Mark Lutz: A Lifelong Mission to End Extreme Poverty

When Mark Lutz speaks about eradicating extreme poverty, his passion emanates from a lifetime of service and firsthand experiences around the world. Lutz, Senior Vice President of Global Philanthropy at Opportunity International, has spent more than four decades raising funds for missions and microfinance—transforming countless lives in the process.

A Childhood Shaped by Apartheid

Born to missionary parents in South Africa, Lutz lived under the apartheid regime until he left for college. Growing up in a country where the majority lived in dire poverty, he became keenly aware of injustice from a young age. “I grew up in South Africa under apartheid,” he recalls. “My parents were missionaries there when I was a year old and stayed until I came to college. Though a lot of attention was given to what happens after death, there was very little attention to the fact that the vast majority of the population of that country were living in desperate poverty.”

That realization led Lutz to pursue a career in fundraising, rather than following a more traditional path into missionary work or business. He says, “It was during grad school that God, I think, opened my ability to see an alternative, and that was to somehow leverage other people’s money for mission work.”

Empowering Entrepreneurs

Since 1986, Lutz’s work at Opportunity International has focused on providing microloans to people living on only a few dollars a day. “We make loans to very poor people so they can start businesses,” he explains. For many, this support has made the difference between mere survival and a future of economic self-reliance.

Lutz emphasizes the importance of accountability and dignity, describing the difference between a one-time gift and a structured loan program:

“There’s a difference between a handout and a hand up. … We do give handouts in emergencies. But for most people, that is not a solution. … What we want to do is empower people to care for their own needs, a hand up.”

Lessons from the “UnPoverty”

In 2010, Lutz published UnPoverty: Rich Lessons from the Working Poor, a collection of stories that illustrate how small loans can catalyze change in people’s lives. The book was born from years of travel, sitting on dirt floors and listening to the triumphs of microloan recipients.

One of his favorite stories is that of Teresa, a serial entrepreneur from Zimbabwe who was forced to leave school in the third grade. She took out a $100 microloan to start a small vegetable stand and expanded her business to include a hair salon, a game room, a firewood stand, and even a funeral service. As Lutz writes in his book,

“Now in her 80s, Teresa’s workday begins at four in the morning with the bookkeeping for her four businesses. … She closed the beauty salon when her husband … became bedridden. Recently, she added another business. She is a distributor for Coca-Cola … The last I heard, Teresa was applying for a loan to buy an old truck, one that would double as a delivery vehicle for the wholesale soda business, as well as function as a hearse.”

For Lutz, Teresa represents perseverance: “That is determination. That’s perseverance. That’s the lesson I’m learning from Teresa.”

Faith, Gratitude, and Avoiding Burnout

Spending decades among the world’s poorest can be emotionally draining, yet Lutz credits his faith for replenishing his resolve. “I see in them, they are the proxy for Jesus who I seek to serve,” he says. “So it is an act of worship in response.”

Prayer and gratitude, Lutz notes, have also kept him grounded. Recalling a visit to the Philippines, he says, “I walked out of that hovel … and I said, ‘How is this woman grateful and I’m not? … God, please help me to share in her level of gratitude.’” Over time, he came to see that humility and gratitude are intertwined:

“I saw that night that the antidote to pride was gratitude … it has helped me to get over what we all share in common, which is pride.”

Technology and the Future of Microfinance

Looking ahead, Lutz is enthusiastic about artificial intelligence (AI) in supporting small-scale entrepreneurs. He describes how Opportunity International now uses AI-powered chatbots to assist farmers in remote areas:

“They can, in their own dialect, speak to it because they’re illiterate … [and] within a nanosecond, they’re told what the illness is, what pesticide to use, where to get it … This time, this kind of transformation, we’re going to get it in the hands of the poorest people and it’s going to transform them radically.”

Similar innovations are assisting educators who lack formal training by providing AI-generated lesson plans tailored to their students’ needs.

The Impact of Abrupt Funding Changes

Not all news in the international development realm has been positive. Lutz laments the sudden dismantling of USAID programs, which has affected Opportunity International’s budget and the communities they serve:

“We have a $5 million gap this year that has been left by [the termination of USAID grants]. … We are seeking to raise from the private sector donations from new people for this particular emergency situation … we’ve only done this once before in 50 years and that was during COVID.”

Despite the setback, Lutz insists the organization’s mission will press on: “We are determined to not slow down the momentum that we have been building.”

How to Get Involved

For those inspired by Opportunity International’s vision, Lutz suggests two ways to help. “You can go on our website, opportunity.org, and obviously make a donation,” he says. Every dollar donated is leveraged in partnership with commercial banks to become ten dollars worth of loans to the poor.

He also encourages anyone able to do so to travel and see the communities firsthand. “We run insight trips regularly … to allow their reality to be understood,” he says. “It’s those kinds of trips that have transformed not only me … but everyone who travels.”

Conclusion

Mark Lutz has devoted his life to a cause that many consider insurmountable: ending extreme poverty. Through a combination of microfinance, faith, community engagement, and cutting-edge technology, he’s bringing hope and practical solutions to people who need it most. And as his stories remind us, with perseverance and the right support, one loan—or one individual’s determination—can spark profound and lasting change.