| Help |
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Managing My Account
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Creating and Updating my Account
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How do I create an account?
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1: Click ‘Register’ on the top right of the page.
2: Fill in the details on the ‘Join United Prosperity Now’ page.
3: Read and Accept the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, and click ‘Join Now’.
4: You could choose to get funds from PayPal and tell your friends about United Prosperity. Or you could skip this step for later.
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How do I upload a new picture of mine?
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1: Log into your United Prosperity account.
2: Click ‘My Profile’ at the left of the page.
3: Click ‘Edit Profile’ at the top of the screen.
4: Upload the new picture in ‘My Photo’, and click ‘Save’ at the bottom of the page.
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How do I change my screen name?
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1: Log into your United Prosperity Account.
2: Click ‘My Profile’ at the left of the page.
3: Click ‘Edit Profile’ at the top of the screen.
4: Enter your new screen name and click ‘Save Changes’.
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Do I have to enter my postal/ mailing address? How will United Prosperity use the information?
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United Prosperity will not use your postal/ mailing address for any commercial activity, and will not share the information with a third party without your express consent. United Prosperity maintains a database of the postal/mailing address of its guarantors, so you can be kept informed of any interesting events that may be happening in your neighborhood.
However, entering your postal/ mailing address is purely optional, and you can choose not to do so.
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Changing my Account Information
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How do I change the email address registered with my account?
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1: Log into your United Prosperity account.
2: Click ‘User Settings’ at the left of the page.
3: Enter your new e-mail address, confirm the new e-mail address and click ‘Save Changes’
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How do I reset my Password?
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1: Log into your United Prosperity account.
2: Click ‘User Settings’ at the left of the page.
3: Enter your old password, your new password, confirm the new password and click ‘Save Changes’.
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Can I make my account anonymous?
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If you have not yet registered, you can choose your screen name as ‘Anonymous’ to make your account anonymous to the public. If you have already registered, you can edit your profile and make your screen name blank.
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Guaranteeing loans to entrepreneurs
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About Guarantees
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How do I guarantee a loan to an entrepreneur?
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1: Click the ‘Guarantee’ button at the top of the United Prosperity home page.
2: Select the entrepreneur you would like to support and click the corresponding ‘Guarantee’ button.
3: Enter the guarantee amount in the box indicated, and click ‘Add to Cart’
4: If you wish to support additional entrepreneurs, click ‘Guarantee Again’ and add the entrepreneurs you would like support to your cart.
5: Review your cart: To cover our operational expenses we have added an optional donation which is 10 % of the guarantee amount. You can choose to edit the amounts. Once you have reviewed the page, click ‘Checkout’.
6: If you do not have an account at United Prosperity, create your account now, by clicking ‘Register Now’, else, log in with your email and password.
7: Pay for the guarantee through PayPal's secure website or pay with the Prosperity Credits you have in your account.
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What happens after I guarantee an entrepreneur?
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1: Within a few days of your guarantee, the Partner will raise funds from the lending bank.
2: Once funds are raised, the loans are disbursed to entrepreneurs.
3: Entrepreneurs start repaying their loans in due course, and the repayments are tracked by the unpaid principal balance on the loans which are updated on a monthly basis by the Partner.
4: When the loan that was disbursed based on your guarantee is repaid in full and when the Partner repays the lending bank, your account will be credited to the extent of the guarantee that you provided.
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How do I deposit funds into my account and use them to guarantee loans at a later date?
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1: Log into your United Prosperity Account.
2: On the summary page, against ‘My Prosperity Credits’ click on ‘Get more’
3. Enter the amount you would like to deposit as Prosperity Credits into your account. Review the details, and click ‘Confirm’.
4: Pay for the Prosperity Credits through PayPal’s secure website.
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How do I use my Prosperity Credits to support entrepreneurs?
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1: Log into your United Prosperity account.
2: Click the ‘Guarantee’ button at the top of the United Prosperity home page.
3: Select the entrepreneur you would like to support and click the corresponding ‘Guarantee’ button.
4: Enter the guarantee amount in the box indicated, and click ‘Add to Cart’.
