Al Whittaker founded the non-profit organization

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

 Opportunity International

Opportunity International

Opportunity International is an organization that provides small business loans, savings, insurance and training to more than two million people working their way out of poverty in the developing world...

 and helped to popularize microcredit

Microcredit

Microcredit is the extension of very small loans to those in poverty designed to spur entrepreneurship. These individuals lack collateral, steady employment and a verifiable credit history and therefore cannot meet even the most minimal qualifications to gain access to traditional credit...

 lending.

In 1971, Whittaker left his job as president of Bristol Myers to found the Institute for International Development Incorporated (IIDI), a micro-enterprise organization. Barry Harper was IIDI's first Executive Director and oversaw establishment of offices in Colombia, Peru, Honduras, Kenya, the Dominican Republic and Indonesia. Australian philanthropist David Bussau Maranatha Trust came on staff with IIDI in 1979 and began expanding its work in Asia. In 1988, IIDI changed its name to Opportunity International. Since that time, it has continued to grow.