Giving Compass' Take:

• The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth discusses how investment in Grameen America's technology tools (including a cloud-based system for operations) helped the microfinancing organization expand its services to low-income women in the U.S.

• That's the general goal of tech in the nonprofit sector: Make processes easier so we can help more people. How can Grameen's example provide lessons for other orgs looking to increase capacity?

• Here are five ways your nonprofit can successfully adapt to new technology.

Grameen America is a leading microfinance organization serving low-income women in 13 U.S. cities. Its roots stretch all the way to Bangladesh, the home of the Grameen Bank, and its founder, Muhammad Yunus, who pioneered microfinance and was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for this work. Microfinance is one of the critical tools that has increased income and improved opportunity for millions across the globe. The organization is on a path to scale and financial sustainability.

The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth in partnership with co-funders Apple and Citi have invested in Grameen’s technology and human capital solutions, including a cloud-based management information system designed to significantly modernize and bolster the organization’s operational capacity. These upgrades have allowed Grameen America to standardize and streamline their back-office processes, enabling the organization to achieve greater efficiency, more easily scale its services across the country and roll out new services and features.

From a recent Grameen report: "With this new technology, our field staff now has more time to serve more members and to deliver financial education and training to our members during their weekly meetings, rather than using that time just to collect loans. We are exploring new ways we can offer financial and business training and additional support to our members during these valuable meetings."

Read the full article about how Grameen America was able to scale through technology by Sarah Glaswand at mastercardcenter.org.