Visa and NetHope Partner to Help Modernize Delivery of Humanitarian Aid

FOSTER CITY, Calif. & WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Visa Inc. (NYSE: V), the leading global payments technology company, and NetHope, a consortium of 37 humanitarian organizations, today announced the Visa Innovation Grants program to help modernize humanitarian aid payments. Through this program, Visa is making available $500,000 in grants to humanitarian and development nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to increase the speed, security and long-term impact of aid through the innovation and adoption of electronic payments.

“NetHope empowers humanitarian organizations to better serve the developing world through smarter use of technology”

Every year, humanitarian, development and government organizations distribute billions of dollars of cash payments to people in need through benefit stipends, emergency relief payments and other development initiatives. Driven by the need to ensure faster delivery, greater transparency and increased security, these organizations are beginning to shift from distributing physical cash to electronic payments.

However, research by the Cash Learning Partnership has revealed significant obstacles facing organizations trying to make the transition to electronic payments, including technological, operational and attitudinal barriers. While some of these barriers are being overcome through greater knowledge-sharing and an increase in public-private partnerships, the report calls for greater investment in overcoming internal barriers and additional funding for adoption of new technologies.

“We have a tremendous opportunity to use innovation to improve the speed, security and long-term impact of humanitarian and development aid,” said Douglas Sabo, Head of Corporate Responsibility at Visa Inc. “Through the Visa Innovation Grants program, we will support organizations’ efforts to electronify their payments to help improve the lives of those they serve, and we will use the opportunity to bring a more formalized financial service – electronic payments – to the financially underserved.”

An Expert Advisory Committee of distinguished leaders with public and private sector experience will assist in the review of applications. The committee includes:

Nabeeha Mujeeb Kazi, Managing Director, Humanitas Global Development
Nick Maunder, Humanitarian and Development Consultant
Eric Nee, Managing Editor, Stanford Social Innovation Review
Sarah Rotman, Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP

“NetHope empowers humanitarian organizations to better serve the developing world through smarter use of technology,” said Dr. William Brindley, NetHope Executive Director and CEO. “The Visa Innovation Grants provide a unique opportunity for NGOs to think creatively and push the technological envelope to explore new approaches to electronify payments and transfers. We are proud to work with a leader like Visa on this effort.”

The deadline for proposals is January 9, 2013. Recipients of the Visa Innovation Grants will be announced by Visa and NetHope in early 2013. To learn more, visit: http://nethope.org/page/visa-innovation-program.

About NetHope

NetHope, Inc., which started in 2001, is a new-generation collaboration of the international community’s leading nongovernmental organizations representing over $40 billion (USD) of emergency relief, human development and conservation programs in more than 180 countries. Through member collaboration and by facilitating public-private partnerships with major technology companies, NetHope enables members to leverage their technology investments to better serve their end beneficiaries. For more information, visit www.nethope.org.

About Visa Inc.

Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world’s most advanced processing networks – VisaNet – that is capable of handling more than 24,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa’s innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.