Referring to the AP news article of August 23, 2016, “Many donors to Clinton Foundation met with Hillary Clinton at State Department,” a press release from Grameen Foundation said the statement that Muhammad Yunus runs the foundation and that it received USAID money based on unethical means rather than through standard competitive processes and based on merit was incorrect.

Yunus did not run the foundation and USAID did not give the money to the non-profit, the release said.

“Prof Yunus was a founding member of the Grameen Foundation board. He served as a board member until 2009, and has been an Emeritus member since that time,” it said.

“But Prof Yunus does not run Grameen Foundation. Grameen Foundation is an independent US-based nonprofit organisation with its own leadership and staff.”

The release said the AP news story also incorrectly implied that the foundation’s partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and subsequent grant funding were the result of a meeting between Yunus and Hillary Clinton in April 2009.

“The partnership between USAID and Grameen Foundation in 2009 was based on their mutual commitment to microfinance as a path out of poverty for the world’s poor,” it said.

Grameen Foundation said its partnership with USAID, inked in October 2009, involved extending $162.5 million as loan guarantees in support of microfinance institutions in poor countries.

“These funds were not provided to Grameen Foundation. They were used to provide credit guarantees to enable microfinance institutions in poor countries to serve low-income clients,” the release said.

It also argued the AP news story’s claim that the money received by Grameen Foundation from USAID between 2012 and 2016 was unethically procured or sourced.

“In fact, Grameen Foundation competed for USAID-funded grants, participating in its rigorous and strictly regulated competitive bid process. During that time, we were awarded four grants totaling $3.1 million to design and implement projects aimed at improving child and maternal health, and improving the financial security of the poor.  In addition, we were sub-grantees on six additional grants totaling $2.2 million. We were selected as sub-grantees not by USAID, but by the prime grantee based on the merit of our work and expertise of our staff.”

The foundation said it was proud of its long-standing relationship with Prof Yunus.

“As the founder of microcredit, Prof Yunus has helped to change the lives of tens of millions of poor people the world over.  He founded and ran the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, and ultimately founded a whole family of associated organizations and social enterprises in that country.  Based on this work, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.  His work has demonstrated how it is possible to create self-sustaining institutions that operate within the market system and serve the needs of the poor.  These are models all people, enterprises and governments can learn from as they strive to address the deep-seated problems of poverty, inequity and hunger.”

The foundation has asked AP to correct the “inaccuracies and insinuations” in their article.