5: Review your cart: To cover our operational expenses we have added an optional donation which is 10 % of the guarantee amount. You can choose to edit this amount.
6: If you do not have an account at United Prosperity, create your account now, by clicking ‘Register Now’, else, log in with your email and password.
6: Once you are satisfied with the transactions you wish to make, select ‘Yes’ on the ‘Would you like to use your Prosperity Credits for this transaction?’ button, and then click ‘Checkout’. If additional funds are needed you will be directed to proceed to PayPal to pay for the remainder either through a credit card or through your PayPal account.
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Can we guarantee as a group?
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At present, we do not have a feature that enables you to offer guarantees as a group, since we cannot yet collect and aggregate payments made from different PayPal accounts into one ‘group’ payment. If you would like to lend as a group, please designate one person as the group’s account administrator, who can manage the payment process.
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Can my company create an account?
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At present, you can create an account in the name of your company, and can personalize the account by entering your company’s name in the first and last name fields at the time of creating the account. You can also upload a logo of your company instead of a personal photograph.
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Can I donate funds to a business instead of guaranteeing loans?
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United Prosperity’s mission is to facilitate the access to capital for poor entrepreneurs. Guarantees serve that purpose by leveraging additional funds from banks. Donations are essential to keep United Prosperity operational and reach out to many more entrepreneurs and you could make a donation to United Prosperity instead.
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Can I guarantee if I reside outside the United States?
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United Prosperity guarantors reside all over the world. You can guarantees in dollars from anywhere in the world using PayPal.
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Do I get interest on the funds that I have used to guarantee?
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United Prosperity does not offer any interest on the funds used to support the entrepreneur or on the Prosperity Credits you may have. The funds used to support entrepreneurs are not an investment and are not recommended as an investment. Further, providing interest to our guarantors is legally complex and is not under consideration at this point in time.
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Is there a minimum guarantee amount?
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We do not have any minimum guarantee amount. When you get funds through PayPal for guarantee, we request you to cover the PayPal fees we incur through an optional donation. We incur a PayPal payment fee of 2.2% of the transaction amount + $0.30.
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What is the exchange rate used for converting the loan amount in local currency amount to USD?
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The exchange rate used for calculation is the prevailing exchange rate when the entrepreneur’s loan is made available for guarantee divided by 1.05. We add an additional factor of safety of 5% to account for any potential depreciation of the US Dollar against the local currency from the time when the entrepreneur’s loan is made available for guarantee on our website to the point when United Prosperity issues a guarantee to the bank. e.g. One USD converts to 47.52 Indian Rupees as of May 26,2009. If the entrepreneur’s loan is made available for guarantee on our website on May 26,2009 then the exchange rate used for calculation will be 45.26 i.e.47.52 divided by 1.05.
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Completing the Payment Process
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How do I know that my payment through PayPal was successful?
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After you complete your payment through PayPal you will be taken to United Prosperity’s website where you will be informed if your transaction was successful or not. Further when you successfully complete a transaction, you receive a receipt from PayPal confirming the transaction. Alternately, you can log into your United Prosperity account and click ‘Transactions’ to see the full details of all your transactions.
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Do I have to use PayPal?
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You can pay by credit card through PayPal's website, even if you don't have a PayPal account.
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Can I pay by check?
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We accept donations in excess of $1000 by check:
To pay by check:
1: Write your check to ‘UnitedProsperity.org’
2: Email us at
indicating that you are mailing a donation check to us.
3: Print a copy of the email
4: Mail the check and copy of the email to:
United Prosperity.org
100 Daphne Ct.,
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
We will send a donation receipt to your email address within 3 days of receipt of the check.
In order to keep our operating costs low, we currently do not accept payments for guarantees by check.
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Will I get tax exemption for any donations made to United Prosperity?
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UnitedProsperity.org is a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit corporation. When you make a donation, we email the donation receipt. Donations to UnitedProsperity.org are eligible for tax-exemption. UnitedProsperity.org’s Employee Identification number is 26-2417418. This number can be used when listing UnitedProsperity.org on Schedule A - Itemized Deductions of Form 1040 of your tax return.
