evidence in recent years that as MFIs have faced unprecedented rates of growth – the microfinance industry saw a compound annual growth rate of 43 percent between 2004 and 2008 – the pressure to become more commercially oriented as well as the need for skill sets from the private sector are increasing, and the percentage of women in leadership positions in the microfinance industry is declining. This trend is apparent even in women-founded MFIs with long-standing commitments to serving low-income women: research shows that within Women's World Banking member institutions between 2003 and 2007, the percentage of women in board positions declined from 66 percent to 58 percent and in senior management from 66 percent to 51 percent. The concern in the industry is that such changes compromise the effectiveness of leadership and ongoing focus on the mission of helping poor women. In 2009, Women's World Banking founded the Center for Microfinance Leadership to engage diverse leaders with the skills and values to both understand microfinance's dual objectives of financial stability and poverty alleviation, and set the vision, principles and practices of the sector. Founded in partnership with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and executive development firm Creative Métier Limited, the Center offers individual leadership programs, coaching, and practitioner exchanges, as well as institutional programs designed to improve gender diversity and develop managerial talent. Women's World Banking and recent trends in microfinance Commercialization The recent influx of commercial and institutional funds into microfinance has reduced the industry's reliance on subsidized donor funding and moved more into the commercial mainstream. This evolution has raised concerns about a drift away from many of the original tenets of microfinance – a focus on lending to the poorest segments of society in general and poor women in particular. In 2008, Women's World Banking conducted research to assess the degree to which pressure to generate profits dilutes the aim of poverty alleviation. The study, Stemming the Tide of Mission Drift: Microfinance Transitions and the Double Bottom Line, found that after transformation, the proportion of women served by formalized institutions dropped dramatically, from 88 percent to 60 percent. It also found that average loan sizes were two to three times greater than those of non-commercialized organizations. These results may serve as evidence that a lower percentage of loans are going to women, because they tend to borrow smaller sums. A Financial Times article