The Daily Tell

The actress Yeardley Smith seems to have the conscience of Lisa Simpson, the famously activist character she voices for the popular TV show The Simpsons. Smith has made a combined donation of $1.14 million to support two microfinancing institutions in the name of philanthropy.

The largest grant of $900,000 will go to the Grameen Foundation and the remainder of the award will support Fonkoze, a Haitian microfinance institution. Both nonprofit groups support entrepreneurs in poor countries with small loans.

Smith said she traveled to Haiti with Grameen Foundation president Alex Counts to see how women in remote villages were impacted throurgh the micro-loans and complementary health and literacy services.

"I’m greatly inspired by people who demonstrate initiative and perseverance. I saw with my own eyes how eager these women are to be self-sustaining and that the smallest bit of success can rebuild a person from the inside out," Smith said.

The Grameen bank was founded in 1997 by Muhammad Yunus, who went on to win the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. Smith said she was moved to become active in microfinancing after seeing the Grameen founder on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Fonkoze, an alternative bank for Haiti’s poor, said Smith’s donation was the largest it has received. Fonkoze’s mission is to help rural poor people, mostly women, to pull themselves out of poverty.

With more than 1 billion people on the plant living on less than a dollar a day, even a small loan could help someone start a business or make a purchase of equipment to manufacture goods.

The success of microfinancing has grown as it has spread to countries in Asia, Africa and the Carribean. The Grameen Foundation has helped more than 9 million people in multiple countries.