Kiva – Loans to the Working Poor

Hi Everyone

Today I discovered Kiva, a marvellous method of helping people in other countries who are helping themselves. You can lend amounts as low as $25, making it possible for most people in western countries to help.

It is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe

Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses

The people you see on Kiva’s site are real individuals in need of funding – not marketing material. When you browse entrepreneurs’ profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community.

Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need.

Kiva partners with existing expert microfinance institutions. In doing so, they gain access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished communities world-wide.

Kiva’s partners upload their entrepreneur profiles directly to the site so you can lend to them. When you do, not only do you get a unique experience connecting to a specific entrepreneur on the other side of the planet, but the microfinance partners can do more of what they do, more efficiently.

Kiva provides a data-rich, transparent lending platform. They are constantly working to make the system more transparent to show how money flows throughout the entire cycle, and what effect it has on the people and institutions lending it, borrowing it, and managing it along the way.

To learn more, go to the following site:

http://www.kiva.org/about/how

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