Kiva Blog

Kiva has the opportunity to win over $1,000,000 with the collective participation of our community! To nominate Kiva, vote here and search for Kiva Microfunds.

All votes made between now and December 11th will help us reach the contest’s top 100 charities list ($25,000 prize) and we can then go onto the next round.

Please vote today and share news about the contest with your friends and family. This is a team effort! You can quickly spread the word via email or through your online networks by sharing the link above.

For Twitter users, you can tweet the short message below:
Join me in voting for @Kiva to win over $1 million in #chasegiving contest! Visit http://bit.ly/A3DZw and type Kiva Microfunds.

Thank you for supporting Kiva’s mission of connecting people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty!

Kiva is excited to announce that we have been chosen as Bluetooth’s charity partner in their Sharing4Caring campaign.  Bluetooth will donate up to $25,000 to Kiva for every person that clicks on the Facebook connect link at the Sharing4Caring site.  Kiva and Bluetooth are both passionate about helping entrepreneurs, and share a common goal and purpose – we both use technology to connect people to each other throughout the world.  With Kiva's nearly 60,000 fans on Facebook, and Bluetooth's 150,000 fans we are set up for success, but we need your help!

Link to Facebook Connect here through the Sharing4Caring site to earn $1 for Kiva!

Together, we can rally to earn $25,000 for Kiva!  Help us spread the word by sharing with your friends on Facebook.  Please post the link on your wall and ask your friends to join you in supporting Kiva with a click.

If you Tweet, please share this tweet with your followers.  We’ve even shortened the URL for you:
Support @Kiva in the @BluetoothSIG Sharing4Caring campaign! 1 click = $1 donation to Kiva http://bit.ly/1vpPEE
Thanks everyone!

Over the last year we have all been hearing about the impact of the recession around the globe.  It does not just affect big retailers and multinational corporations, but also small retailers working with producer communities and artisans.  Some of these retailers are cancelling orders, resulting in an inventory build up for many fair trade producer groups.  Last year, our friends Priya Haji and Robert Chatwani launched WorldofGood.com, an online, ethical, multi-seller marketplace that is based on the concept of connecting small producers around the world to consumers in the U.S. market.  With the state of the economy and the uncertainty facing many of these producer groups in mind, they have collected some of this overstock and created a special promotion for Kiva users:  For every transaction through the WorldofGood.com/Kiva, $5 will be donated back to Kiva!

 

Not only can this help producer communities and artisans during such a crucial time (WorldofGood.com works with artisan producers in over 70 countries) but it also helps Kiva!  Help spread the word and keep WorldofGood.com/Kiva bookmarked, because this promotion will run through the end of the year.  Right now, more than ever, whatever you choose to spend is a vote to help companies with good purpose survive.

Social enterprise and innovation is on everyone's mind these days.  The big question is how to figure out how to drive money towards it.  Kiva was one of the first to bring attention to this trend and the SOCAP conference was the first of its kind to bring people together to talk about it.  

SOCAP09  is a gathering of the world's top social innovators held on September 1-3rd, 2009 at The Fort Mason Center in San Francisco.  Last year at SOCAP08, over 600 attendees from 26 countries came to discover the landscape of the social capital marketplace. This year, members of the administration and key players from the public and private sector will explore new strategies for success in the changing financial world. Premal Shah, Kiva’s President, is onboard to speak on a panel on "Community Driven Change."  

Kiva is also linking up with Yola.com to serve as co-sponsors of the event. We're looking forward to the chance to participate in this conference for the second year running and hope to bring Kiva folks along.

And even better, there is a 30% discount for our networks using the code "KA30."  So, register here by August 21st to take advantage of this offer!  We hope to see you at SOCAP09! 

Over 200 people came out for the Kiva Cup in Paris on June 27th! We had volunteers from both Kiva Friends and the Kiva France Lending Team. The event was hosted by Les Condors 2000 and was considered such a success that the organizers have already reserved an even larger stadium in France for next year’s Kiva Cup! A huge congratulations goes out to the lead organizers for hosting such a wonderful event and Charlotte brings some of it to life for us here...

