Inside Kiva

This Week on Kiva

Mar 18, 2008
Hi there,
We?re getting ready to roll out another release later this week, and we just wanted to send out a heads up before our new features hit the shelves.

One thing we?ve been pushing pretty hard lately is invitations. We need people to invite their friends/families/anyone they think would be interested in lending on Kiva so that we can get more entrepreneurs funded. So, we?ve done a couple things in this release:

1. Changed the ?Thanks for Lending? page to emphasize inviting your friends as a next step. We?ve also included a contact importer here to make it easier to send out to people in your address book.


2. Included your successful, public invitees on your public lender page. For an example, take a look at www.kiva.org/lender/jessica
   

FYI ? You can play around with our existing invitation functionality if you go to ?Invites? while visiting ?My Portfolio.?

The other bit that?s exciting is that we?ve gotten around to providing functionality to protect entrepreneurs? last names and locations at the request of the field partner. This means that if a field partner thinks that it is unsafe to list an entrepreneur?s entire name or village on the Internet, Kiva can hide that information.

The final thing I'll call out is that our engineers got creative and decided to add a neat new widget on the home page which will show the latest public transaction on Kiva. The RSS feed for this is coming soon?

Kiva and Halloran Philanthropies to host a Microfinance Reception in Philadelphia

Mar 15, 2008
2007 has marked the year of many new and beautiful relationships for Kiva. One relationship in particular that is very near and dear to my heart out here in Philadelphia has been with the folks at Halloran Philanthropies. The newly formed foundation has not only supported Kiva's organizational growth, but has gone full-force in supporting a number of institutions in the microfinance space, globally.

0n Friday, April 18^th, Kiva.org and Halloran Philanthropies will be hosting a Microfinance Reception (following the Penn Microfinance Conference) in Philadelphia, PA. The reception will be at the Hilton Inn at Penn at the University of Pennsylvania. In attendance will be:

• Matthew Flannery, (CEO / Co-Founder, Kiva)
• Premal Shah (President, Kiva)
• Harry Halloran (Founder, Halloran Philanthropies and a supporter of the Microfinance Industry)
• Tony Carr (Executive Director, Halloran Philanthropies)
• Rupa Modi (East Coast Development Manager, Kiva)

For more information, and to register for this complimentary wine and cheese event, please visit:

www.microfinancereception.com

We recommend that you register as soon as possible, as capacity is expected.

To learn more about the conference, please visit www.pennmicrofinanceconference.com

Please contact Rupa Modi, East Coast Development Manager, at rupa@kiva.org if you have any questions!

CA First Lady Maria Shriver visits Kiva!

Mar 12, 2008
Guess who dropped by the office yesterday?

None other than CA First Lady Maria Shriver, who came by to visit and say "Hi" to the Kiva team!

Maria was in town to launch WE Invest, a Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative, in Oakland.

We were really honored to meet The First Lady, and that she gave some time out of her day to meet the Kiva team. Come again anytime!

Check out the pic!

Kiva event in Vancouver, BC (3/15)

Mar 11, 2008
March 15
* 1:30 PM, Empire Landmark Hotel, "Bridging The Gap" conference
* 7:30 PM, Shenanigans, Meet-Up with lenders and volunteers

This Saturday, I'm going to be talking about Kiva at the "Bridging The Gap" conference in Vancouver sponsored by the local chapter of Engineers Without Borders. This is my first public speaking appearance on behalf of Kiva, and to be honest, I'm a little nervous about it. Not so much about running out of things to say (as my friends can attest, I can go on and on and on about Kiva...), but rather, keeping the whole room full of people engaged and interested. That's where I'm looking for your help. One of the goals of the conference is to demonstrate how individual action can affect global poverty. Who better to talk about individual action than Kiva lenders themselves? I already know of some folks in the crowd that I can call on; we'll see how many other voices we can bring to the conversation. :)

Even if you're not able to make it by during the day, I'd still love to get a chance to meet up in the evening with as many members of the Kiva community as possible. Lenders, editors, translators, KivaFriends -- all are welcome. I'm still working on the exact time & place, but expect somewhere downtown, casual, and last as much of the evening as I can manage.

Looking forward to meeting everybody,
sam

[Update: Based on recommendations, we're going to meet up at a place down the street from the hotel called Shenanigans. We'll get there around 7:30 or so and stay for at least an hour or two, if not longer.]

About Group Loans...

Mar 7, 2008
Towards the end of last year, Kiva decided to allow partners to post loans for groups of borrowers in addition to individual borrowers. The main reason we decided to move forward with this is that it represents a truer picture of what?s happening on the ground since many borrowers actually borrow in groups. It also allows our microfinance field partners to more efficiently seek funding for larger numbers of entrepreneurs ? before, they would be supporting groups of borrowers but would have to enter them one by one into the Kiva system.

That said, we didn?t do a great job of explaining group loans on our site. So, we?re trying to fix that. We?ve added a little blurb to explain group loans to every group loan profile. We?ve also added a couple new FAQs explaining why some partners choose to post group loans and how they actually work (posted here). In addition, we?re constantly working with our partners to improve the descriptions of these loans so that lenders get a sense of the stories behind them while still keeping this an efficient means of posting.

If you?re interested in learning more about the roots of group loans and why they work, I?d also suggest reading Banker to the Poor by Muhammed Yunus. It?s a quick read and offers a great explanation about these types of loans.

Shop for Kiva! Nau Warehouse Sale this week in NYC

Mar 3, 2008

NAU WAREHOUSE SALE in NYC this week: 3/6-9

Nau is a new apparel company that integrates beauty, performance and sustainability while challenging conventional notions of what outdoor clothing can be. Even better, Nau is holding a 40-75% off shopping event 3/6-3/9 at 201 Mulberry St. in NYC to benefit Kiva (5% of every purchase will to Kiva!). Check out the products at www.nau.com

Where and when:
201 Mulberry St. NY NY
Thursday 3/6 from 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Friday 3/7 from noon - 8 p.m.
Saturday 3/8 from noon - 6 p.m.

Kiva / GOOD Magazine Event in NYC

Mar 2, 2008









Kiva / GOOD event 3/4 in NYC
Come support Kiva in NYC on Tuesday, March 4 from 7-10pm
@ Felissimo Townhouse
10 West 56 Street
New York, NY 10019

RSVP and more info at www.goodmagazine.com/events/kiva

With support from Design 21 and Etsy
- Cocktails by 10 Cane Rum
- Florals by Gardenia Organics
- Sparkling Juice by Izze
- Snacks by Clif Bar, FEED & sweetriot

If you are not already a subscriber to GOOD magazine, subscribe here now to help support Kiva. 100% of your subscription $ goes to benefit Kiva.

You can also subscribe or purchase gift subscriptions at our event. Your $20 subscription gets you:
(1) One-year of GOOD
(2) Entry to future parties nationwide
(3) And all $20 goes to benefit KIVA!

This event is open to the General Public, but you must RSVP at www.goodmagazine.com/events/kiva

Thanks to Microsoft Office Online

Feb 5, 2008
Microsoft Office Online has generously featured Kiva in its Finance Guide and throughout the Office Online site. We are grateful for this relationship - Microsoft has supported Kiva from the beginning. Check out more about this partnership on our Kiva Supporters page.

Thanks to 111 Minna Gallery and arthead sf - Silent Art Auction Fundraiser for Kiva - TONIGHT 2/5!

Feb 5, 2008

Many thanks to arthead sf and 111 Minna Gallery for holding a Silent Art Auction Fundraiser tonight to benefit Kiva!

The arthead SF contributing artists will auction off artwork to raise money for kiva.org.Participating artists include: Beth Bojarski, John Casey, Micke Tong, Tiffany Schmierer, Noah Biel, Rene Gagnon, Alexis Mackenzie, Tony Guaraldi Brown, Sarah Spitler, Shawn Hardy, Christine Kelser, Godfrey Lim, Lucien Shapiro, Stacy Martin, Ellen Black, Rachelle Cohen and Debbie Horn.

www.artheadsf.blogspot.com was created to bring readers the meaning behind the art. Features are not critiques or interviews with artists. Each feature is written entirely by the artist, revealing only what they feel and want you to know about the featured piece.

Valentine?s Day is right around the corner?a one of a kind piece of art would make a great gift! Your purchase will help change lives!

