Charity Spotlight Series: Kiva

Lately we’ve been telling you about some unique charities and all-around cool people doing some pretty nifty stuff for mankind. . . and animalkind too. This week we want to introduce you to a nonprofit group with over 450 volunteers in 60 countries who span the world in order to provide lending opportunities to people without access to traditional banking services. Grab a beverage, sit back and let me tell you about our latest find, the micro-finance organization, Kiva!

Lawrence Mushabe is a 42-year old businessman from Kyenjojo, Uganda. He’s a married father of eight who owns a small successful roadside store where he sells local staples like maize flour, sugar, salt and soft drinks. Lawrence would like to expand his product line and purchase more inventory, but he’s unable to obtain a bank loan. In the past, this budding entrepreneur would’ve had little options to grow his business. Now, thanks to Kiva, Lawrence can request a small loan and people from Mississippi to Mogadishu can help fund it for as little as $25.00. That’s global giving!

Maybe you’re saying, but Dani, that sounds complicated. Not for Kiva. They’ve got a well-developed plan. Let’s break this new-fangled lending system down, shall we? Kiva works with Field Partners who meet with potential borrowers. After a vetting process, if the borrower is approved, the Field Partner distributes the small loan. Information about the borrower is shared with Kiva through a group of editors and translators. The borrower’s story is published on the Kiva site. Lenders then read through borrower stories and choose which loans they’d like to fund. They can fund a large portion of one borrower’s loan or small portions of several loans. The minimum loan amount is $25.00. The borrower makes repayments to the Field Partner who then sends it to Kiva. Kiva deposits the loan repayment in the lender’s account who can then use it to fund another loan or withdraw it.

Of course, that was just the quick version. If you visit the site you’ll find detailed information about how Field Representatives are chosen, what criteria they use to approve borrowers and if you’re like our resident fiscal-fanatic, J$, you can really dig deep and learn about the history of microfinance. Be sure to check out the borrower stories. They provide an interesting glimpse in to the trade and commerce of other countries, particularly impoverished regions.

Pop quiz! Name a top-selling retail commodity in Tanzania?If you said, charcoal, you’re RIGHT, and should probably be on Jeopardy. See there, now you have a little factoid to share with the kids at dinner tonight. You’re welcome.

Wanna see the impact of Kiva? Check out this great video that maps the flow of money over the last 5 years.

Intercontinental Ballistic Microfinance from Kiva on Vimeo.

We think Kiva is worth talking about because they believe in global empowerment. Their mission: “Connect people through lending to alleviate poverty.” Yep! Sounds like a good plan to me.

Make your heart happy. Do good!

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EDITOR’S NOTE: I, J$, have been participating in Kiva for about 2 years now – they are hands down one of my favorite organizations! The beauty of the whole thing is that after you “invest” your money in these hard workers, you slowly get it back and can then RE-LEND it again over and over continuing to help people with that same original amount (for the most part – there are little fees here and there). I highly recommend checking it out if you haven’t heard about them before – they’re good people. And then join my Budgets Are Sexy team if you end up signing up! We have a small group of people giving together :)

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