You would not, however, be able to claim tax-exemption on the guarantees to entrepreneurs.
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Does PayPal charge United Prosperity a fee for processing its transactions?
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Yes. PayPal charges United Prosperity a fee for processing its transactions. The fee is currently borne by United Prosperity and comes to 2.2% of the transaction amount + $0.30.
This is one of the reasons why we encourage our guarantors to make an optional donation so that the cost of our operations including any fees to PayPal can be borne by us.
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What if PayPal does not accept my credit card?
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United Prosperity does not have access to any of your payment details, as PayPal processes all of our financial transactions. If you have trouble making your payment, please contact the PayPal Customer Service line.
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Why did I receive a receipt from PayPal when I paid with my credit card?
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PayPal processes all United Prosperity’s financial transactions. For this reason, regardless of whether you pay for a transaction with funds from a personal credit card or with funds from a PayPal account, you receive a receipt from PayPal recording the purchase.
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Tracking Repayments
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How can I view the entrepreneurs I have supported?
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You can view the entrepreneurs you are supporting by clicking on the link ‘My Portfolio’ in the top menu at the right. In case you are not signed on you may be asked to login.
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How long after the entrepreneur’s loan is repaid will I get my money back?
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Once the loan is repaid, you will get your money back in 4 to 6 weeks. The additional time is for the Partner to repay the bank.
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If the entrepreneur to whom I made a loan is delinquent or defaulting on payments, does it mean that I will lose some of the guaranteed amount?
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Not necessarily. United Prosperity typically guarantees the loan made by the bank to our Partner. Only if the Partner defaults on a payment to the bank or if the losses exceed a pre-determined threshold, would you lose some of your guaranteed amount. We expect our Partners to set aside reserves and bear any routine operational losses from the interest income they receive from other entrepreneurs. We believe that our model encourages accountability and efficiency in the Partner Organization and minimizes potential losses for our guarantors.
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When is a loan made to an entrepreneur considered to be in default?
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At United Prosperity, we define default (non-repayment) as 120 days after the official due date of the loan. At that point, our Partner would typically ‘write-off’ the loan. Rules for determining defaults could also be influenced by local regulations and accounting policies and may vary from our definition. In microfinance, it is also common to try to reschedule loans in cases of delinquency or default in order to accommodate the eventual repayment of the loan.
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Can I forgive a loan?
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You cannot request that an entrepreneur not be required to repay the portion of the loan he or she received based on your guarantee. Often our Partner would have raised funds from the bank based on the guarantee given by United Prosperity. United Prosperity gives a guarantee to the bank by consolidating the guarantee amount deposited by guarantors on several loans across several entrepreneurs. Thus even if one guarantor forgives a part of a loan to an entrepreneur, the Partner would still need to pay back the loan taken from the bank.
Further we believe that the number of entrepreneurs to be reached out to is very large and it can only be achieved if Partner’s operations are effective and efficient. We believe that forgiving loans will not make our Partner’s more effective or efficient.
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Re-Guaranteeing or Withdrawing
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Once a guarantee is freed up, can I use the funds to guarantee loans to additional entrepreneurs?
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Once the loan by the Partner to the entrepreneur, and the loan from the bank to the Partner are repaid, your guarantee gets freed up and is added to your Prosperity Credits. You can use your Prosperity Credits to guarantee entrepreneurs. If you would like to know how to use your Prosperity Credits to guarantee loans, please refer the ‘Guaranteeing loans to entrepreneurs’ section.
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How can I donate funds from a freed up guarantee to United Prosperity?
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1: Log into your United Prosperity account
2: Click on the ‘Donate’ button in the top menu.
3: Choose ‘Yes’ for the question ‘Would you like to apply your Prosperity Credits to this transaction?’.
4: Review the amount and click ‘Confirm’.
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How do I withdraw funds from my United Prosperity account?
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1: Log into your United Prosperity account. If you are signed in, click on ‘My Portfolio’ on the upper right hand corner.