Vote for Kiva for MySpace Impact Awards

Jan 18, 2008
We're thrilled to announce that MySpace has named Kiva a Finalist for this month?s MySpace Impact Awards, in the category of Poverty Relief.

In the upcoming weeks, MySpace users will select a winner from among the three nominees.

Vote for Kiva today!

Kenyan Kiva borrower identified in Reuters news story

Jan 10, 2008
Reuters recently picked up a story published by IRIN, titled "UGANDA: More Kenyan displaced arriving at refugee centres."
A man by the name of Danson Ng'ang'a was interviewed in the story. A past Kiva Fellow noticed the interview in the article, and suspected the man interviewed was a Kiva borrower he met in Kenya. Kiva has contacted the journalist, who confirmed that the identity of the man is indeed Kiva borrower Danson Ng'ang'a, a dairy farmer operating out of Malaba - Teso District, Kenya.

We are glad to have been able to pass on information to Kiva Field Partner PEMCI of Danson's last location, and that he and his family are not hurt.

Our thoughts are with all Kiva borrowers, Field Partner staff, and their families at this time.

Don't you think Kiva is going to make the world a better place?

Jan 7, 2008
Kiva has been nominated for "Most likely to make the world a better place" in the 2007 Crunchies, a collaboration project between GigaOm, Read/WriteWeb, VentureBeat and TechCrunch which recognizes the most compelling startups, internet and technology innovations of the year.

Vote for Kiva here! (We're in great company.)

Kenya's humanitarian crisis

Jan 4, 2008

The situation unfolding in Kenya has received a lot of press attention lately, and for good reason (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7172103.stm).

We have reached out to our local microfinance (MFI) partners in Kenya (see http://www.kiva.org/about/partners/). The situation on the ground appears to vary widely from community to community. However, one consistent report is that business is not operating as usual; most MFI operations have been interrupted or stopped altogether in the last week, whether due to imminent danger in their region or the general disruption in daily life caused by turbulence elsewhere. Thankfully, as far as we know, none of our partner MFI staff have been hurt. Unfortunately, due to the magnitude of the situation, we anticipate that many entrepreneurs will have been displaced, hurt, or otherwise adversely affected.

Please be patient as this situation unfolds. We expect possible disruptions in our Kenya MFI partners? operations as the staff on the ground recover.

If you?d like more information about what you can do to help, take a look at the International Red Cross and World Food Program sites - http://www.icrc.org/ and http://www.wfp.org/english/ respectively. Please note that Kiva does not have official partnerships with either of the above orgs.

Zopa Italy

Dec 31, 2007
As many readers will know, Zopa Uk is a thriving p2p lending marketplace that's pioneering social lending in the UK. Zopa Italy (a franchisee of Zopa Uk) opened on November 14th, 2007.

Today marks the midpoint of a generous campaign that Zopa Italy is doing to grow their community of lenders and borrowers, and to help Kiva.org entrepreneurs at the same time. Between December 15th and January 15th, they're lending $1 on Kiva.org for every new registration to zopa.it (their newsletter). They'll do this up to a max of $15,000, and will aim to invest in projects with loan terms of about 12 months.

Wow - thanks everyone at Zopa Italy! We hope that this initiative will help Kiva.org become better known in Italy, and will help you grow a happier base of Italian ?Zopiani!?

Kiva.org on The Today Show, tomorrow!

Dec 26, 2007
Kiva.org will really be appearing on The Today Show tomorrow, December 27, between 8am and 9am in each local timezone (exact airing time not known.)

The segment will include footage from John Larson's recent trip to Africa, so be sure to tell everyone you know to tune in because it's really going to bring Kiva Entrepreneurs to life right before your eyes!!

Happy Holidays!

Meet Kiva.org at Starbucks, Bay and Taylor, San Francisco

Monday, 11 December 2006
We'll be holding another Kiva.org awareness event at the Starbucks Store on Bay and Taylor, in Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco today between 5 - 7pm.

Come along and meet some of the Kiva.org staff, make a loan and drink some good coffee.

We'd love to see you there!

Check out our new Gift Certificates!

Friday, 8 December 2006
You asked for it - and now you have it! We've added printable gift certificates to our gift feature so you have a colorful certificate to give the lucky recipient of your Kiva Gift. Even if you purchased your gift certificate before we added this feature you will still be able to print a certificate for your gift - just log in to your Portfolio and all un-redeemed gift certificates will be available for printing.

Happy Holiday shopping!

Kiva.org announces partnership with HOPE International, Ukraine

Friday, 1 December 2006
Kiva.org is extremely pleased to announce a partnership with HOPE International, a global, faith-based, non-profit organization focused on poverty alleviation through microenterprise development.
HOPE's vision is to enable sustainable economic development that results in significant and lasting change, temporal and eternal, in the lives of many people living in poverty. HOPE works in twelve countries: Afghanistan, China, the Dominican Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, South Asia, Uganda, and Ukraine.

HOPE has been operating in Ukraine since 1997. Ukraine was HOPE's first country of operation and since inception, over 27,000 loans have been distributed in total. Known as Nadiya ('Hope' in Ukrainian), branch offices in Ukraine reach financial self-sufficiency in only 18 months and are located in 8 of the 25 oblasts (states) of Ukraine.

Kiva.org Announced As A Winner of Omidyar.net's Q4 Funding Project

Monday, 27 November 2006

Congratulations! Kiva.org has been announced as a winner of Omidyar.net's Q4 Funding Project.

Kiva.org is a winner of the Comprehensive Connectivity Initiative: "This initiative seeks to build new infrastructure, tools, curriculum and nuts and bolts resources for grassroots groups seeking to bring computers and internet access to their areas for the first time." We'd like to thank all of the members of the Omidyar Network who voted for Kiva.org - it's an honor to be recognised for our work by this group!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday, 23 November 2006
Kiva.org would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving - our lenders in the United States and our lenders and entrepreneurs around the globe.

Kiva.org has much to be thankful for this year and we thank YOU for making this a great year!

Kiva.org Philadelphia Awareness and Fundraiser Party

Wednesday, 22 November 2006
Kiva.org will be launching its Philadelphia awareness efforts with a Philadelphia Awareness and Fundraiser Party:

Where?   The Walnut Room, 1709 Walnut Street (@17th Street)
When?    Thursday, November 30th @ 6pm - midnight
Cover?   $10 (Drink specials throughout the night!)

Come along and support a great cause - and don't forget to bring your frineds!

If you are interested in volunteering at this event, please email rupa@kiva.org.

Kiva.org Raises One Million Dollars

Tuesday, 21 November 2006
Kiva.org today raised its ONE MILLIONTH DOLLAR for the developing world.

This marks a major milestone for the organization, and demonstrates that real change can be created by average individuals who want to make a difference.

Kiva.org would like to thank our 13,000 users who have contributed, $25 at a time, to lending ONE MILLION DOLLARS to entrepreneurs in the developing world. Kiva.org would also like to thank our Field Partners who have worked so hard to connect our lenders with their entrepreneurs, believing that the internet can be a valuable tool to help people rise above poverty. Finally, we would like to thank our many volunteers who work tirelessly, and without whom we could not achieve all that we do.

You are making our dreams come true!

Kiva.org Announces Partnership with Ebony Foundation, Kenya

Monday, 20 November 2006
Kiva.org today announced its third Kenyan Field Partner, Ebony Foundation. Ebony Foundation (Eb-F) is a micro finance institution providing financial services to peasant, small-scale farmers, small and micro Entrepreneurs in Kenya with a mission to improve rural livelihood by promoting income generation activities among the poor.

Eb-F provides its target communities with a range of products and services that include factoring/ payments for produce and services delivered to reputable processing firms, credit to acquire production inputs, equipment and working capital. Also, it provides credit to finance home ownership and improvement and to finance various family consumption needs like education, medical care and pre- and post- natal care. In addition Eb-F provides rural communities with technical and financial backup to set up and manage efficient Rural Banks.

Eb-F's strategy involves providing the poor, low and medium income earners with financial services in the form of credit to undertake and improve income generating activities then link them to viable markets for their produce and services. This ensures that the target communities have a regular income that then forms the basis for further production and consumption savings and credit services leading to improved income and improvement of the family livelihood. We hope Kiva Lenders enjoy connecting with Ebony Foundation's entrepreneurs and we look forward to a successful partnership with this organization.