“The event was great! Everything went perfect: it was a warm day in a nice location, the soccer tournament was a lot of fun, and people enjoyed the music and drinks in the sun! We tried to make Kiva as visible as possible, with banners along the stadium and in the benches, and I set up a Kiva booth close to the bar with outreach materials in both French and English. We had a screen displaying short videos about Kiva and I set up my laptop to explain how to use the website. We also had a few T-shirts and a lot of stickers to increase Kiva brand-awareness. We are very excited for next year’s event, especially because we will have more time to organize it, and we plan to invite artists, singers and a lot of companies to support Kiva! We also plan to involve the three largest Parisian Business Schools because they each have a microfinance student group. Overall, we’re thrilled with the success and are already looking forward to next summer’s Kiva Cup!”

If this excites you and you’d like to be involved in helping to plan for an event, let us know! The Community Outreach Team is currently looking for star volunteers to host Kiva Awareness Events of different sizes and natures in their communities. Just e-mail kivacommunity@gmail.com for more information. Also, check out our calendar to see if there are any events coming soon near you.

At Kiva, we have the luxury of having the support of some of the most innovative businesses around the world. One of those businesses, Nau, a supporter of Kiva via their Partners for Change program, is announcing a new initiative - their first annual Grant for Change.

Can you change lives while changing the way you do laundry? It sounds odd at first. What does laundry have to do with Kiva? We asked ourselves the same question. But when we found that some of Purex’s employees were avid Kiva lenders and that they wanted to find a way to let people discover Kiva and make a difference by connecting their Purex purchase with Purex loans to mom entrepreneurs, we thought it would be an interesting experiment in small actions that can add up to big impact.

When you purchase a package of the new Purex® Complete 3-in-1™ Laundry Sheets you can redirect one dollar from your purchase to Kiva. Simply log on to PurexChangesLives.com, enter the UPC code from your purchase, and you can contribute in a whole new way. Try it out. You might find that something as simple as changing laundry can be part of how you change lives with Kiva.



To learn more about the Purex partnership click on the widget above or visit: purexchangeslives.com

At their Feb 6th event, Ripple, Philanthro Productions SF raised over $9,000 for Kiva entrepreneurs and we are proud to announce that all of the money has now been loaned out! Check out Philanthro's Lending Team page to track their progress.

And for those who are not yet familiar, Philanthro Productions is a non-profit organization creating unique opportunities for young adults to engage in charitable giving. We look forward to hosting more events with Philanthro in the future! To learn more, see here.

It takes a lot to make the work we do at Kiva possible. From expertise to awareness building and funding—our supporters make a HUGE difference. Here are some folks you might not know about who have helped Kiva in the first half of 2009:

Ernst & Young: At the 2008, Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, Ernst & Young, the global professional services organization awarded Kiva a donation of $1,000,000 of in-kind resources over three years. As part of its commitment to entrepreneurship and corporate responsibility, Ernst & Young will mobilize its skilled professionals around the world to assist Kiva in increasing the transparency of its micro-lending process.

American Express: With the help of Kiva lenders and American Express Cardmembers, Kiva’s project “Loans that Change Lives” garnered 19,543 votes to earn a $300,000 third place prize in the 2008 Members Project competition. Kiva is using its new funds to expand the selection of business that can be funded on the Kiva Web site. For more information see Membersproject.com

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation – You’ve probably heard the name a thousand times on NPR. The MacArthur Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. MacArthur is one of the nation’s largest independent foundations and Kiva is proud to have them aboard as one of its newest supporters. The MacArthur Foundation awarded Kiva a $250,000 general support grant to strengthen Kiva’s online microfinance marketplace.

