For more than 115 years, we have provided interest-free loans to people struggling to help themselves. We foster economic independence while preserving dignity.  

This is a profoundly Jewish and centuries-old response to financial need, most famously articulated by Maimonides: "A loan is better than charity because it helps one help oneself."

For some of our earliest borrowers, a loan from the Hebrew Free Loan Society helped establish a pushcart venture that was a family’s way out of poverty.  For others, our loans helped avert eviction or bought essential medical care.  Although the world has changed, our mission has stayed the same.

Currently, our loans help:

• Families who are barely getting by financially and are faced with sudden crisis
• Today’s immigrants (many of whom were professionals in the Former Soviet Union) train in a new profession and re-enter the middle class
• Today’s economically vulnerable entrepreneurs start or expand a business as a route to economic security
• Parents of disabled children access expensive special-education services
• Prospective parents afford the high cost of creating a Jewish family through adoption
• Support Jewish education by enabling day school teachers to purchase their first home

Since our founding in 1892, we have provided more than $200 million in loans to nearly 860,000 borrowers while maintaining a less than 1 percent loss rate because our loans are secured by two creditworthy guarantors. As loans are repaid, our capital is lent out again and again, helping an unlimited number of people in perpetuity.