Recognizing that women comprise more than half of the world population yet receive slightly more than 2% of the capital, PNC has committed $1.257 million over the next three years to Coralus (formerly known as SheEO) to address unequal access to credit, one of the drivers of the 257-year economic gender gap identified by the World Economic Forum in its 2020 Global Gender Gap Report.
Coralus is a global nonprofit organization that provides zero-interest loans to select women- and nonbinary-led ventures who are working on the World's To-Do List – the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Ventures are selected, funded and supported by Activators who identify as women or nonbinary. More than 50 PNC employees received “Activations" as part of the partnership with Coralus. Their financial contributions go into a perpetual loan fund for ventures that will have five years to repay their loans back to the fund.
“Our ecosystem-based model dramatically improves outcomes for women and non-binary entrepreneurs, with our Activators showing up as customers, advisors, and network connections who fund revenue-generating businesses that are working on the World's To-Do List," said founder Vicki Saunders (MA 1989).