Kiva.org Announces Partnership with Hluvuku, Mozambique

Friday, 17 November 2006
Kiva.org today announced its latest African Field Partner, Hluvuku (Hluvuku-Adsema Fundo de Credito Male yeru) in Mozambique.

Hluvuko's mission is to improve the socio-economic conditions of the population in the Matutuine district and contiguous areas, providing sustainable services to low income people, considering the viability of the initiatives.

The Matutuine district has a very low population density, of approx. 6.5 inhabitants per square kilometer, and was severely affected by the civil war. It also has a high incidence of the HIV/AIDS virus. Hluvuku was established in 2001 and is a non-profit non-government organization.

Kiva.org looks forward to a successful partnership relationship with Hluvuku and is pleased to be connecting Kiva Lenders with entrepreneurs in Mozambique.

Kiva.org Announces Partnership with K-MET, Kenya

Thursday, 16 November 2006
Kiva.org today announced a new partnership with K-MET (Kisumu Medical & Education Trust) in Kenya.

K-MET is a local non-Government Reproductive Health organization registered in 1995.
K-MET's aims and objectives are:

• To improve access to quality healthcare services, particularly in the underserved areas.
• To harness new and existing expertise, skills and resources to build institutions which will ensure availability of quality healthcare services for all.
• To develop innovative outreach programs for Primary Health Care (PHC) with emphasis on the special needs of the youth.
• To initiate and promote comprehensive developmental networks through collaboration with other change in the field.
• To conduct quality research and training on developmental models that can be replicated.
• To mainstream gender in all programmes as a vital component of RH development.

Kiva.org is proud to be in partnership with this organization pursuing such important issues, and we look forward to a long and successful partnership with K-MET.

Kiva.org Announces First Partnership in Afghanistan

Wednesday, 15 November 2006
Kiva.org is incredibly excited to announce its partnership with Ariana Financial Services Group in Afghanistan.

AFSG was launched in May 2003 by Mercy Corps with a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The banking system in Afghanistan has been slow to establish itself since 2001, and remains heavily concentrated in Kabul and larger cities. Even if Afghans have access to a bank, most of them are too poor to qualify for conventional bank loans.

Ariana predominantly supports female entrepreneurs. Historically, Ariana started working in district 7 of Kabul, which had been heavily damaged during the war and was home to many war refugees. Mercy Corps had been building a women's centre there in a Cash-For-Work scheme that employed solely women. After having constructed the centre, the women received vocational training in various handicrafts to allow them - many of them widows - to generate an income for their families. These women were Ariana's first clients and received loans to finance the setup of their businesses.

Today 82% of Ariana's clients continue to be women. Clients run micro-enterprises in all areas of Afghan life; i.e. weaving, carpentry, tailoring, hair dressing, food processing, florists, kite production, knitting, leather working or animal husbandry.

Kiva.org Director of Microfinance Partnerships Chelsa Bocci and AFSG Executive Director, Storei Sadat, signed Kiva.org's Hosting Agreement together at the Global Microcredit Summit today. Kiva.org has received numerous requests from lenders wanting to connect with an entrepreneur in Afghanistan, therefore we are incredibly excited to be announcing this new partnership.

Kiva.org Presents 2006 Institutional Action Plan, and Partners with ASOD, Bangladesh

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Premal Shah today presented Kiva.org's 2006 Institutional Action Plan to the Council of Advocates and Parliamentarians at the Global Microcredit Summit in Halifax. Kiva.org has been recognized as a powerful advocate of microcredit to the public via the Kiva.org website, and as such are honored to have been invited to share the 2006 IAP with an audience at the Summit.

Kiva.org today also finalized a partnership with ASOD (Assistance for Social Organization and Development) in Bangladesh: ASOD was established in 1985 as a non-profit organization based in Dhaka, whose mission is to "Enhance capacity building of the service providers and community people by providing need based support, technical assistance and oversights in order to effect positive change in the society through utilization and mobilization of local resources and community participation, directing towards a sustainable development where people can enjoy equitable development opportunities and services for leading a minimum standard of life." Kiva.org Director of Microfinance Partnerships Chelsa Bocci and Md. Taskinur Rahman, Chief Executive of ASOD, today signed Kiva.org's Hosting Agreement at the Global Microcredit Summit in Halifax. Kiva.org looks forward to giving Kiva Lenders the opportunity to connect with an entrepreneur in Bangladesh, and to many successful years of working with ASOD.

Premal Shah Presents Workshop, "Raising Debt Capital Over the Internet" at the Global Microcredit Summit

Monday, 13 November 2006
Kiva.org President Premal Shah today presented a workshop at the Global Microcredit Summit titled "Raising Debt Capital Over the Internet". This workshop detailed for delegates the way Kiva.org has leveraged the power of the internet to raise soft, affordable debt capital for microfinance institutions.

The Global Microcredit Summit has been an invaluable opportunity for Kiva.org staff to meet with delegates from microfinance institutions around the world and other prominent figures in the industry, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Prof. Muhammad Yunus. We are incredibly excited about the many contacts that have been made sharing ideas and exploring ways of working together to reach more of the world's poor with affordable credit. Ultimately, it has been most exciting to meet in person some of Kiva.org's current Field Partners, and representatives of microfinance institutions across the globe who may be future Kiva Field Partners.

Left to Right: Kiva.org Director of Microfinance Partnerships Chelsa Bocci, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Prof. Muhammad Yunus, and Kiva.org Community and Operations Manager Fiona Ramsey.

Kiva.org Attends the Global Microcredit Summit

Sunday, 12 November 2006
Kiva.org today attended the first day of the Global Microcredit Summit in Halifax, Nova Scotia. More than 2,300 delegates from over 100 countries are participating at the event, to assess progress toward the Summit's goal of reaching 100 million poorest, and to launch the second phase of the Campaign with two new goals.

The Microcredit Summit Campaign recently released the State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report for 2006, which reported that "As of December 31, 2005, 3,133 microcredit institutions have reported reaching 113,261,390 clients, 81,949,036 of whom were among the poorest when they took their first loan. Assuming five persons per family, the 81.9 million poorest clients reached by the end of 2005 affected some 410 million family members."

The 2006 Global Microcredit Summit today launched the second phase of the Campaign with two new goals: 1. Working to ensure that 175 million of the world's poorest families, especially the women of those families, are receiving credit for self-employment and other financial and business services by the end of 2015.

2. Working to ensure that 100 million of the world's poorest families move from below US$1 a day adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP) to above US $1 a day adjusted for PPP, by the end of 2015. Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Muhammad Yunus, speaking today in the opening ceremony of the Summit, emphasized the purpose of the international gathering: "this Summit is about creating a process which will send poverty where it belongs - the museums."

Kiva.org is proud to be attending this historic event as a new initiative to connect people across the globe via the internet, through micro-credit. Summit organizer Sam Daley-Harris noted at the opening ceremony that "Succeeding will require renewed effort and some new players", and Kiva.org hopes to play a part in both.

MATT.org Joins Forces with Kiva.org to promote Mexican Entrepreneurs

Friday, 10 November 2006
MATT.org (Mexicans & Americans Thinking Together-Foundation, Inc) has partnered with Kiva.org to work together in bringing our Mexican entrepreneurs to the attention of the Mexican American community.



MATT is a non-profit organization whose mission is to encourage bicultural Mexicans and Americans to understand, address and solve the major problems of our two nations to the benefit of both peoples. MATT stands for "the friendship and prosperity of our two countries... because we love and understand both cultures."

MATT has joined forces with Mexican Kiva Field Partner ADMIC to promote Mexican enterpreneurs requesting a loan on Kiva.org. MATT's extensive network of Mexican Americans will prove a key player in scaling ADMIC's portfolio with Kiva.org.

This three-way partnership between Kiva.org, ADMIC and MATT is a natural marriage of 3 organizations working in the United States, Mexico and both. By connecting individuals to Mexican entrepreneurs we are all achieving the same goal in unison. Kiva.org is grateful for MATT's support and looks forward to many years creating businesses in Mexico through small loans with the help of MATT.

Kiva.org Announces Partnership with Microinvest, Moldova

Wednesday, 8 November 2006
Kiva.org has expanded into a second Eastern European country with a new partnership with Microinvest, in Moldova.

Microinvest was founded by The Soros Foundation and launched in April 2003 with the purpose to create and develop micro and small enterprises by providing advisory and financial services. Microinvest's services target primarily those entrepreneurial initiatives which carry potential for development, but cannot meet the requirements for the commercial banks' credits.