2: On the ‘Summary’ page check the funds that are available as Prosperity Credits in your account.
3: Click ‘Withdraw’ next to ‘My Prosperity Credits’
4: Enter the amount that you wish to withdraw and press ‘Confirm’. Your money should be available in your PayPal account or credit card instantaneously.
5: If needed, please validate the withdrawal in your PayPal account. The transaction will be shown as a ‘Partially Refunded’ transaction against an earlier transaction.
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Will PayPal charge me to withdraw funds from my United Prosperity Account?
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No, there are no charges to you for this transaction
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Troubleshooting
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Accessing My Account
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Why can't I log into my account?
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You may not be able to log in because your email address or password may be incorrect. First, please be sure that the email address you are entering is the email address that you registered with your account.
If you have forgotten your password, try resetting your password by selecting ‘Log In’ at the top of the United Prosperity home page. Then click the ‘Forget Your Password?’ link. Enter your email address and we will send a new password to your email address.
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Monitoring My Transactions
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How can I tell if my transaction went through?
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When you successfully complete a transaction, you receive a receipt from PayPal confirming the transaction. Alternately, you can log into your United Prosperity account and click ‘Transactions’ to see the full details of all your transactions.
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Why did I receive a receipt from PayPal, when I used my credit card?
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PayPal processes all of United Prosperity's financial transactions, so you will receive a receipt from PayPal recording your purchase at United Prosperity regardless of whether you pay with a personal credit card or with funds from a PayPal account.
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What is the time zone used for all transactions?
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We use Pacific Time for recording the timestamp on the transactions.
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Other
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The entrepreneur I guaranteed paid-back the loan in full, why don't I have any new or additional Prosperity Credits in my account?
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The guarantee on the loan you made is valid until the Partner repays the bank for the funds mobilized on the strength of your guarantee. Typically the Partner will collect payment from other entrepreneur loans funded by the capital mobilized from the bank and repay them together to the bank. This could take 4 to 6 weeks.
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I cannot find the entrepreneur that I previously selected in the loan listing?
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If an entrepreneur is fully funded, then the entrepreneur does not show up in the list of ‘Fund Raising’ entrepreneurs.
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About United Prosperity
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How United Prosperity Works
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What percentage of my guarantee goes to the entrepreneur?
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United Prosperity aggregates the funds received for a particular entrepreneur, and uses it to issue a cash-backed guarantee based on which a domestic bank lends money directly or indirectly to the entrepreneur you wish to support. Based on the credit history of our partner or entrepreneur the guarantee percentage needed may typically vary from 15 % to 60% of the loan amount. Thus $1 in guarantee is capable of facilitating $1.66 in loan (60% guarantee) or even up to $ 6.66 in loan (15% guarantee).
Since the guarantee is for only a part of the loan amount, your impact for a given amount of money is multiplied. To know the exact impact multiplier you will be able to see the loan requested and the guarantee requested by going to the entrepreneur page.
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What does United Prosperity do with the funds provided by guarantors when they guarantee a loan to an entrepreneur?
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As a part of the guarantee contract, United Prosperity would typically deposit the funds given by the guarantors with the US branch of the bank lending to the Partner e.g. If the bank lending to the Partner in India is ABC Bank then we would deposit the funds with ABC Bank’s branch in the US.
In case the bank does not have a branch in the US, then we would deposit funds with its correspondent bank in the US. In some other cases we would deposit the funds in a foreign currency account with the bank lending to the Partner. The approach we take will be based on local country regulations and models acceptable to the lending bank.
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How does United Prosperity fund its operations?
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United Prosperity typically earns interest on guarantee funds contributed by social guarantors. We are also looking to charge a small amount in the form of a service charge from our partners for providing the guarantee.
However, the interest income and service charges are not sufficient to sustain our operations, so we request our guarantors to voluntarily make an optional donation to the organization, in addition to the guarantees they make.
We are also looking to raising growth capital from individuals, corporate sponsors and foundations.
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How can I be sure of the integrity of the entrepreneur?
