Press Center

At A Glance

• What is Kiva?
• How Does It Work?

Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to an entrepreneur in the developing world. By combining microfinance with the internet, Kiva is creating a global community of people connected through lending.

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

Kiva was born of the following beliefs:

• People are by nature generous, and will help others if given the opportunity to do so in a transparent, accountable way.
• The poor are highly motivated and can be very successful when given an opportunity.
• By connecting people we can create relationships which exceed beyond financial transactions, and build a global community expressing support and encouragement of one another.

Kiva promotes:

• Dignity:   Person-to person lending encourages partnership relationships as opposed to benefactor relationships. Partnership relationships are characterized by mutual dignity and respect.
• Accountability:   Loans encourage more accountability than donations where repayment is not expected.
• Transparency:   The Kiva website is an open platform where communication can flow freely between the developing and developed worlds.

Kiva democratizes philanthropy, allowing the average individual to feel like a mini-Bill Gates by building a portfolio of investments in developing world businesses.

Kiva will have facilitated loans totaling $100 million by 2010.

1. Kiva partners with microfinance institutions that vet and approve loan applications from low-income entrepreneurs. Kiva's current list of microfinance partners (Field Partners) can be found here.


2. Approved loans are posted to the Kiva website for funding. Internet users choose an entrepreneur they would like to lend to, and select the amount they would like to contribute to the loan (starting at $25).


3. As repayments are made each lender receives an email notifying them of the progress of the loan, and journal updates are posted "blog-style" to the loan profile by the Field Partner.


4. When the loan has been repaid, the lenders receive their loan amount credited to their Kiva account, which they can then withdraw or reloan to another entrepreneur.