Kiva.org is pleased to be in partnership with Microinvest and continuing our expansion into Eastern Europe. Please see Microinvest's website for extensive information on their organization's history and loan portfolio.

Kiva.org Announces Partnership with LAPO, Nigeria

Tuesday, 7 November 2006
Kiva.org is excited to announce its first partnership in Nigeria, with LAPO (Lift Above Poverty Organization).

LAPO started its activities in 1987 and was formally incorporated as a nonprofit nongovernmental organization (NGO) in 1993. The specific objective of LAPO is to promote selfemployment through access to microfinance. LAPO's clients are among the poorest people in the urban and rural areas where it operates.

Grameen Foundation has been supporting LAPO since early 2003 in loans and grants to support branch expansion, on-lending to clients and MIS automation projects. GF has also provided LAPO with technical assistance to support the development of strong financial reporting and internal control and management systems.

Kiva.org has always received requests to bring entrepreneurs from more African nations to the website and we are very proud to be adding Nigeria as the newest country we have expanded to. We look forward to a very successful partnership with LAPO.

A Note from the Kiva.org Team

Monday, 6 November 2006
Over the past seven day a new Kiva has grown wings, stretched and stood towering over us all. A week ago we were an organization fighting for the opportunity of enterprise for people in the developing world. Today we look behind us and see that we are surrounded by thousands wanting to join our fight.

Since the Frontline/World piece aired on 10/31 and the resulting traffic promptly crashed our server, we have seen a phenomenon of support rallying around us. Thousands of emails sent encouragement, thousands of people sent donations, and loan funds of over $180,000 were received. Kiva.org's Field Partners have been watching our site and are amazed at what they see taking place; one of our African Partners wrote us "All in Need businesses are now like hot cake in the site. I praise God for that... LONG LIVE KIVA". At this moment our Field Partners are working hard to post more businesses to the site for funding.

Kiva Lenders have now funded a total of 1,226 loans - over $680,000 - for micro-entrepreneurs in the developing world. You have so much to be proud of.

To our Early Adopters: Thank you for being with us from the beginning, seeing our vision and believing in us. Without you we would not be where we are today.

To our New Members: Welcome. We are so pleased that you have joined our community of people who want to help someone else, and people who want to help themselves. Together we can all make a difference in this world.

This week is a new beginning for the Kiva.org team. Not only do we know and feel the support of the thousands who have contacted us since the Frontline/World program, but we also know that Kiva.org is so much bigger than us. You have made Kiva.org a movement.

With heartfelt gratitude,

The Kiva.org Team

Kiva.org Launches Into Space

Wednesday, 3 November 2006
1:39AM     It is the early hours of the morning at the Kiva.org office but we are not sleeping. Kiva.org has spent the last two days recovering from one of the most amazing events in our history, which has left us stronger, more motivated and more inspired than ever...

Halloween was a day that none of the Kiva.org team will ever forget. While we had spent weeks preparing for our expected increase in traffic, we had no idea of the response we would actually get. As our Field Partners across the globe sent in their final business profiles and our engineers ran benchmarks, we readied ourselves for our greatest media exposure yet. Our Director of Technology, Jeremy Frazao (in Halloween costume) projected our site statistics on a whiteboard and we gathered around to watch the numbers soar.

We never saw the increase in traffic we had been waiting for. At precisely 6:30pm our server completely froze. Our engineers leapt into action and the phones rang as our technical assistance standing by called in. We all wondered how much traffic we were receiving but had no way of finding out. By 6:40pm we realized we were receiving more traffic than we would be able to recover from and we posted a notice on our homepage explaining that we were doing our best to resolve the situation.

It is what follows that has most moved us. As visitors came to our site and read our message, we began to receive hundreds and hundreds of emails. Staring at our computer screens we scanned through them: "Your work and your vision amazes me, and I look forward to being a part of it", "Please tell me how I can help - I have money to loan", "Thank you for giving us a way to help others - never give up!" Messages of enthusiastic support poured in by the hundreds and we were completely astounded at the solidarity expressed by so many strangers who felt connected to what we are doing. Donations began to pour into our PayPal account, messages asking us what we needed, what they could do to help. We realized that while we spend our days building online connections to help the poor around the world, we were suddenly connected to thousands and thousands of people who wanted to help us. That feeling is incredibly humbling and overwhelming.

The last two days have been spent mobilizing resources which have poured in to help us not only get back online - but come back better and stronger than ever. We have had servers and expertise donated as well as enough money to cover our server expenses for the next year. The phones have been ringing off the hook and the emails are still coming. People want to loan and they want to be connected to micro-entrepreneurs. Kiva.org just turned a corner.

The entire Kiva.org team would like to thank every person who sent a donation. We are and will always be a lean operation with low overhead costs and your donation will be used to help us grow and scale as we obviously need to. Thank you.

We would like to thank every single person who sent us an email, whether asking us to notify them when the server is up, giving us encouragement and support or offering to help. Knowing that we have a massive community of supporters behind us, wanting to loan to our entrepreneurs, is incredibly motivating and energizing. We are inspired to work even harder to expand our dream which you share.

We will be launching the site in approximately 30 minutes. We have 350 business profiles waiting for funding and 4,000 email addresses waiting to be notified of our re-launch. Thank you for your support.

The Kiva.org Team

Don't forget Kiva.org will be featured on Frontline World tomorrow night!

Monday, 30 October 2006

Call your friends, call your neighbours, email your whole address book! Frontline World will feature Kiva.org on the first program of their new broadcast season, airing tomorrow night. Tune in to Frontline World on your local PBS station tomorrow evening to see - on TV! - the Kiva.org team in San Francisco, some of our original entrepreneurs in Uganda, and watch the process of getting a new loan approved, posted, funded and delivered via Kiva.org's website. Frontline World have put a lot of work into capturing the Kiva.org story on camera (including shooting on location in Uganda - pictured at left) and we can't wait for the world to have an opportunity to get a closer look inside Kiva.org.

Click here to see program schedules for major cities, and instructions to find scheduling details for your area. And tell everyone you know!

(Note: The Frontline World homepage lists this program as "Burma: State of Fear". Please note this is the headlining story for this program which includes three stories within one hour. The Kiva.org story is titled "Uganda: A Little Goes A Long Way" and one other. Click here to read the program description and watch a preview of the show.)

Kiva.org Partners With Second Bulgarian MFI: Microfond EAD

Friday, 27 October 2006
Kiva.org has partnered with a second microfinance institution in Bulgaria: Microfond, based in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Microfond's mission is to support the entrepreneurs in Bulgaria, by providing alternative sources of financing for start-ups, small and medium business, which do not have access to bank system sources of capital. Microfond's clients are micro, small and middle-sized companies that meet difficulties in financing their business projects by the existing banks and other financial institutions.

Microfond EAD originates from the Microcredit Program of the Resource Center Foundation, supported by the Open Society Institute and the Soros Economic Development Fund. The Sole Owner of Mikrofond EAD is Mikrofond - Sofia Foundation. Microfond EAD operates in 215 municipalities, that are covered by 10 branches and 7 agent offices, in regions with high level of unemployment and low economic growth. We have received a lot of positive feedback from lenders around our Bulgarian businesses, and we are pleased to be offering more businesses from this region through this new partnership. Check out Microfond EAD's MixMarket profile here.

Kiva.org in-store event at Starbucks, Bay and Taylor, San Francisco

Wednesday, 25 October 2006

Kiva.org will be holding our second in-store event at Starbucks at Bay and Taylor, on Monday, November 6. If you're in the area come on down, meet some of the Kiva team and bring your friends! We'll have a loan station in the store and would love to meet some of the people who are funding our entrepreneurs.

Kiva.org Announces Partnership with Microfund in Togo

Monday, 23 October 2006
Kiva.org is excited to announce a partnership with Microfund, continuing our expansion across the African continent. MICROFUND is a microfinance institution created on March 21, 1998 with the aim of facilitating credit operations and savings mobilization. Its principal challenges are to combat poverty in Togo, to increase the revenues of marginalized populations in cities and the country, and to research financial partners to provide institutional support and loan funds.

