago and has been featured in several Houston Chronicle articles (see stories here and here). We have made eight loans to both individuals and small businesses in developing countries through kiva.org and wokai.org. We are committed to making at least 50 loans by the end of 2009 and teaching business skills to disadvantaged members of the Houston community. Our goals are to alleviate poverty by giving entrepreneurs, especially women, the opportunity to better their lives. In addition, we hope this inspires students at Rice to enter the non-profit world, social entrepreneurship, and public service.

We are holding a dessert and silent auction event, Pastries Against Poverty, to promote microfinance on March 17 in the Grand Hall of the Rice Memorial Center. Janie Barrera, the CEO of ACCION Texas, the largest microlender in the United States, and Cristal Montanez Baylor, the Executive Director of the Hashoo Foundation USA, will be speaking about microfinance in the US and Pakistan. For more information about microfinance, please feel free to visit Microfinance facts and our website at owlmicrofinance.org. Directions to the Rice Campus can be found here. You will find a digital copy of the invitation attached. Feel free to share this invitation, and our message about poverty alleviation, to your family and friends.

We hope to see you at our event in a few weeks. If you have any questions or wish to RSVP, do not hesitate to email us at owlmicrofinance@gmail.com.