By: Charlotte Cox, BA International Relations 2024

When you first hear the name Spartan Global Development Fund, your mind may jump to a million different places. Is this an organization that works internationally? What development does this organization help fund? And what does a spartan have to do with all this? In short, Spartan Global is a student-run initiative for Michigan State University (Go Spartans!), and is not only a registered student organization, but also a 501 © (3) nonprofit organization. In Spartan Global, students and alumni work to educate, inspire, and enable tomorrow’s agents of global change by raising funds locally in order to offer interest-free microloans to aspiring entrepreneurs throughout developing regions of world. This provides the opportunity for loan recipients to invest in their business. Our focus in Spartan Global is microfinancing loans, which is essentially offering financial services to those living below the poverty line and would otherwise not have access to such resources. It includes micro savings accounts, microinsurance, and microloans, which are small loans ranging from $25 to $5,000. Spartan Global offers interest-free microloans to aspiring entrepreneurs in impoverished regions. There are two ways we loan out money at Spartan Global, the first being direct loans with field partners. This loaning involves a partnership with humanitarian organizations who work on-the-ground in target communities. We work with these organizations who help us find microloan projects that we can then fund. So far, Spartan Global has worked directly with partners in Guatemala and Nicaragua. The second way Spartan Global lends out loans is through KIVA, a loan portfolio that connects us to hundreds of funding agencies, where we can distribute microloans to both corporations and individuals. Spartan Global is an organization where you can directly see the impact of your work because we hold meetings with our direct loan recipients and see how the loan has contributed to their success. Although the name Spartan Global Development Fund may be an intimidating title, the work is anything but that. We work to make sure our loan recipients feel comfortable to reach out and let us know how the loan is helping them and the progress they are making, which help us form lasting and meaningful connections with all loan recipients.