About TIGRA

Our Mission:

Our goal is to accredit and promote socially-responsible money transfer companies, while redirecting corporate philanthropy to sustainable development projects.

Using emerging technology, financial literacy skill and community input, we are driving sea change in the way money is sent and received, how migrant communities at home and abroad develop, and how remitters and transfer companies interact.

At every step of the way, TIGRA seeks to empower migrants communities and the companies that support them.

TIGRA is an Oakland, CA-based social enterprise founded by Philippine immigrant Francis Calpotura. After decades of community organizing and leadership development, Francis launched TIGRA to leverage those relationships to help remittance companies become more socially-, politically- and economically-responsible.

The size of the remittance industry is enormous: the World Bank recently estimated that remittances to developing countries totaled $325 billion in 2010; the US sent $23b to Mexico and $11b to the Philippines alone. These flows represent a lifeline for more than 700 million people, who rely on such support for food, medicine, clothes, schooling and so on. If the cost of sending remittances home were reduced by 5%, recipients in developing countries would receive an extra $16 billion dollars a year!

TIGRA maintains a closely-knit network of 1400+ immigrant associations that range from 40 Guatemalan housecleaners in Oakland to 11,000 taxi drivers in New York. While some are neighborhood-,vocation- or origin-focused, all of these groups are committed to helping TIGRA organize communities around issues of economic empowerment, social justice and transnational grassroots development. At every step of the way, behind every decision and action, we seek to empower migrants, their communities and the companies that support them.