The mission of MICROFUND is to provide financial and technical assistance to the economically active poor active in rural, peri-urban and urban environments, who are unable to access the formal financial sector (most notably banks), by offering them high-quality financial services through autonomous and local cooperative structures. We've received many requests to expand our reach to micro-entrepreneurs from more African nations, and we're very glad to be adding Togo to the list of countries you can loan to.

Kiva.org invited to present at the Global Microcredit Summit 2006

Wednesday, 18 October 2006
Kiva.org has been invited to present to the Council of Advocates and Parliamentarians at the Global Microcredit Summit, held in Halifax, Nova Scotia November 12-15, 2006. Kiva.org will also be presenting an Associated Session on November 13 at 5:30pm titled "Using the Internet to Raise Low-Cost Capital".

Kiva.org is proud to be a part of the 2006 Summit, presented by The Microcredit Summit Campaign. The Summit will convene 2,000 delegates from more than 100 countires to assess progress toward the Summit's goal of reaching 100 million poorest families, and to launch the second phase of the Campaign. The results of the first phase of the Campaign will be announced on Wednesday, November 1.

The Global Microcredit Summit is open to members of the public, and is a great event to learn more about microfinance and mix with practitioners. If you are interested in attending please visit the Global Micorcredit Summit website.

Kiva.org expands to Ghana with new partnership: Kraban Support Foundation

Monday, 16 October 2006
Kiva.org is excited to announce our partnership with Kraban Support Foundation in Ghana: Kraban Support Foundation is a local development-oriented NGO with the aim of eradicating rural poverty through community education. The organization deeply shares a philosophy of commitment to help fight poverty by facilitating improved quality of human life in the communities we operat in in Ghana. Our mission is to develop innovative strategies and programs that enhance the capacity and productivity of vulnerable groups in our target deprived communities. Kraban Support Foundation's ultimate aim is to operate to enhance the access of small-scale entrepreneurs to sustainable financial services. The organization accomplishes this through strong and viable Cooperative Savings and Credit Societies (CSCS). The NGO facilitates savings-deposits and offers small-scale loans in addition to business development services in a cost effective and sustainable manner. To provide lending, Kraban retails credit to clients in a linkage banking arrangement. However, the responsibility for loan appraisal and approval, entering into loan agreements, disbursement and loan recovery solely rest with our organization. Kraban sensitizes community-based groups through its Training, Education and Credit for Health (TEACH) methodology. We are very excited to give our lenders the opportunity to fund businesses in Ghana through Kraban Support Foundation, and we look forward to seeing the businesses on the website this coming week.

Congratulations to Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank!

Friday, 13 October 2006
Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank were today awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to create economic and social benefit from below": "Muhammad Yunus has shown himself to be a leader who has managed to translate visions into practical action for the benefit of millions of people, not only in Bangladesh, but also in many other countries.

Loans to poor people without any financial security had appeared to be an impossible idea. From modest beginnings three decades ago, Yunus has, first and foremost through Grameen Bank, developed micro-credit into an ever more important instrument in the struggle against poverty.

Every single individual on earth has both the potential and the right to live a decent life. Across cultures and civilizations, Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that even the poorest of the poor can work to bring about their own development.

Yunus's long-term vision is to eliminate poverty in the world. That vision cannot be realized by means of micro-credit alone. But Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that, in the continuing efforts to achieve it, micro-credit must play a major part.'' Source Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank have been a personal inspiration to all of the staff at Kiva.org, and some of us were even lucky enough to meet him at a conference, "Microfinance and Beyond", in April of this year.

Left to Right: Fiona Ramsey, Matt Flannery, Muhammad Yunus and Premal Shah

Kiva.org is thrilled that Muhammad's work has been recognized by one of the most prestigious awards in the world, and we thank all of our lenders for helping us contribute to Muhammad's dream of putting poverty in a museum. Click here to read a great interview with Muhammad.

Frontline World airing Kiva.org story on October 31.

Wednesday, 11 October 2006
Frontline World have confirmed that they will be airing their story on Kiva.org on October 31.

Frontline World have been filming a story on Kiva.org over the last month, shooting on two locations, San Francisco and Uganda in East Africa. The story includes the life-cycle of raising funds for a loan - following an entrepreneur in Uganda applying for a loan through a Field Partner right through to the day they receive the funds, as well as meeting some of the original borrowers who have fully repaid their loan through Kiva.org.

We're really excited that Frontline will be bringing the story of our entrepreneurs to television - giving us all a chance to see in color what happens on the ground. This is a great opportunity to share Kiva.org with your community - friends, social club, church group or class room (particularly for teachers using Kiva.org as a teaching tool in social studies classes).

Be sure to watch, tape or Tivo Frontline World's story on October 31, broadcast nationally through PBS on your local station. To find out scheduling details in your area click here and search for your local PBS station.

Matt and Jessica return from Uganda

Monday, 9 October 2006
Matt and Jessica have returned from their travels to Africa with Frontline World - complete with bead necklace and t-shirt gifts for the office! We'll be sure the coffee pot is full over the next few days to help Matt with his jetlag... but in the meantime here are some of the beautiful pics they brought back with them -

Matt and Jessica visited with Janet Alupot, Executive Director of Women's Initiative to Eradicate Poverty in Uganda. They were able to observe Janet's daily activities working with her clients as she accepted loan applications, disbursed loan funds and counseled entrepreneurs on their business ideas. Janet is a true leader and a lot of social good is taking place as a result of her work - watch the Frontline World piece on Kiva to see Janet in action!

Matt visiting one of Kiva's earliest borrowers, Petronilla Shivachi, at her grocery store in Kenya. Petro's business is going so well that she has expanded into other ventures, and Matt spent a few hours discussing business ideas with her.


Left to Right: Rose Athieno, Eunice Oyuk, Christine Awora, Elizabeth Omalla, a friend of the group's and Apollo Olweny.

What an amazing picture! Rose, Eunice, Christine, Elizabeth and Apollo are actually 5 of Kiva's first borrowers, all of whom have repaid their loans in full and whose businesses are still continuing a year later.
If they look a little different than you remember from their business description it's because they've all gained some weight (but don't worry - that's a compliment in Africa!)

Kiva.org announces partnership with Fundacion para la Vivienda Progresiva

Tuesday, 3 October 2006
Today Kiva announces its second Mexican partnership, with Fundacion para la Vivienda Progresiva (Foundation for Progressive Housing).

FVP is a non-profit organization which works in partnership with CHF International, a non-profit whose mission is to be a catalyst for long-lasting positive change in low- and moderate-income communities around the world, helping them to improve their social, economic and environmental conditions. In 1996 CHF initiated a home improvement loan pilot project in Ciudad Juarez to assist workers and their families who cannot afford dignified housing due to the population explosion near the US-Mexican border. This pilot project was successful, and with funding from the Ford Foundation, the Inter American Foundation, Johnson & Johnson and other private sector companies, the pilot was expanded to create two non-profit organizations, including FVP. FVP's mission is to help people improve their housing so that they have basic housing needs: a floor, bathroom and bedroom. FVP uses microcredit programs to help people achieve this through growing a small business.

We're excited to launch our second partnership in Mexico in response to the many requests we've received for Mexican entrepreneurs.

Kiva la Mexico!

Off to Uganda with Frontline World!

Monday, 25 September 2006
Our very own Matt and Jessica Flannery have flown to Uganda today to meet the Frontline World crew in Kampala. They'll be visting Kiva's partners Life in Africa and WITEP to learn about how our partners manage the loans on the ground, and also meeting some borrowers and new loan applicants to capture their experiences. We're really excited to see the footage of these people we communicate with every week via email and Skype but haven't actually met in person yet, and of course to see footage of some of the borrowers.

The air date is looking like October 31, however we will confirm this as the date approaches so stay tuned. To whet your appetite is a picture of some local Ugandan's observing some of the filming which has already taken place prior to Matt and Jessica's arrival (thanks Carl for the pic!).

Premal Shah, President of Kiva.org, speaks at The Clinton Global Initiative

Thursday, 21 September 2006
Kiva's President Premal Shah today spoke at the Clinton Global Initiative as a panel member for the working session "Poverty Alleviation: Knowledge is Power: Using Technology to Get Ahead". This working session was webcast live by the Clinton Global Initiative, and Kiva.org is extremely grateful for the exposure we have received through this invitation.

Perhaps the highlight of the conference was Premal's introduction to Bill Clinton, who said he had read all about Kiva.org and loves the work we are doing. We had never thought to include "Bill Clinton knowing about us" as a milestone!

