Namaste (na'-ma-stay): a traditional greeting in many parts of the world, especially the East. Derived from Sanskrit, an English translation is “I bow to the divine in you."

NamasteDirect Stands For:



- Microcredit – NamasteDirect is only about microcredit, which is widely acclaimed as the most important antipoverty invention of the twentieth century.

- New Beginnings – NamasteDirect focuses on providing capital for first-time loans to very poor, rural women in Central America who have the ability and gumption to start a new business or expand a budding enterprise that will begin to lift their families out of poverty.

- Connection – NamasteDirect promises to connect donors with borrowers through Donor Journeys to the region, visiting women who have received loans from our donor funds, and through periodic written accounts of borrowers’ experiences.

- Future Generations – NamasteDirect encourages a new generation of global philanthropists through board membership, volunteer opportunties, and a unique Fellowship Program.

- Transparency – NamasteDirect tracks its cash disbursed right down to the names of the individual borrowers and makes that information available to donors.

- Best Value for Donors – NamasteDirect delivers the highest percentage of unrestricted donations into the hands of beneficiaries of any U.S. international donor organization. A minimum of 70 percent of unrestricted donations to NamasteDirect go directly to the beneficiaries--Central American women who receive loans in their local currency. Moreover, the loan funds are recycled over and over again in the local community. So your original gift keeps on giving!