No Smoke. No Mirrors. Just Real.

Five years ago today, Mission Asset Fund was just an idea. Yet, with the dedication and vision of a small group of community leaders and a generous funder, this idea soon became a reality, exemplifying the transformative power of building organizations rooted in values, driven by passion, and molded by technology.

MAF’s values are simple. We meet people where they are, not where we want them to be, nor where we think they should be. We build on what they have, no matter the size, shape or form. We take these values seriously, and they shape what we do every day.

We live and breathe technology. It’s in our blood stream. Each day we think hard about ways to make technology work better to address the everyday problems that poor families face in our community. Sometimes you can hear a pin drop in our office – our 11 staff members are all busy making sure that the power of cloud computing is working to benefit low-income and immigrant families.

All of this hard work is now paying off. Today, MAF is poised to break the $1,000,000 mark in peer loans managed through our innovative, prize winning Cestas Populares – Lending Circles program. In just over three years, MAF took the crazy idea of formalizing what people were already doing with their money and began helping them chart a course to the financial mainstream. This idea resonated not just with our clients but with policy makers and funders throughout San Francisco and beyond.

No one thought that MAF's zero-interest and zero-fee loans would result in zero defaults. But it has. With just this one program, we've helped over 600 clients keep $300,000 in their pockets. That’s real money, in real people’s pockets.

What’s next for MAF?
We are taking all that we’ve learned and created in the Mission to provide other communities across the country with our innovative Lending Circles program.

Last year we partnered with the Center for Financial Services Innovation, Citi, Y&H Soda Foundation, and Ford Foundation to support the Lending Circles Capacity Building Project. As part of this project, the San Francisco State University Cesar E. Chavez Institute began conducting a robust evaluation to determine which program elements are most significant. When complete, this control research methodology will precisely measure client outcomes and attitudes about the program. Shortly, we'll share these research findings with you.

This year, we are thrilled to report that the Northwest Area Foundation is supporting Lending Circles replication throughout the Northwestern region. Charles Schwab Bank and Wells Fargo are also supporting replication in Nevada. We are partnering with the Filipino Workers Center in Los Angeles to support their Lending Circles work and with the Families Independence Initiative to extend our model to families in the Bay Area, Boston and New Orleans. The Silicon Valley Community Foundation also supported the creation of Citizenship Tandas, a program that helps legal immigrants save and pay for naturalization expenses.

As you can see, we’re going to be busy in the years to come. And we're just getting started. Thank you for your continued support. Without you we could not have come so far, so quickly.

Sincerely,
Jose Quinonez, Executive Director