It’s marathon season, and this past weekend the 33rd Annual Marine Corps Marathon took place in Washington, D.C.  For Alex Counts, President of Grameen Foundation and friend of Team Firstgiving, the race was an opportunity to “run poverty out of town.”  We caught up with Alex to hear his thoughts on training, fundraising, and microfinance.  

• This is your second marathon; why did you decide to run again?

Despite the agony of the last 4 miles of my first marathon last year, I found the training process invigorating and had a vision of getting my time down closer to 4 hours, so I decided to try it one more time. Also, last year’s marathon-related fund-raising was quite successful for Grameen Foundation so I wanted to see if we could build on that in order to bring more resources to support our anti-poverty mission.

• What does Grameen Foundation do?

Grameen Foundation works on a global basis to spread the self-help strategy known as microfinance that was pioneered by the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. Through this strategy, poor people – mostly women – get access to financial services, especially loans, that allow them to start or expand tiny businesses and earn enough money to slowly get out of poverty.

• Why is microfinance so important as part of the international development discussion?

Many anti-poverty programs indirectly address poverty, through building infrastructure that in the long term benefits the society. Microfinance is a more direct approach. It makes the poor economic actors themselves by working directly with them to allow them to create their own jobs. While many poverty strategies address the poor’s weaknesses, this builds on their strengths – their ability to make a small amount of resources go a long way by hard work.

• How do you think the current economic climate will impact international development initiatives, and what role can microfinance play?

This climate will prompt everyone to prioritize and only support the most effective approaches. Microfinance can benefit from that. Microfinance is a kind of ethical version of sub-prime lending. It can show the world what happens when the poor are provided funds for investment (rather than consumption) from lenders who are incentivized the right way and who maintain a close relationship with the borrower.

• What is your best training tip?

Turn training runs into meditations – don’t talk or listen to music. It makes the runs good for the soul as well as for the body.

• What is your best fundraising tip?

Realize that giving someone an opportunity to contribute to a good cause is a favor, not an imposition. Have fun!

• How did you hear about Firstgiving?

My staff recommended it when they heard I was doing another marathon fund-raiser.

• How has Firstgiving helped you to fundraise?

Its user-friendly site has allowed people to support my run, and Grameen Foundation, easily. 

 Read more about Grameen Foundation, social business, and creating a world without poverty on their blog.