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United Prosperity does not send loan funds directly to the entrepreneurs. Each loan is managed by our Partners and they administer the usage of the loan funds.
Before an entrepreneur appears on our website they have first been vetted by our Partner for loan application approval. This ensures that your loan funds are actually going to genuine entrepreneurs who will use the loan for the purpose they specified.
For more information, please visit our Risk Factors and Risk Management center: www.UnitedProsperity.org/us/risk_factors"
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How often are new entrepreneurs posted on the website?
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Initially we anticipate that new businesses will be posted on our website every one to two weeks. As we expand our partnerships, new businesses will be posted more often.
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Is the money I use to guarantee tax-deductible?
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The money you use to guarantee through the United Prosperity website is not considered a donation because it is possible that you will receive your money back. Hence it is not tax-deductible.
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Will I get my money back?
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Offering guarantees through United Prosperity involves risk and United Prosperity does not guarantee its guarantors that their loans will be repaid.
By supporting multiple entrepreneurs, rather than simply one entrepreneur, you may be able to decrease the risk of losing your money.
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Do I need to report my guarantees to the IRS on my tax return?
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We do not believe that you need to report your guarantees to IRS since they do not earn you any interest.
However, we are not in a position to provide tax advice. Therefore, please consult with your tax counsel regarding the deductibility rules that apply to you.
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If my guarantee defaults, can I then claim it as a tax-deductible donation?
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Our preliminary findings indicate that since you the guarantor are not likely to be deemed to be in the business of making such loans(guarantees), the lost money could be deducted as a non-business bad debt under I.R.C. §166. Non-business bad debts are deducted as a capital loss, and thus they can be used to offset capital gain in an unlimited amount and ordinary income up to a $3000 maximum each year pursuant to I.R.C. §1211. That loss may be carried over to subsequent years to offset capital gains but is still subject to the $3000 limitation on deductions from ordinary income
However our preliminary findings should not be considered as tax advice. Therefore, please consult with your tax counsel regarding the deductibility rules that apply to you.
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General Questions
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What kind of organization is United Prosperity?
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United Prosperity is a US 501(c)3 non-profit public benefit corporation registered in the state of California.
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What is United Prosperity's company name and EIN?
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The company name is UnitedProsperity.org and the EIN is 26-2417418.
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Does United Prosperity accept donations?
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Yes, you can make a donation to United Prosperity, to cover its operational expenses through the following link: http://www.unitedproseprity.org/us/donate.
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What is the problem United Prosperity is trying to solve and how is it solving it?
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- Poor entrepreneurs in the developing world need loans to start or grow their businesses.
- Banks in the developing world have enough money to lend.
- When poor entrepreneurs approach banks for a loan, the banks ask for collateral.
- Poor entrepreneurs have little or no collateral and hence cannot get a loan.
- Social guarantors can help the entrepreneur get a loan by putting cash collateral on behalf of the entrepreneur.
- The poor entrepreneur can now take a loan, grow his/her business, repay the bank, build credit history and in the process improve his/her family’s life.
Microfinance institutions also face similar challenges as poor entrepreneurs. Banks have adequate capital but will not lend the needed amount to MFIs without a guarantee. Social guarantor’s guarantee enables MFIs to borrow from banks and lend to more poor entrepreneurs.
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Why isn't United Prosperity listed on Charity Navigator?
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Charity Navigator requires that an organization operate for 3-years before it can evaluate its financial health. UnitedProsperity.org does not meet this requirement yet, so we are unable to work with Charity Navigator at this time.
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Ending poverty can be defined in many ways. What is the focus of United Prosperity?
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Our focus is working on eliminating ‘extreme poverty’ or ’absolute poverty’ in the world. Thus we will work with entrepreneurs who will meet the criteria of absolute poverty.
Currently the entrepreneurs we support are those living on close to $2 a day, but in the course of time we may adopt a textbook definition of absolute poverty. One such definition is here:
David Gordon's paper, "Indicators of Poverty & Hunger", for the United Nations, further defines absolute poverty as the absence of any two of the following eight basic needs:
- Food: Body Mass Index must be above 16.