Kiva.org's inclusion in this event has been an recognition of our achievements using technology to distribute debt capital to entrepreneurs in the developing world, and we appreciate this official introduction to those who attended the conference.

Click here to watch a webcast of the working session.

Kiva.org launches Starbucks Community Partnership!

Monday, 18 September 2006
Kiva.org is today launching its Community Partner relationship with the new Bay & Taylor Starbucks location in San Francisco. We'll be at the store tonight from 3:00pm - 8:00pm introducing customers to Kiva.org with a loan station created specifically for this partnership.

Kiva.org is very excited to be partnering with Starbucks, who has an impressive record of contributing back to the communities in which they operate - both those to which they sell coffee and those from which they buy coffee. We're looking forward to the day someone can walk into any Starbucks location, purchase a cup of coffee from Ethiopia, Brazil or Colombia and then make a loan to an entrepreneur in the same country through a Kiva loan station in the store!

Come and visit us at the store on Bay and Taylor, San Francisco tonight - and we'll keep you updated on future partnership activities with Starbucks.

Geoff Davis, President and CEO of Unitus, joins Kiva.org's Advisory Board

Friday, 15 September 2006
Kiva.org is proud to be announce Geoff Davis, President and CEO of Unitus, as the latest addition to its Advisory Board.

Geoff Davis is President and CEO of Unitus, a social venture capital investor for the microfinance industry. Geoff has worked with microfinance programs worldwide since 1995, beginning with a program he founded in central Mexico. He was an early employee at Grameen Foundation USA, a global microfinance leader. Geoff has spoken widely on microfinance at the International Monetary Fund, Harvard, Stanford and conferences in Chile, Switzerland, Bangladesh and elsewhere. A social entrepreneur, Geoff formed several companies earlier in his career and has worked at numerous startups. He was named the 2006 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the Pacific Northwest region and was named one of Puget Sound Business Journal's "40 under 40". Geoff holds a B.A. in international relations from Brigham Young University and a master's degree in dev

Kiva.org is honored to have Geoff Davis, one of the most insightful minds in microfinance, join our Advisory Board and we look forward to his contributions as we grow.

Frontline World is filming a story on Kiva.org

Wednesday, 13 September 2006
That's right - Frontline World, of the national TV station PBS, will be filming a story on Kiva.org over the next 2 weeks to be aired in late October. The piece will cover the Kiva.org story from our day to day operations in the San Francisco office right through to the activities of our borrowers - some of whom Frontline World will be filming on location in Uganda. We are so thrilled to have this opportunity to have the Kiva.org story told on national television - particularly as Frontline World will actually meeting some of our borrowers to learn about their experience as an entrepreneur in the developing world.

We'll keep you updated as the project progresses and be sure to look out for the airing date!

Server Upgrade Complete!

Tuesday, 12 September 2006
No, we haven't been on vacation the last two weeks, we've been hard at work moving to a dedicated server to give you - and our partners across the globe - a faster and more reliable service when you visit our site. Enjoy!

Kiva.org announces new Mexican Field Partner: ADMIC

Thursday, 31 August 2006
Kiva.org is excited to announce our newest Field Partner, ADMIC (Asesoria Dinamica a Microempresas), operating in Mexico.

ADMIC was established in 1980 in Monterrey, Mexico, by a group of business visionaries. ADMIC's mission is to fight poverty and unemployment in the informal economy by promoting the growth of micro-businesses. Close to ninety percent of this program's beneficiaries are low-income women who are part of solidarity groups, a lending method that allows members to cross-guarantee one another's loans in lieu of collateral. ADMIC's clients represent some of the poorest people in Mexico - many are artisans, seamstresses and agricultural workers. ADMIC is partnered with ACCION International, one of the world's largest microfinance institutions, who provided technical assistance to ADMIC during its establishment and now continues to work with them in various capacities. For the past two years, ADMIC has had an ACCION resident advisor on-site providing technical assistance and support.

Kiva.org is very pleased to be in partnership wth ADMIC, and we are also excited to be introducing Mexican entrepreneurs to the website for the first time. Thanks to all who helped make our NYC Awareness Party a Success! Monday, 28 August 2006
Thank you to everyone who made it out for our NYC Awareness Party last Thursday, August 24th.

We raised over $1000 for Kiva.org's operational costs - but what's more important is that numerous attendees who'd never heard of Kiva.org before the event identified with our mission and made loans on the site; if that's you, thank you even more!

This was our third such event and given the success of each one we're looking to do more of them in different cities across the US. Our next Kiva.org Awareness Party will be in Austin, Texas on September 21st, watch this space for details! If you think your city would welcome Kiva.org, please email Sundeep Ahuja, Director of Marketing, at sundeepATkivaDOTorg (be warned though: if you email you may be asked to help with the planning :).

Thanks again - and see you at the next Kiva.org Party!

John Hatch, founder of FINCA, joins Kiva.org's Advisory Board

Tuesday, 22 August 2006 Kiva.org is pleased to announce the addition of John Hatch, founder of FINCA, to our Advisory Board.

John Hatch is the founder of FINCA, one of the world's leading microcredit institutions with programs in 23 countries and over one million low-income families assisted since its inception in 1984. John is also known as the father of "village banking", a group loan methodology now replicated by over 800 micro-credit programs in 60 countries. John's economic development career spans 44 years, during which time he was a Peace Corps volunteer and staff member (1962-67) Fulbright scholar, (PhD, Univ. Wisconsin, 1973), economist, and a consultant to small farmer development projects in some 50 countries (1973-83). John currently directs FINCA's global mission support department, which features action research by summer interns armed with Palm Pilots who interview some 3,000 clients per year to document their poverty levels, business profitability, and rising living standards. John is a co-founder and executive committee member of the Microcredit Summit global campaign to reach 100 million of the world's poorest mothers with self-employment loans by the year 2006. He has given microcredit workshops at universities at home and abroad, while also teaching microcredit at George Washington University and Johns Hopkins SAIS.

John is a microfinance luminary who we are honored to have contributing to the future and direction of Kiva.org.

Kiva.org receives 501(c)(3) Tax Exempt Status

Monday, 21 August 2006 Kiva.org is thrilled to announce that the IRS has determined Kiva.org to be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Code. We are extremely pleased that the IRS has recognized the social value of Kiva.org as a public charity, and we will be updating our site to reflect this new status as soon as possible.

We would like to thanks all those that have been involved in helping Kiva.org achieve this status - both Kiva.org staff and our team of lawyers at Bingham McCutchen, San Francisco. We are extremely grateful for all your hard work - thank you!

Kiva.org Rocks NYC!

Thursday, 17 August 2006
Following on the tremendous success of our Kiva.org Awareness Parties in Los Angeles and San Francisco, we're bringing the party to NYC.   Why? Because Kiva parties are always a good time - and it's a great way to introduce Kiva to your friends ("Hey, wanna come to a party?").

So come along and bring your friends - we love any opportunity to meet all the Kivans out there, and of course we want to tell your friends why they should be a Kiva lender too!

Where: Libation (3rd Floor)
            137 Ludlow St, NYC map
When: Thursday, August 24, 8:00pm

Entry is free for Kiva lenders - we'll have a list of all lenders at the door.
Entry for non-lenders is a $10 donation to Kiva.org. (Don't be the only one in line who has to pay, make a loan before you leave home - it only takes 2 minutes!)

For more information contact Sahana Behera at sahana15AThotmailDOTcom or (415) 260-2346, or Sundeep Ahuja at sundeepATkivaDOTorg or (415) 596-0122.

See you there!

Take a look at the BusinessWeek SmallBiz slideshow featuring Kiva.org

Wednesday, 16 August 2006



Still dominating the news, Kiva has been featured in a BusinessWeek SmallBiz slideshow. Take a minute to browse through some pics of our entrepreneurs - and forward the slideshow to your friends! There's no better way to show how Kiva works than to send them a slideshow of Kiva stories.

Click through to the story here, and click on the picture of Kem Pharin in her boat surrounded by water spinach fields to click through to the slideshow.

Kiva.org pilots cell-phone (MMS) web journaling capability in Uganda and Kenya

Friday, 11 August 2006
Kiva.org is currently piloting in Uganda and Kenya a solution which allows partners to update the Kiva.org website from their cell-phone.

