On Eagle’s Wing Foundation (OEWF) is a state of Washington corporation established by Lawrence Norton, Ruth Vega Norton and Thomas Grime, and registered with the State of Washington. It has a representative office in Manila, Philippines that overseas the projects sponsored by the Foundation.
It sources funds to support is ministry activities from the following:
(1) contributions of Board members: Larry Norton, Ruth Norton, and Tom Grime; (2) contributions of friends, relatives, church mates, and other interested individuals. and (3) contributions of other charitable organizations
OEWF funds are applied to support two basic ministry thrusts: the Entrepreneurial Discipleship Ministry and the OEWF Development Fund.
ENTREPRENEURIAL DISCIPLESHIP MINISTRY
One of the projects supported by OEWF in the Philippines is the Entrepreneurial Discipleship Ministry (EDM). The EDM is a five-stage program aimed at transforming the youth into operators and managers of social enterprises. A “social enterprise” is a business undertaking with a social mission. In the Philippines where poverty is pervasive, many social enterprises are established by not-for-profit organizations for the purpose of poverty alleviation.
Stage 1: Building Shared Vision (BSV): The first stage of EDM brings together a group of young people in Building Shared Vision (BSV) workshop. This normally is a three-day workshop where participating youth go through a dialogue and cooperation process to reflect on their personal visions and the doable individual and collective actions they could undertake to realize those visions. Integrated in the three-day workshop is a session on the Fundamentals of Financial Stewarship (FFS) which equips the youth to establish and manage their own Bayanihan Financial Centers (BFcs). Participants who have completed the BSV workshop automatically become part of the OEWF pool of trainers whose performance is regularly monitored and evaluated by OEWFMinistry in the Philippines. They are referred to as “OEWF trainer-facilitator” in the succeeding stages of EDM.
Stage 2: Establishment and Operation of Bayanihan Financial Centers (BFCs): After the BSV workshop, the OEWF trainer-facilitator applies the lessons he/she learned from the BSV workshop initiated by OEWF for the purpose of forming a Bayanihan Financial Center (BFC). In most cases, the participating youth is already a member of an established group or institution, such as a local church, a student body, a neighborhood association, or a youth club. The OEWF trainer-facilitator’s task is to encourage the members of the local organization to create their own Bayanihan Savings Program.
Stage 3: Integration of the BFC into the national Bayanihan Multi-Purpose Cooperative. The next step to be undertaken by the OEWF trainer-facilitator is to integrate the local BFC into the national Bayanihan Multi-Purpose Cooperative. This is to ensure that: (1) the BFC officers and members receive appropriate training from the apex organization; and (2) the BFC can avail of loanable funds from the apex organization in case its funds are not sufficient to meet local demand for microfinance loans, or it can deposit its temporary excess funds in the apex organization to help other BFCs that might be in need of loanable funds.
Stage 4: Integration of BFC members into the Bayanihan Consumer Group. Members of the Bayanihan Multi- Purpose Cooperative also comprise the consumer base of their own “champion” products. Currently, there are a few “champion” products being promoted by the Bayanihan Multi-Purpose Cooperative. These include the Chrimi coffee, Fair Housing Project, and Pat’s Burger & Supervitamins Congee. The role of the OEWF trainer- facilitator is to link BFC members to the producers of “champion” products for the purpose of marketing their products in respective communities.
Stage 5: Consolidation of Bayanihan Supply Chain: The economic operating system which the OEWF trainer- facilitator gears to establish is a Bayanihan Supply Chain which, at one end, facilitates the flow of savings from BFCs into investments in social enterprises which increase the productivity of their financial resources. At the other end, the Bayanihan Supply Chain facilitates the flow of products from social enterprises to the members of the Bayanihan Multi-Purpose Cooperative and their respective communities. In the process, the OEWF trainer-facilitator helps strengthen the S-P-I-C-Y stakeholders of the Bayanihan Compassionate Economy. This acronym stands for S (service providers), P (producers), I (investors), C (consumers), and Y (youth).
The OEWF support for youth trainees in Stage 1 covers board and lodging, transport expenses to and from the training venue, cost of training materials and supplies, and training fees to cover the love gifts to resource persons and session facilitators and other incidental costs. For Stages 2 to 5, OEWf support to trainer- facilitators covers largely their transport expenses and meals during training/ coaching sessions.