- Safe drinking water: Water must not come from solely rivers and ponds, and must be available nearby (less than 15 minutes' walk each way).
- Sanitation facilities: Toilets or latrines must be accessible in or near the home.
- Health: Treatment must be received for serious illnesses and pregnancy.
- Shelter: Homes must have fewer than four people living in each room. Floors must not be made of dirt, mud, or clay.
- Education: Everyone must attend school or otherwise learn to read.
- Information: Everyone must have access to newspapers, radios, televisions, computers, or telephones at home.
- Access to services: This item is undefined by Gordon, but normally is used to indicate the complete panoply of education, health, legal, social, and financial (credit) services.
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_poverty
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Does United Prosperity plan to guarantee loans to entrepreneurs or work with Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in the developed world?
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Our criteria for MFIs or entrepreneurs we work with is based on the poverty level of the entrepreneur and not on geography or development status of an economy.
- E.g. There may be entrepreneurs in a developing country who are not in absolute poverty and are being served by an MFI. We will not work with them.
- On the other hand there could be entrepreneurs in a developed country who are in absolute poverty. Since the MFI in the developed country is working with people in absolute poverty they are eligible to partner with us.
For the foreseeable future we think we will be working in the developing world because the need there is so huge.
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Does United Prosperity sell securities to its guarantors?
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No, United Prosperity does not sell securities to its guarantors. United Prosperity does not assure guarantors that they will get their capital back. United Prosperity guarantors should also have no expectation of any kind of financial return.
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Is United Prosperity a religious organization?
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No, United Prosperity is not a religious organization, although we are open to partnering with religious organizations.
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Can I view United Prosperity 's most recent 990?
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You can view the most recent 990 at http://www.unitedprosperity.org/us/form_990.
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Can I view United Prosperity's year-end financial statements?
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You can view the year-end financial statements at http://www.unitedprosperity.org/us/form_990
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Can I buy a product made by the entrepreneurs I support?
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No, we cannot facilitate such purchases at this time.
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Can I contact the entrepreneurs directly?
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While we would love to be able to facilitate a direct communication between guarantors and entrepreneurs at this time, it would just not be possible for us to do so. Many entrepreneurs do not have access to the internet, they speak another language than you do, and our Partners do not have enough time to facilitate this kind of communication. You can post comments on the profiles of entrepreneurs and our partners will be periodically responding to these comments.
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Can I visit a United Prosperity Partner/entrepreneur?
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While we would love to enable you to visit the entrepreneurs you have supported, we cannot facilitate visits at this time. If even a fraction of our guarantors visited the entrepreneurs they support, our Partners would be swamped and unable to proceed with their primary function of working with entrepreneurs.
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Our Partners
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About our Partners
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Who are United Prosperity’s partners?
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Our ‘Partners’ are directly engaged in helping the poor.
Our Partners consist of :
- Microfinance institutions(MFIs): Microfinance institutions make microloans to poor entrepreneurs. However smaller MFIs are often unable to raise enough funds to meet demand. In some cases banks will not lend to an MFI without a guarantee. We provide a cash-secured guarantee to the bank based on the guarantees given by guarantors on our website. Based on our guarantee, the bank lends to the MFI and the MFI disburses the loan to the entrepreneurs and manages the administration and collection of individual loans.
- Technology and Innovation partners: Our Technology and Innovation partners have products or solutions which improve the lives of poor entrepreneurs. However most poor entrepreneurs cannot afford these products and need to take a loan from a bank to buy the product. However most banks will not lend to them without a guarantee. We provide a cash-secured guarantee to the bank based on the guarantees given by guarantors on our website. Based on our guarantee, the bank will make loans to the poor entrepreneurs who can now buy or implement the solution of our Technology and Innovation partner. Often our Technology and Innovation partners also monitor the loans.
We also partner with banks that are committed to financial inclusion. These banks lend to MFIs or entrepreneurs based on our guarantee.
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How does United Prosperity support the mission of its Partners?