Kiva.org's partnership with Microsoft Research through the Digital Inclusion project brought to our attention the difficulties our African partners have been overcoming to access the Kiva system. Electrical power in East Africa is very often provided only every other day, and internet connections are at best extremely slow and sporadic. These conditions make uploading required content (business descriptions and updates) extremely cumbersome.

As many third world countries have greater cell-phone than internet access, Microsoft Research recommended that we leverage cell-phone technology to find a solution which would allow our partners to post without third world infrastructure difficulties. Over the last few weeks our developers have been designing a system, using all Open Source technology, to allow partners to update the Kiva.org website using the MMS capabilities of their cell-phones in their native countries. In short, this solution allows our partners to update the Kiva.org website using cell-phones and completely by-passing computers.

This system is currently being piloted in Uganda and Kenya after a successful testing period on the American continent. We hope to have updates from cell phones on the live web site in the coming weeks, and we'll certainly keep you updated on our success.

Stay tuned!

Kiva.org is Invited to the Clinton Global Initiative

Tuesday, 8 August 2006
Kiva.org has been honored with an invitation to the second annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting, September 20-22, 2006, in New York City.

This year's group will include King Abdullah II and Queen Rania Al-Abdullah, President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Tony Blair, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, First Lady Laura Bush, Warren Buffett, Hernando de Soto, Bill Gates, Lakshmi Mittal, Rupert Murdoch, General Colin Powell, Lee Scott Jr., Muhammad Yunus, and dozens of additional distinguished leaders.

This nonpartisan Initiative brings together a select group of heads of state, business leaders, scholars and NGO representatives to identify innovative solutions to some of the world's most pressing problems.

Only 20 NGOs have been invited to this event, and Kiva.org is honored to be counted among them, as the provider of an innovative solution to the lack of access to cheap debt capital of small-business entrepreneurs in the developing world. We look forward to using this opportunity to learn from others who are effecting change in the world, and sharing our vision of connecting people across the globe through lending.

Sam Daley-Harris Joins Kiva.org's Advisory Board

Friday, 4 August 2006
Kiva.org is honored to announce the addition of Sam Daley-Harris to Kiva.org's Advisory Board.

Sam Daley-Harris is President and Founder of RESULTS Educational Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to mass educational strategies to generate the will to end world hunger. RESULTS Educational Fund organized the February 1997 Microcredit Summit held in Washington, D.C. The Summit was attended by more than 2,900 participants from 137 countries and launched a nine-year campaign to reach 100 million of the world's poorest families, especially the women of those families, with credit for self-employment and other financial and business services by the end of 2005.
Mr. Daley-Harris is Director of the Microcredit Summit Campaign, the result of the Microcredit Summit in 1997, which bringstogethermicrocredit practitioners, advocates, educational institutions, donoragencies, international financial institutions, non-governmental organizations and others involved with microcredit to promote best practices in the field, to learn from each other, and to work towards reaching our goal.

Tireless in his work, Mr. Daley-Harris is also Founder and President of RESULTS, an international citizens' lobby dedicated to creating the political will to end hunger and poverty. Mr. Daley-Harris is author of Reclaiming Our Democracy: Healing the Break Between People and Government, about which President Jimmy Carter said, "[Daley-Harris] provides a road map for global involvement in planning a better future." Mr. Daley-Harris is also editor of Pathways Out of Poverty: Innovations in Microfinancefor the Poorest Families.

Mr. Daley-Harris lives in Washington, DC with his wife Shannon, who is a consultant with the ReligiousAffairs Division of the Children's Defense Fund. Their son Micah was born in May 1998 and daughter Sophie was born in May 2001.

Kiva.org is honored that Mr. Daley-Harris will be contributing in the capacity of Advisor as we continue to change the shape of debt capital opportunities for small-business entrepreneurs in the developing world.

New Kiva.org Search Functionality

Wednesday, 2 August 2006
We know you've been asking for it: "When are you going to put a search feature on the site?" Well, we finally got it up there and you can now search your heart out!

That's right, our super sleek Businesses page now allows you to easily switch from businesses In Need, Raised, Active or Paid back, by loan amount or by date of posting.

And if that's not enough, click on the "Show More Options" link and you can also search by region, sector or gender! (If I ever have to click through 500 businesses again and select a sector and gender for each one...)

Thanks for your patience - we are working to make our site easier for lenders and partners to use and we look forward to continually implementing suggestions.

Kiva.org has a record week of loans and expands into Samoa!

Monday, 31 July 2006
Last week Kiva.org had a record week, receiving over $23,000 in loan funds! That's FIFTY loans that were raised last week and every last cent that you sent us will be sent to your chosen loan receipient. This is our biggest week yet and we are so excited for the massive support our lenders have shown our entrepreneurs by helping them get the loan they need.

We also received a lot of emails last week from people who read the BusinessWeek article about Kiva or saw the ABC News Now story and forwarded it to their friends and family and we'd like to thank everyone who helped us by spreading the word - we think the results of your efforts are obvious in last week's record funding.

In even more exciting news, Kiva.org is today announcing a new partner, South Pacific Business Development in SAMOA!  We are incredibly proud to be partnering with this great organization and expanding into Oceania. SPBD's lending system uses the Grameen model and: "provides small, unsecured loans to groups of rural women. Women invest their loans into businesses based on their existing livelihood skills. SPBD's philosophy of lending is based on a respect for each individual's innate human ingenuity, drive and self esteem. It is these qualities which make people credit worthy, not the collateral which traditional banks demand." We know you'll love SPBD and the businesses we've just posted live so check them out before they're all funded.

Only 3 days left to make Kiva.org's Pledge!!!

Friday, 28 July 2006
If you've never visited PledgeBank before, it's a great place to find others who care about the same issues you do and want to do something about it.

Currently 16 people have pledged to make a loan through Kiva.org but only if the number of pledgers reaches 35 by August 1.

So what are you waiting for? Call your friends, tell your neighbors, email your in-laws and join the pledge. There's power in numbers!

Tune in tonight to "The Progressive Forum" on Pacifica Radio

Thursday, 27 July 2006
If you haven't been getting enough Kiva.org in the media, you're in luck. Matt and Premal (Kiva.org's CEO and President respectively) will be interviewed live tonight on "The Progressive Forum", broadcast in the Houston area on KPFT Pacifica Radio.

Tune in at 8pm Houston Time (that's 6pm Pacific, 7pm Mountain and 9pm Eastern) to hear the show. If you're in the Houston jump on the dial at 90.1FM, if you're too far to pick up the waves listen live over the internet here.

We're on ABC News!

Wednesday, 26 July 2006

If you've been getting the feeling that Kiva.org has been exploding in the media - you would be right! BusinessWeek on Friday, Wall Street Journal on Tuesday and today we were featured in an ABC News Now story! What a wildfire week! Check out our very own Matt Flannery and Premal Shah interviewed on ABC News, featuring footage from the field of two of our favorite entrepreneurs, Julius Ocola in Uganda and Lucy Oltingidi in Kenya (special thanks to Jon Rodriguez of into(context) for shooting the footage of Julius and Lucy and making it available to ABC News). Click on the logo to watch!

Thanks to our BusinessWeek visitors

Monday, 24 July 2006
What a weekend! 

Since our article in BusinessWeek came out on Friday (page 64 if you haven't already seen it) we've received over $10,000 in loans! Businesses have been funded like hot cakes, and our partners have all seen the article online and were excited to send extra loan requests last night due to the jump in site traffic.

So to all of our new BusinessWeek lenders - "Welcome" - and thanks, on behalf of our entrepreneurs, for your loans over the weekend. You might not know this but many of our entrepreneurs actually watch the progress of their loan being funded online from an internet cafe, and are anxiously awaiting their loan request moving out of the "In Need" section once it has been fully funded. So thanks for making their weekend as well as ours.

Now let's see if we can't bump over all those new businesses by the end of this week...

Hot off the press: Kiva.org is in BusinessWeek

Friday, 21 July 2006


Pick up your copy of BusinessWeek today - Kiva.org is featured in a story in this week's edition titled "A Little Money Goes A Long Way".

Special thanks to lenders Ann Brown and Bill Gilroy who were happy to speak to the BusinessWeek reporter - we love that the story included some of the people who really make Kiva.org happen. And thank you to all of the lenders - you've brought Kiva.org to the attention of BusinessWeek, and the rest of the world. (Now if we can just get a copy of the story to Maria Martinez in Honduras to let her know business is famous!)

