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A Rio church embraces the stock market
EAGER TO HARNESS THE POWER OF THE MARKET PLACE, Providence Bank, the organization that manages the Roman Catholic Church's charitable programs in Brazil, is selling "shares" via the Rio stock exchange. The bank hopes to raise US$600,000 to help street children, recovering alcoholics, AIDS victims and prisoners recently released from jail.
It was serendipity that brought the plan about. Maria Cristina Sa, one of the bank's directors, fretted to a friend about the church's need to more effectively compete with other charities. That friend, Paulo Renato Marques, the head of investor relations at Light, the Rio power company, raised the idea of the stock exchange. He suggested that the bank function like any other listed company and seek corporate donors in the same way that Light raised $1 billion in 2000.
"The bank is planning to spend almost 3 million reais ($1.6 million) this year, but only about 1.7 million reais was covered:'...