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Our Partners that are microfinance institutions are engaged in helping poor entrepreneurs improve their livelihoods by providing microloans and other financial services. However our Partner’s are themselves constrained in accessing capital. Banks typically will not lend to microfinance institutions without a guarantee.
According to Nobel laureate, Mohammad Yunus, the biggest problem faced in trying to expand the reach of microcredit is not the lack of capacity. Instead, it is the lack of availability of money to help microcredit programs get through their initial years until they reach break-even level. Local banks cannot lend to MFIs because MFIs cannot provide collateral. However, if an international or domestic organization steps forward to act as a guarantor, local banks are happy to provide the money (Mohammad Yunus with Karl Weber, 2007, The Microcredit Revolution in ‘Creating A World Without Poverty: Social business and the future of capitalism’, New York, PublicAffairs, page 70).
Our guarantee backed by the strength of the guarantees of social guarantors helps the microfinance institutions raise capital from banks and reach out to more poor entrepreneurs.
Our Partners who provide innovative technology solutions seek to address the problem of poverty by making innovative technological solutions available to the poor. In this case as well, most often the biggest constraint to growth is lack of access to capital for poor entrepreneurs to buy or implement innovative technological solutions. Banks will not lend to poor entrepreneurs without collateral and the poor entrepreneurs often have no assets or money to set aside as collateral. In some cases our technology and innovation partners themselves give guarantees on behalf of poor entrepreneurs but usage of their funds for giving guarantees limits their growth and limits them from reaching out to more poor entrepreneurs.
Our guarantee backed by the strength of the guarantees of social guarantors helps poor entrepreneurs get loans from banks so that they can implement innovative technology solutions and improve their lives.
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How does United Prosperity gain by working through partners rather than doing everything itself?
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Strong partnerships with United Prosperity’s Partners are critical to solving complex and deep-rooted problems such as poverty. By partnering with Partners located on the ground, we leverage on the critical knowledge of the local population and years of experience and expertise in their chosen area of work. It also helps us focus on a singular problem of access to capital for poor entrepreneurs which we hope to solve with the support of social guarantors like you.
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How does United Prosperity choose its Partners?
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United Prosperity partners with Partners who are established MFIs with a social mission of lending to the poor and with organizations with a proven track record of providing livelihood opportunities. We also work with Technology and Innovation partners have products or solutions which improve the lives of poor entrepreneurs
Our Due Diligence before we sign on a partner includes the following stages:
- Partner self appraisal: Our self appraisal consists of objective Yes/No type questions and also more subjective questions which help us evaluate the Partner’s readiness to effectively handle funds.
- Validation by the MFI network: If the Partner is an MFI, once the MFI completes Stage I, it will send the completed form to the MFI network with which it is affiliated. The MFI network will validate and put its comments against the responses given by the MFI. If the MFI network finds that the application is not satisfactory it could reject the application or send it back to the MFI for rework. In some cases the MFI will need to institute or agree to institute new processes and procedures within a defined period of time if it wishes to receive financial assistance. If the MFI network is satisfied, they would forward the MFI’s application with their comments to us. In situations where the MFI is not affiliated with any MFI network, the activities under stage II would be performed by United Prosperity.
- Once we receive the application, we would evaluate the application and fill in a separate ‘Funder Assessment Report’. Based on the Funder Assessment Report, we would choose to support the Partner.
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In which countries are United Prosperity’s partners located?
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A list of United Prosperity’s current Partners can be found on our Partner pages: http://unitedprosperity.org/us/our_partners/. We are currently fine tuning our model by piloting with partners in India and we will soon be launching in other countries.
We are open to receiving partnership inquiries from all countries.
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General Partner Questions
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Can I recommend a United Prosperity Partner?
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A list of United Prosperity’s current Partners can be found on our Partner pages: http://unitedprosperity.org/us/our_partners/. We are currently fine tuning our model by piloting with partners in India and we will soon be launching in other countries.
We are open to receiving partnership inquiries from all countries.
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How can my organization become a United Prosperity Partner?
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| Please visit the section ‘How to become a partner’: http://www.unitedprosperity.org/us/how_to_partner |