Nongovernmental organizations, though, reach more borrowers in total. The third column shows that nongovernmental organizations can claim about one-half of the 18 million customers in this data set, with banks claiming one-quarter. Donors at large aid agencies have pushed hard to encourage the commercialization of microfinance, but the evidence here suggests that nonprofit microfinance agencies still matter in a big way. That impression is reinforced in the data of Gonzalez and Rosenberg (2006), which shows that nongovernmental organizations served one-quarter of the 94 million borrowers seen in 2004, with self-help groups serving another 29 percent. (Self-help.
