Kiva Blog

Hello Kiva World --

I wanted to highlight a loan that was recently posted by AMK – our largest microfinance partner in Cambodia. This loan is the first made by AMK's Special Interest Group Unit (SIGU) – a department within AMK designed to serve more ‘vulnerable’ groups that are currently underserved by microfinance services. These groups include women who are victims of trafficking, domestic violence and other gender-based traumas, people living with HIV/AIDS, street people and children and people with disabilities. AMK is currently focusing on assisting women who are victims of trafficking, domestic violence and other gender-based traumas.

Anyways, the loan below is made to a group of 5 women who were rescued from exploitative working & living conditions and who are now using loans from AMK to start their own sewing business. Eventually, their products will be available for purchase through www.ahkun.org – a website created by ex-Fellow Sanjaya Punyasena which sells products made by Kiva borrowers.


http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=153589

Big kudos go to KF7 Fellow Katie Davis who spent much of her Fellowship helping AMK design this product with SIGU along with University of Melboure PhD Candidate Jolyanna Sinanan. The SIGU loans are one of the first in Cambodia to ex-trafficked women and so groundbreaking that both Katie & Jolyanna were asked to present at a UN conference in Cambodia about these loans. Just another example of a Kiva Fellow having a major impact in the field. Current KF9 Fellow James Han recently interviewed Katie for the Fellows blog which details more about the SIGU loans (http://fellowsblog.kiva.org/2009/11/17/using-microfinance-to-combat-human-trafficking-spotlight-on-katie-davis-kf7/) or you can check out AMK’s blog here which talks in detail about SIGU (http://amkmicrofinance.wordpress.com/).

Although this loan was fully funded in less than 12 hours, AMK is planning to post more of its SIGU loans in the future so please keep your eye out. In the meantime, please consider lending to other AMK loans currently on the Kiva site (please click here to see all fundraising AMK loans).

Happy lending everyone!

Darren Miao

Senior Portfolio Manager - Asia Pacific Region

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 back in Iraq!

Please join me in welcoming Al-Thiqa Organization to the Kiva community! Founded in 2004, Al-Thiqa contributes to rebuilding Iraq's economy by providing transparent financial services to micro and small enterprises and low-income households in Iraq. Since its inception, the institution has disbursed more than 25,000 loans valued at over $62 million, making it one of the leading microfinance institutions in the country. We are thrilled to have Al-Thiqa on our platform and look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with this institution.

To learn more about Al-Thiqa, please visit their field partner page. And make sure to set up your alerts as these loans get funded really fast!

Hello Everyone,

This is Matt Flannery, Co-Founder and CEO of Kiva.org.

I'm now writing my second message as a part of the ongoing online discussion on the topic of person-to-person connections and transparency as it relates to Kiva and online philanthropy. For anyone that hasn't been following along, here are some links to get you caught up:

The original post by David Roodman

My reply

And then today's article in the NYT by Stephanie Strom

To recap our history, we started in a village in Uganda in 2005, working with a local pastor to disburse loans. The villagers had no other sources of capital, and thus had to wait for the Kiva loans.

In the ensuing four years Kiva has grown by several orders of magnitude. In order to accommodate this growth, we began to work in over 50 countries with banks for the poor -- or microfinance institutions (MFIs).

As I originally posted a month ago, I believe that 1) pre-disbursal, our policy to allow MFIs to disburse loans to entrepreneurs before they are fully funded on the site, is necessary for the success of this model, and 2) that we can do better at educating our users about how and why this is the case.

On point number one, MFIs cannot make their clients wait over thirty days for their Kiva loans, for reasons of efficiency and social impact. This is well-explained in my original response.

To address number two, in the past month Kiva has updated the “About” section on the Kiva website to be clearer about the process. Please see the changes here.

Moving on, it would be a shame if, as a result of all this talk of transparency, that we create an even more confused public. So, with the intention of providing more clarity, let me add a few things.

People on Kiva.org truly do receive the loans that are shown on the website. Readers confused by the article wrote in today unsure of this fact.

It's safe to assume, for instance, that if a farmer on Kiva.org applies for a $500 loan, that he actually does receive that loan. However, what is different from a casual user's impression is that the loan is administered by a local microfinance institution (MFI) and is often disbursed to him before the funds are raised on the website. A curious user can see the "Date Listed" and "Date Disbursed" on the website next to each entrepreneur.

Person-to-person lending (or donating for that matter) on the Internet is a young space with incredible promise, and Kiva has created an entirely new dynamic in the space.

Online philanthropy is already much more real-time, connected, transparent and data-rich than philanthropy 10 years ago, but there's still a long way to go. At Kiva, you see an entrepreneur profile for every dollar raised on the site. In addition, you see repayment data and can get your money back. As a small nonprofit, we continually seek to increase the quantity and quality of this data.

We are living in a world where information technology is just now penetrating the developing world. We are seeing people who, before Kiva, had never seen or heard of a computer. Now, they are learning about a community of lenders from over 100 countries who are actually making it possible for them to get credit and be ushered into the formal financial system. At the same time, we are seeing classes of fifth graders learning about International Development in the context of business, rather than starvation.

