What is Kiva?

Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person microlending website, connecting lenders around the world with small-business entrepreneurs in developing countries.  The way it works is that people like you go to Kiva’s website (www.kiva.org) and browse the listing of entrepreneurs in developing countries who are seeking microfinance loans.  You then donate as little as $25 to the borrower you select, 100% of which goes to the entrepreneur.  People like me, Kiva Fellows, go to the developing countries to strengthen the connection between the you and the borrower by meeting with the entrepreneurs, writing journals so that you can follow their progress, and ensuring that Kiva is being used as efficiently as possible.  Microfinance is an idea that was first put into practice by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus who founded Grameen Bank and has since shown the power of microfinance as a tool to alleviate poverty.  My work in the field will be an extension of that which he created as I work to ascertain and enhance the power of microfinance loans.

Who Receives Kiva Loans?

The entrepreneurs seeking loans are individuals encumbered by poverty without a means of breaking the cycle. Microfinance loans (loans of just a couple hundred dollars) allow these individuals–mostly women–to get the capital necessary to buy raw materials such that they may produce and sell a good and make a profit. Without the initial loan, the person would not have the means to create a good or sell a service. By enabling individuals to use the skills they already possess to sell baskets, embroider fabrics, or herd goats, microfinance gives those living in poverty a way to earn money to feed their families and put roofs over their heads.

The microcredit loans made via the Kiva website go directly to individuals combating poverty in the 37 poorest countries in the world. Kiva’s mission is to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty.

As of June 22nd, 2008, the value of all loans made through the Kiva website totaled $34,156,885. By 2010, Kiva will have made loans totaling $100 million.

To learn more about Kiva or to see how their website works, click here

Kiva’s Credentials

Kiva is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, incorporated in 2005.

Kiva is supported, in part, by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Kiva also has partnerships with the Clinton Global Initiative, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, and many more corporations and institutions around the world.

Recent Press for Kiva:

• CNBC (video link here)
• The Wall Street Journal (full article here)
• The Boston Globe (full article here)
• Fortune Magazine (full article here)

*Information on this page was derived from the Kiva website, www.kiva.org