Meet Maggie-UCOH's International Outreach Director

Maggie Miller is UCOH’s new volunteer “International Outreach” Director. Maggie has been attending UCOH since March 2008 and is passionate about international development work that creates opportunities for people to contribute fully to their life transformation.

Maggie has 10+ years of work experience in the nonprofit field, specializing in program management and evaluation. She is Founder and Executive Director of DiscoverHope Fund, an international development nonprofit promoting abundance for women and their families living in economic poverty through microcredit and sustainable support training and education.

DiscoverHope Fund began in 2004 as a volunteer grassroots pilot project called “HopeBank” in Cajamarca, Northern Peru, where Maggie resided for two years. HopeBank grew out of the voices of women in poverty sharing with Maggie that they wanted a “hand up,” not a hand out—they wanted income, jobs, and credit to grow businesses to help create sustainable lives for their families. The HopeBank project lasted approximately 1½ years and implemented successful microcredit concepts from other well-respected microcredit institutions such as Grameen Foundation USA. After nearly two years of living in Cajamarca, Maggie was chosen as a research fellow for FINCA and FriendshipBridge to conduct grassroots research on poverty and the power of microcredit with indigenous communities in Panajachel, Guatemala. The HopeBank project became DiscoverHope Fund in the USA in Feb 2007, upon receiving the IRS 501c3 public charity exemption.

Previously, Maggie worked for six years as a Program Director in San Diego, focusing on program design and evaluation for youth development programs for peace after completing her MA in Communication. Maggie has her certificate in Nonprofit Leadership & Management through Texas Associations of Nonprofit Organizations.