Kiva has helped facilitate over $100 million in loans to entrepreneurs in need. Without this platform, that would not have been possible.

This all, to me, represents a good start. In the future, we hope to see a closer connection between the repayment of an entrepreneur in local currency and the repayments that a lender receives. We also hope to increase the frequency and richness of the updates that lenders receive. We will pursue these strategies and more as technology allows. Most of all, we hope to increase the sheer number of loans funded through Kiva and to track the social impact of those loans along the way.

We will continue to strengthen the feedback loop between our users and our staff so that we can address confusion and criticism, and continue to focus on our mission to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.

If you have further questions, feel free to email us here.

Or join the discussion on the KivaFriends message board here.

Thank you,

Matt

We want to send out a huge thank you to everyone who came out on Tuesday night to celebrate Kiva's 4th Birthday. The event was an incredible success! Over 700 people came out to toast Kiva and its 100 million milestone! A huge thank you to The Hub Bay Area and their co-presenters, GOOD Magazine and The David Brower Center!

We also want to invite you all to become a member of The Hub. Check out their brochure and their events calendar to learn more about who they are and what they do. As a member, you'll have the access to a dynamic co-working space, professional tools and services and an interactive events series. Network and collaborate with like-minded individuals, many of whom you met on Tuesday night!

Check Out Party Pictures!

We have some beautiful photos from the event. If you have any pictures you took at the party, please upload them to the flickr account!

Like the Music?

Baba Ken & the Afrobeat Connexion

Gaucho

Shovelman

Erin Brazill

Like the Food?

Cancun Sabor Mexicano

Cafe Gratitude

Razan Organic Kitchen

Great Harvest

Organic Valley

FeelGood

Localicious

Neighborhood Fruit

Slanted Door

Nine Catering

Mandela Cooperative

Clif Bar

Like the Drinks?

Skyy Vodka

Drake's Brewery

Barefoot Wine

Adina Holistics

Numi Tea

We could not have pulled off this event without the generosity of our sponsors and musicians. Thank you so much!

We’re pleased to announce that Kiva’s President, Premal Shah, is teaming up with Yoovolution for a one-of-a kind event, the world’s largest professional and self development conference held entirely in a 3D virtual world. Together, we’re pushing the boundaries of online interaction and networking.

And, you’re invited to be a part of it!

This first ever event is open to the entire Kiva community and is not to be missed. You are on the threshold of a new world of social networking where connection and learning are unparalleled, enjoy!

In conjunction with this upcoming incredible virtual event with over 33 world-class speakers called Yoovolution, Premal will be sharing his insights on the future of micro lending, where Kiva is today, and how YOU can make a huge difference in the world ... all in a brand new virtual 3D environment - so you can enjoy it all from the comfort of your own home!

Kiva is one of the chosen charities to benefit from this event, so if you join us, you’ll be contributing to Kiva’s efforts as well.

Register for your free account now by clicking here!

We look forward to seeing you in 3D!

Around 2pm today (Happy Halloween for those in the U.S.), Kiva hit a major milestone:

$100,000,000
in loans raised

It's a wonderful accomplishment involving 584,189 Kiva Lenders in our first 4 years of operations. What's even more amazing to me is that it took over 1 year to raise our first $1 million . This year alone, we're on track to raise nearly $60 million. On behalf of the volunteers, staff, microfinance field partners and the entrepreneurs they serve -- thank you and congrats to Kiva Lenders for reaching this incredible milestone!

Thanks to the support of our lenders, funders and Field Partners, Kiva continues to grow. If you want to be part of Kiva and help us along our mission to alleviate poverty through lending, then consider applying for one of the positions open at Kiva here.

Already have a job? Are you in school? Maybe you want to help out on the side? Kiva relies on hundreds of volunteers to help us fulfill our mission. Learn about our open volunteer opportunities here.

We are pleased to announce that on November 6th, 2009, Campus Kiva and High School Kiva will be pairing up to host the first annual Educational Community Web Summit. In addition to fantastic live guest speakers, including Kiva’s President, Premal Shah, and Jonathon Stalls, who is walking from Denver to Maine to support Kiva, we will be hearing from high school and college Kiva chapters nation-wide and microfinance partners in the field. Together, the entire Kiva community will learn about the roles and achievements of clubs and individuals from around the world.

In conjunction with the conference, Campus Kiva will be launching its brand new website, which will feature a discussion forum to continue the international educational dialogue about Kiva and microfinance.

The entire Kiva community is welcome to participate in order to learn more about Campus Kiva and High School Kiva.

RSVP is required to join the call. If you would like to participate please contact Josephine D'Allant at Josephine@campuskiva.org for the call in number.

For questions or further information, or if your chapter would like to submit a video to be included in the conference, please contact Josephine D’Allant at Josephine@campuskiva.org.

We hope you will join us on November 6th!

Here's what's new in the current release of Kiva!

Please tune into our next community conference call!