7Bar Foundation – 7Bar Foundation, though its philanthropic brand and fundraising arm, Lingerie Miami hosts an annual fashion show and fundraiser that celebrates femininity and empowers women through microfinance. The only fashion show to showcase the world’s finest couture and luxury lingerie labels on one runway in the U.S., Lingerie Miami’s two-pronged mission is to raise funds for microfinance Institutions (MFI’s) locally and globally and to create awareness of the power and effectiveness of microfinance to a critical mass of consciousness. As part of the Lingerie Miami event in 2009, 7Bar Foundation raised $50,000 to support Kiva’s efforts to reach more entrepreneurs in Mexico.

Purex – Can you change lives while changing your laundry? It sounds odd at first. What does laundry have to do with Kiva? We asked ourselves the same question. But when we found that some of Purex’s employees were avid Kiva lenders and that they wanted to find a way to let people discover Kiva and make a difference by connecting their Purex purchase with Purex loans to mom entrepreneurs, we thought it would be an interesting experiment in small actions adding up to big impact.

When you purchase Purex® Complete 3-in-1™ Laundry Sheets you can redirect one dollar from your purchase to Kiva. Simply log on to PurexChangesLives.com to learn more about the Purex-Kiva partnership. Try it out. You might find that something as simple as changing laundry can be part of how you change lives with Kiva.

Intel: In 2009, Intel launched the small things challenge. Through this online challenge, Intel will donate 25¢ per click to support Kiva.org and Save the Children. Intel wants to rally millions of people so that 25¢ can become as much as $300,000 in 2009.

Fenwick & West: Fenwick & West is a national law firm that provides comprehensive legal services to technology and life sciences clients of national and international prominence. Fenwick & West provides Kiva with pro-bono legal services and advice. In addition to legal services, the law firm provided Kiva with a donation of $25,000 for general support.

The Deshpande Foundation: The Deshpande Foundation is the family Foundation of Gururaj (“Desh”) and Jaishree Deshpande, of Andover, MA. Founded in 1996, the Deshpande Foundation is one of the leading philanthropic Foundations in Massachusetts and India in the areas of innovation, entrepreneurship and international development. The Deshpande Foundation is helping Kiva figure out how to serve entrepreneurs in India though a $10,000 grant to explore the feasibility of launching Kiva field partnerships in India, including Deshpande Foundation partners in Northern Karnataka.

Thank you to all our new supporters!

For more info and to see more organizations that help make Kiva run, check out our supporters page.

For those who will have the opportunity to be in Paris, this is going to be an amazing day!  Kiva and Les Condors 2000 would like to invite you to join for some fun activities including a football (soccer) tournament, Latino music, Salsa classes, Pétanque game, drinks and more!  No ticket purchase required (this is a FREE event folks!) and no RSVP necessary.  And to top it off, all drink profits will go towards loans for Kiva entrepreneurs.  This event is a unique opportunity to meet others in the Kiva community and we encourage you to share this invitation with family and friends who may be in the area.  

All are welcome, so help us spread the word and come on out to support Kiva on a summer afternoon in Paris.  You can find more information about the event here.  We are also looking for volunteers to help out, so if you’re interested and want to share your lending experience on Kiva, please comment on the Facebook event page and someone will be in touch with you directly.  We hope to see you at the Stade de la Plaine in Paris on Saturday, June 27th!  

For more information on Kiva in French, please see here. 

Join the Kiva Community in San Francisco on May 23rd! The Go Game is an all-out urban adventure game using cell phones and flip cameras. Out teams will compete by following clues on wireless devices and hints planted in unlikely places, which guide teams to wacky missions. This game is the "Kiva FUNdraiser Movie Game." Teams will create a short movie as part of their missions.

100% of the registration fees ($30) will benefit the Kiva Fellows Program to help train our volunteer Kiva Fellows who spend 10 weeks to 1 year working with microfinance banks around the world on their own dime.

Space is limited so register soon!

Spread the word through Facebook here.

*If you don't live in the San Francisco Area, you can help cover the cost of the Go Game (allowing 100% of the registration fees to go straight to Kiva). Karl Long and www.tcritic.com is matching your donations.

Donate here.

More info:
www.kiva.org
www.thegogame.com