THE OEWF DEVELOPMENT FUND
The need to provide microfinance loans to enterprises established and operated by members of Bayanihan Financial Centers prompted OEWF to create a Development Fund. At present, the OEWF Development Fund targets two major projects:
(1) Microfinance for small and micro-enterprises. The OEWF Development Fund is used primarily for the purpose of providing technical and financial support for enterprise development. Itscurrent exposure is primarily in the Philippines. Through the Development Fund, the Foundation supports a microfinance program that provides financial services to small and micro-enterprises. To date, the partner organizations of the OEWF in the Philippines which serve as conduits of microfinance include the Pinoy Pamilya Foundation (Calamba, Laguna), Community Transformation Inc. (Pasay city, MetroManila), Aceland and Prime Assets Inc (Sampaloc, MetroManila), the Coalition of Socially Responsible Small and Medium Enterprises in Asia (Makati, MetroManila), and the National Youth for Servant Leadership (Bagong Silang, Caloocan city). These partner institutions organize people in local communities into Bayanihan Financial Centers (BFCs) which are pre-cooperative associations with 15 to 30 members who save regularly on a weekly or monthly basis. In recent months, the OEWF partner institutions decided to establish a national Bayanihan multi-purpose cooperative that will pool the savings of BFCs for onlending to successful social enterprises.
(2) Fair Housing Project. The Fair Housing Project is an urban renewal program that links Microfinance with low-cost housing for the poor. To the poor, the Fair Housing Project is a dream condominium unit, furnished, clean, and most of all affordable. To the investor, the Fair Housing Project is an alternative investment that returns in 18 months with 25-30% yield, while at the same time helping the poor. To the Pag-ibig Fund, government housing finance agency, the Fair Housing Project is an ideal private-public partnership which minimizes the role of the government housing finance agency to the single task of buying what the private sector builds. To the Pag-ibig Fund accredited Contractor, the Fair Housing Project is an ideal private-public partnership which assures the private contractor a guaranteed wholesale market for low-cost condominium units through the take-over purchase by the Pag-ibig Fund.
Who are the buyers of Fair Housing units? The buyers are members of the Pag-ibig Fund who make monthly contributions to the Fund. These include government employees, private sector employees, and self-employed enterprise owner-operators. A family living in slums or squatter areas will most likely have household members who are Pag-ibig Fund members. Almost half of the 12 million population of MetroManila, Philippines live in slums or squatter areas.
How do the buyers qualify for housing loan? Who provides the housing loan? The government housing finance agency, Pag-ibig Fund, provides the housing loan. Only Pag-ibig members are qualified to apply for a housing loan. Furthermore, the Pag-ibig member must be in good standing. This means: 1) no unpaid monthly contributions; and 2) no unpaid short-term loan (A member can avail of short-term loans from Pag-ibig. This must be fully liquidated before availing of long-term housing loan). Pag-ibig member must submit an application form for long-term housing loan. Pag-ibig housing loan applicants must attend an orientation seminar organized and conducted by Pag-ibig Fund. The seminar orients the loan applicants on their responsibilities in repaying the long-term loan and maintenance of their housing unit.
Who is the Contractor? What guarantees does the Contractor put up to secure the investments?
Bumbaran Development Corporation (BDC) Inc. is the contractor of Fair Housing Projects. It is a for-profit company registered with the Philippine Securities Exchange Commission. It is accredited by Pag-ibig Fund as a contractor for low-cost housing, and it has an established track record for completed projects already mortgaged to Pag-ibig Fund. Its standby credit line with Pag-ibig Fund amounts to date at Pesos 90 million (US$1,956,521).
How can an independent investor benefit from the project? The investment of an independent investor will earn a fixed return in 18 months. Both principal and interest earnings will be returned to the investor within 18 months.
How can an independent investor invest in the project? The investor has two options: 1) Make a tax-exempt donation to On Eagle’s Wings Foundation (OEWF), and specify this donation to be used for financing the OEWF Fair Housing Project in the Philippines. Both the principal and earnings on this donation will remain with OEWF. In case 1, OEWF is responsible for paying any income taxes applicable on the earnings. and 2) Make an investment contribution directly to Bumbaran Development Corporation to support a specific Fair Housing Project in the Philippines. In case 2, the investor/ owner of funds is responsible for paying any income taxes applicable on the earnings. At the same time, the investor is enjoined to make a donation to OEWF in support of its ministry to the poor in the Philippines.
What is the role of OEWF in the project? OEWF offers a two-fold program in support of the Fair Housing Project. One is investment oversight especially for the benefit of independent investors. OEWF pools all fund contributions and makes available these funds for the financing of the Fair Housing Project. The other role of OEWF is education and training of poor households in slums/squatter areas through the Entrepreneurial Discipleship Ministry.
