Our Progress
Our Progress
We are working to support the Haitian people’s efforts to rebuild their own country. Thus, any success realized by the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund is not ours, but theirs.
While it is sometimes easy to throw money at a problem, it takes careful thought and hard work to achieve results. The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund uses your donations to make catalytic grants and investments for long-term reconstruction and economic expansion. We focus on promoting job growth and economic opportunity primarily by:
- Supporting micro finance institutions, many of whose beneficiaries are women.
- Providing small-sized and medium-sized enterprises with access to financing and business services.
- Facilitating training and workforce development for young people, women, and professionals, such as nurses, doctors, and engineers – the human capital that Haiti needs to “build back better.”
- Responding to critical, unmet needs.
As of March 9, 2012, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund has raised $54.1M and committed $35.6M to projects in Haiti. Click here to download (PDF) a complete breakdown of the funds committed to date.
The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund is committed to being a responsible steward of every dollar we raise. Our small organizational size allows us to quickly and effectively respond to needs on the ground. We methodically review the projects we support to ensure that they will help fuel Haiti’s long-term goal of economic prosperity. We do not contribute to the Haitian government. We have specific requirements for reporting and auditing to ensure that donor dollars are fully accounted for and have the best chance of helping Haiti thrive.
The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund's grants and program-related investments play a leveraging role, often joining or attracting other funders to make projects possible. To date, we have contributed to projects totaling $143.5M.
Achievements to Date
While many of our projects are long-term, and will bear fruit over time, many are already showing positive results. Below are a few examples.
1. Supporting Micro Finance Institutions & Micro Enterprises
We have worked to shore up the balance sheets of, and inject liquidity into, three key Haitian microfinance institutions (MFIs) thus far. Of the micro entrepreneurs these MFIs support, 86% are women.
Examples
HELP: $250,000 catalytic grant to launch the Haitian Emergency Liquidity Program (HELP), backed by the Multilateral Investment Fund, a part of the Inter-American Development Bank Group, the Deutche Bank Americas Foundation, and others. HELP was designed to shore up balance sheets of key microfinance institutions after the earthquake. To date, HELP has supported ACME, benefitting 1,974 clients, and FINCA, benefitting 4,100 clients.
FHAF: $850K grant to Haiti’s oldest women-created and women-led microfinance organization, which has a client base of 2,598 to date. The organization should benefit thousands of women entrepreneurs, helping them get on a stable footing so that they can grow.
2. Providing Small & Medium-Sized Enterprises with Access to Financing & Business Services
We have provided debt and equity financing to enable small & growing businesses to sustain or expand their operations. We have also supported enterprises with access to business development services (BDS) to strengthen management capacity & capability.
Examples
Root Capital: Grant and loan for $1M, which in turn has helped provide loans to five businesses to date, including COOPCAB, a cooperative of 4,000 members representing nine grassroots coffee grower associations, and Metal Art, a handicrafts business with 107 full-time employees.
Oasis: $2M equity investment in the Oasis Hotel in Port-au-Prince that is employing nearly 400 workers in the construction phase, and should employ approximately 200 workers on a permanent basis. The International Finance Corporation of the World Bank estimates that a hotel project of this nature has a significant economic ripple effect, generating three indirect jobs in the community for each direct position in the hotel. The hotel also established the Oasis Foundation to strengthen the hospitality workforce by reviving the Haiti Hotel School, an institution under Haiti’s Ministry of Tourism.
GaMa Entreprises S.A.: $1.09M commitment to a Haitian SME with a franchise-based business model launching the “KayTek” brand of steel frame housing kits at its factory in Port-au-Prince. Through this venture, GaMa should employ 50 factory employees, and train 200 engineers and foremen.
Artisan Craft Sector: $1.99M in grants and loans to five organizations in the Haitian artisan sector. Our support to Aid to Artisans, BrandAid, Fairwinds Trading, HAND/EYE, and ModAyiti is promoting artisan exports through workshop repairs, development and design consulting, and business networks. For example, our loan to Fairwinds enables artisans to complete orders for Macy’s, and our grant to HAND/EYE is establishing an Artisan Business Network that will generate and facilitate large orders for Macy’s and other retailers like Anthropologie.
3. Facilitating Training & Workforce Development
We have facilitated job training and life skills for Haitians across the economy, ranging from at-risk youth to healthcare professionals.
Examples
International Medical Corps: $1.56M grant to develop an emergency medical training and disaster response program to benefit at least 50 physicians and 100 nurses from the State University Hospital (HUEH) in Port-au-Prince and surrounding hospitals. These professionals should go on to help serve the 100,000 patients visiting the HUEH emergency room annually.
YouthBuild: $1.58M grant to YouthBuild which, in partnership with the Haitian nonprofit IDEJEN, is establishing a number of academies to train at-risk, out-of-school youth in construction skills. Our grant to YouthBuild was used to create the first two centers. The first in Gressier is complete and already training 300 youth. The total project, whose funders include the MasterCard Foundation, and the Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank, is expected to benefit approximately 6,000 youth over five years.
4. Addressing Critical, Unmet Needs
We have provided essential services to people in need, while creating jobs and building workforce capacity.
Examples
BRAC: $250,000 grant to BRAC to establish the Limb and Brace Center in Port-au-Prince. The Center has already treated 300 patients in its first nine months. BRAC is training a Haitian senior medical officer and staff to prepare the Center’s transition to a fully Haitian-run facility in two years.
Pan-American Development Foundation (PADF): $1.9M grant which, with an additional $1M in support from the Caterpillar Foundation, is helping restore damaged homes in Léogâne, the epicenter of the 2010 earthquake. Funding from the grant is training and employing 210 Haitian engineers, masons, subcontractors, and construction workers to restore approximately 800 multi-family homes. The project is the only one of its kind taking place in the area, and it aims to make it possible for approximately 7,200 Haitians to return to their homes.
