Hard-working people struggling to care for their families. Children lacking food, education, heath care and a brighter future. Gracious men and women using meager resources to provide meals for guests. This is what Brian Lehnen experienced the first time he visited a developing country. It was heartwarming and heartbreaking. He was stunned to see so many industrious men and women in such dire straits. His empathy for the poor led to the founding of Village Enterprise Fund (VEF) in 1987.

Brian studied several models of international development. Most of them provided temporary relief with relatively little long-term benefit. Many failed to reach rural areas. Brian envisioned a program that would have a profound impact on extreme poverty - not just for a day, or even for a year, but for a lifetime.

Over the past 20 years, VEF developed and refined a successful program that combines training, seed capital grants and ongoing mentorship to help committed, hard-working people launch small businesses. A dedicated collective of in-country staff and volunteers lend their expert skills, experience and passion to this vital work.

Our zeal for rendering poverty obsolete is contagious. In the past 4 years, we’ve seen donations grow from $300,000 to $1,000,000. Most of our support comes from caring individuals who want to make a difference. Foundations, churches and corporations have also caught the fever. The combined pool of funds supported 70,925 people in fiscal 2008. Just think: The total cost of transforming one person’s life through VEF is only $14!