Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Kiva

I have been meaning to post about Kiva for a long time. I happened to be perusing some blogs today and I saw another adoptive family who works with Kiva so it me reminded to blog about it.

Yvan and I have been lending money to Kiva for about 2 years now. We love it!! As entrepreneurs ourselves, we know how difficult it is to run your own business. How much work it entails, the commitment level needed and the fact that, well, you are really never able to go home and leave work behind. And this is under the best possible conditions. To do this in an under-developed country must be extremely difficult.

To be able to help entrepreneurs in other countries who might not have the ability to finance their businesses otherwise really tugged at our heartstrings. We have not been disappointed in our choice to work with Kiva.

Kiva (http://www.kiva.org/), is a non-profit organization that allows you to lend as little as $25 to a specific low-income entrepreneur in the developing world.

Here is how Kiva explains it -

"You choose who to lend to - whether a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq - and as they repay their loan, you get your money back. It’s a powerful and sustainable way to empower someone right now to lift themselves out of poverty."

When the people pay their loans back you get your money back. You can either cash out or re-loan - it is up to you. Now they have a new system in place where the money paid back is sent to the lenders immediately and you can re-loan that much faster.

The best part for us was that 100% of the money loaned goes directly to the entrepreneur in need!!!!! 100% that is amazing!

Kiva also allows you to send gift certificates to family and friends and they can choose the people they want to loan too.

The world seems so big at times, but these organizations make it possible to extend a helping hand across the world like it was across the street.

Tuesday Inspiration -

"He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much. "

- Lao-Tzu - Father of Taoism

3 comments:

The Warren Family said...

I have been meaning to post about this as well. What a great idea! We have started to give out Kiva gift certificates to people as gifts for birthdays, etc.

Ramona said...

I've been hearing lots about Kiva and thanks for the link- I'm off to see what I can do!

As well, you guys have me laughing with Yvan's marathon. Way to go Yvan! That was a great time and no adrenalin boosts from having other runners- I admire your determination!

Ramona

Danielle said...

Thanks for this Kiva idea!!! I know there will be people on our list that we have no idea what to buy or make for and this will be perfect! I had no idea they sold gift cards!