Check out the story online here.

Check out our New Feature: Recommend your Favorite Business!

Wednesday, 19 July 2006
Do you get hooked on reading our business updates? Do you love getting those emails telling you how Sarah Wairimu in Kenya is doing selling her vegetables, or Maria's famous tortillas in Honduras? We're totally hooked, and we just made it a whole lot easier to keep tabs on all of the updates that come in each day from across the world.

We've added a link at the top of each page, Latest Journals, which takes you to a page dedicated to the journals posted by our partners. See your favorite business? Click on the "Recommend Journal" button at the bottom of the journal to recommend that business - the most recommended businesses are listed on the right hand side.

Get your favorite business into the Most Recommended list - or if you're a nerd like us just keep clicking Refresh and watch the updates come in.

"An eBay for Microfinance": BusinessWeek Online publishes podcast about Kiva.org

Tuesday, 18 July 2006

BusinessWeek Online has published a podcast about Kiva.org, saying that "As the intersection between peer-to-peer financing and philanthropy, Kiva.org is harnessing the power of social networking to support microenterprise in the developing world". The segment features Kiva.org President Premal Shah explaining the ins and outs of our loans - a great link to forward your friends who haven't yet heard of Kiva.org. Listen to the podcast here.

Listen to Matt Flannery speak about Kiva.org on NPR

Monday, 17 July 2006

Kiva.org's CEO, Matt Flannery, will be interviewed today on KUOW 94.9 in Seattle, broadcast nationwide by NPR. "Weekday" will be discussing the topic "Is Microfinance Changing the World?" with Alex Counts, President and CEO of Grameen Foundation USA, Raj Shah, Director for Financial Services and Agriculture with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and our very own Matt Flannery! Tune in at 9am PST for the show.
Update: listen to the broadcast here

L.A. Party Success - Thank You!

Friday, 14 July 2006
Thank you to everyone who made it out for our Los Angeles Awareness / Fundraiser party last Thursday, July 13th!

We raised over $1000 for Kiva.org , which is great -- but what's more important is that numerous attendees who'd never heard of Kiva.org before the event identified with our mission and made loans on the site; if that's you, thank you even more!

This was our second such event, and given the success of each one, we're looking to do more very soon in different cities across the US. If you think your city would welcome Kiva.org, let me know at sundeep@kiva.org (be warned though: if you email, I may ask you to help with the planning :).

Thanks again!

Join us at the Kiva.org Awareness Party in L.A.!

Thursday, 13 July 2006
Where:
Lounge 217
217 Broadway
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 394-6336

When: Thursday, July 13, 9:00pm (that's right Ã? tomorrow!)

Following the tremendous success of our San Francisco, we are hosting an awareness party in Los Angeles. Come along and meet some Kiva.org crew, learn more about Kiva.org or just get an early start on the weekend!

Entry is free for Kiva.org lenders (we'll have your name at the door if you've previously made a loan), and $10 minimum donation for non-lenders (Kiva.org does not "skim" from loan funds, so all donations go to Kiva.org's operating costs).

"But I don't go out on Thursdays."
Make an exception; it'll be worth it. Support Kiva.org and have a great time with great people at a great venue (with easy parking!).

For more information contact Sundeep Ahuja (sundeep@kiva.org / 415.596.0122)

Kiva.org announces the addition of Reid Hoffman to the Board of Directors

Friday, 7 July 2006
Kiva.org is honored to announce the addition of Reid Hoffman to Kiva.org's Board of Directors.

Reid is currently CEO and co-founder of LinkedIn. Prior to LinkedIn, Reid was Executive Vice President of PayPal. At PayPal, Reid was in charge of all business relationships: business development, corporate development, international, government relations, and banking/payments infrastructure. During his tenure at PayPal, Hoffman was instrumental to the acquisition by eBay and was responsible for partnerships with Intuit, Visa, MasterCard and Wells Fargo. Reid also has held management roles in large technology companies, including Fujitsu Software Corporation and Apple. Currently, in addition to LinkedIn, Reid serves on the Board of Directors for SixApart and Mozilla Corporation. Reid graduated with distinction from Stanford University with a B.S. in Cognitive Science and from Oxford University with a Master's degree in philosophy.

Kiva.org is excited to be joined by Reid, a Web 2.0 pioneer whose influence in our Philanthropy 2.0 organization will be invaluable.

We're Moving In!

Thursday, 6 July 2006
Today Kiva.org had our first team meeting in our new office space! Complete with hardwood floors and a great cafe across the street, we're all looking forward to holding meetings around the water cooler and figuring out how we'll decorate. What will really make us feel moved in is when we put up our 8' x 13' world map and mark each place Kiva.org's loans are reaching across the globe.

We are now located at:
2180 Bryant Street
Suite 106
San Francisco, CA 94110-2141
Ph: (415) 641-5482
Fax: (415) 641-1515 Many thanks to all who have made this possible.

Kiva.org's "Revolutionary Philanthropy" featured on The Huffington Post

Monday, 3 July 2006
We've all heard by now about Warren Buffet's $31 billion donation to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but John S. Johnson points out that with Kiva.org you don't need to be Warren Buffet to make a difference to someone's life.

Read Johnson's blog about Kiva.org on The Huffington Post here.

Kiva.org Announces Olana Khan as COO

Monday, 29 May 2006
We are pleased to announce a new addition to Kiva.org's management team, Olana Hirsch Khan, as Chief Operating Officer.  A 6-year Google veteran, Olana is responsible for scaling and managing Kiva.org's core operations. 

While at Google, Olana oversaw the International Sales Professional Services team and developed deep expertise in scaling teams and operations in rapidly changing environments. Prior to Google, Olana worked at The Economist, Netscape and AOL.  Last year she co-founded OZ Ventures, a technology venture fund focused on seed round funding. Olana has extensive volunteer experience in Thailand, focused on developing educational forums around women's health and AIDS prevention. Olana graduated from the University of Michigan Honors Program with a B.A. degrees
in Asian Economics and Psychology.

We are incredibly pleased Kiva.org's management team has been strengthened by Olana's extensive expertise and experience, and look forward to her future contributions to our organization.

Thank You!

Friday, 12 May 2006
Thanks to everyone who attended the party last night in San Francisco. We had a great time meeting everyone, some who we'd previously "met" in the world of the internet, some who were supporters we hadn't met before, some who just wanted to find out more about Kiva.org.

In all, we raised over $2,500 for Kiva.org - thanks to YOU! - and we had a great party until 2am.

Thanks to everyone who came, everyone who helped organize the event, and everyone who's been supporting Kiva.org to help us get this far.

See you at the next party...

Announcing Partnership with Women's Initiative to Eradicate Poverty (WITEP)

Sunday, 7 May 2006
We are delighted to announce our newest partner, Women's Initiative to Eradicate Poverty (WITEP), operating in Uganda.

WITEP is a non-government, community-based organization formed to alleviate poverty and improve the standard of living for the poor women of Uganda. Their objective is to mobilize and sensitize people in grassroots projects, focusing in food production and food security. Advocating for programmes that encourage the emancipation of women and youth, they provide for exchange of professional ideas and skills acquisition on social, political, and economic development. WITEP is a very well-respected organization in Uganda which has been operating since 1989. Their excellent reputation and long history administering loans makes them a partner we're proud to be working with.

We can't wait to see their entrepreneurs on our site, so stay tuned this week as we are expecting our new partners to be set up and posting over the coming week.

And in the meantime - tell your friends! While the loans on our site have been increasing in diversity as we expand our partnerships, the loans are also being funded quicker and quicker! Shoot your friends an email to let them know our new partners will be posting this week - if you snooze you lose!

Come Party With Kiva.org!

Tuesday, 2 May 2006
Kiva.org would like to invite everyone to a party in San Francisco on May 11!  The last few weeks have been so exciting and it's time to celebrate the release of our new website, and the addition of our 10th partner.

Join us from 8pm at: Dragon Bar
473 Broadway Street
San Francisco
google map We'd love to meet you and celebrate with the people who've made Kiva.org's success happen.

There is a $10 minimum donation (to Kiva.org, of course) to get in, and FREE drink tickets for the first 50 inside (one per person good for a house martini, shot, or cocktail). Once you're in, there'll be great music, fun people and good times!

See you there!