"The Kiva loan impacted my business financially, but it impacted me as a person as well. I had a lot of growth, which is priceless."
- Danielle, owner of Prepped Place LLC
Resources for Kiva U.S. Trustees
Trustees are organizations invested in economic development in their communities. These organizations are often already providing wrap-around services to small business owners in their community, and they use their strategic relationships to source entrepreneurs they believe would benefit from Kiva’s loan product. They may then publicly vouch for these individuals as borrowers on the Kiva website via “endorsements.”
Trustees add credibility to a borrower by vouching for their character, business, and social impact. Before endorsing a borrower, a Trustee should feel confident that the borrower has done the work to be successful in their industry and that they will be able to commit to repaying the loan. Additionally, a Trustee should be sure that the loan will increase business revenue, and that this growth will have a positive impact on the borrower’s business and the community at large.
Please see here for the complete list of Kiva Trustees: https://www.kiva.org/trustees * Ensure to uncheck the box that says “Fundraising Only” to see the full list.
Many borrowers on Kiva are "endorsed" by a Trustee – Trustees can be organizations such as start-up accelerators, local governments, CDFIs, or technical assistance providers. Those are just a few of the many Trustee classifications.
The role of the Trustee is to vouch for the character and credibility of the small business owners they are endorsing on the Kiva website. Data collected over the last few years has shown us that, the longer the relationship between a borrower and their Trustee, the higher the borrower's repayment rate.
Due to a large volume of applications, our Trustee program is invite-only at this time. If interested, please email us at trustees@kiva.org with information about your organization and why you believe working with Kiva U.S. is a good fit.
We break this down into 4️⃣ key items:
Identify: Reach out to businesses and entrepreneurs in your network who would benefit from a 0%-interest, zero-fee, crowdfunded Kiva loan.
Evaluate: Endorse borrowers based on your understanding of their business and your perception of the impact they will generate thanks to a Kiva loan. *Review successful borrower criteria in the Trustee Resources section.
Support: Set expectations with borrowers for the application review criteria and crowdfunding timeline and provide support throughout the Kiva loan lifecycle, gauging level of support needed based on borrower's unique circumstances.
Monitor: Trustees do not have a financial or legal liability for their endorsed borrowers’ repayment, but your public profile and Trustee status do reflect the repayment rate of your borrowers. Your repayment rate also determines whether you may continue to act as a Trustee.
As a Trustee, your organization has a micro-lending tool at your disposal that allows you to...
Invest in your community: By helping entrepreneurs gain access to funding to start or grow a business, you have the chance to make an integral impact in your community.
Track your impact over time: Trustees can track and share data on the loans they endorse to communicate their impact to funders and raise grant funding.
Increase the exposure of your organization: Your Trustee profile page publicly showcases your organization and impact to date and is visible to Kiva’s 2+ million lenders around the world
Build local networks: A Trustee can further rally support for local businesses through the Kiva platform by forming a local lending team. To learn more about teams on Kiva, visit this page.
Serve as business proof for your borrowers: Applicants with a Trustee endorsement can use that endorsement as an official business proof on their Kiva loan application (in lieu of a government-issued business proof, for example).
Empower your community by inviting entrepreneurs you think might be a fit for a Kiva U.S. loan. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to invite and endorse borrowers:
1️⃣ Create your profile: Let us know why you want to become a Trustee to receive an application. Your [Trustee] profile will appear on your borrower’s (public) loan profile on Kiva.org. Make sure you give some thought to the questions in the Trustee profile!
2️⃣ Invite borrowers: The easiest way for you to get started is to invite potential borrowers in your community who could benefit from the Kiva U.S. program. Check out some of our templates to help spread the word about Kiva!
3️⃣ Endorse borrowers: As soon as an individual starts a Kiva U.S. loan application, you can endorse them via your dashboard* – all we need is their name and email address and you’ll be on your way! Once an individual is endorsed, they must approve your endorsement.
*Every Trustee has their own dashboard where they can manage their impact to date as well as see all borrowers that have been endorsed. We’ll showcase your impact over time as you endorse more and more entrepreneurs in your community.
First you'll navigate to your Trustee Dashboard and manually search for the name of the borrower or the name of their business.
The loan will show up as long as the application has been started, even if it has not yet been submitted to Kiva for review. This process should take less than 60 seconds, as demonstrated by this video, which we recommend you watch after logging into your Trustee Dashboard.
Loan applications will be reviewed by Kiva HQ, and applicants will be notified if they are approved for a Kiva loan. (See here for more information about the Kiva U.S. application review process.)
Trustees are copied on the email communications sent to borrowers, i.e., the loan qualification email, the welcome-to-Kiva-crowdfunding email, etc.
There is no limit to the number of loans a Trustee can endorse, provided you abide by Kiva policies.
Ask yourself…
Do I believe in their character? 🤝
Is this person committed to their business?
Do I believe they are the type of person who will commit to repaying the loan, even when the going gets tough?
Would I lend this person money?
Do I believe in their business? 🏬
Have I seen this person’s business plan and financials?
Has this person done the work to be successful?
Do I understand what they’ll use the loan for and how it will impact their business?
Will the loan help to increase revenue and enable repayment?
Will this loan have a positive social impact? 🌐
Will the loan have a positive impact on the community?
Will the loan have a positive impact on the entrepreneur and their family?
Many factors influence the loan amount an individual eventual qualifies for.
For example, an applicant's starting loan / minimum loan will be determined by things such as:
Debt-to-income ratio
Proof of separate bank accounts for business and personal finances
Government-issued business proof (local, state, or federal)
*Please note that approval decisions are subject to change due to other factors in the loan application such as the industry, risk, and impact of the business. Click here to learn more about Kiva's unique underwriting.
You may not yet have signed the Trustee Terms of Use, which you must do to be able to endorse loans. Please follow these steps to sign the contract:
Log in and go to https://www.kiva.org/my/Trustee and click "Edit Trustee profile.”
Read and sign the contract, and confirm on the "review" page that it's complete.
If this does not solve the problem, please email trustees@kiva.org and provide screenshots – this will enable our team to troubleshoot in the most effective way.
Yes, Trustees may support individuals through the Kiva U.S. loan application process.
📑 However, the applicant must be present and must be actively participating in filling out the application. The applicant must also be the one to sign the application.
Employees or volunteers of current Trustees may apply for a Kiva U.S. loan except for the following restrictions, and their relationship to Kiva must be disclosed on the relevant public-facing loan page on Kiva’s website (personal story). These individuals may not be endorsed by the Trustee:
Main supervisor for the Kiva program within the [Trustee] organization
Directly working on the Kiva program at the [Trustee] organization
If a Trustee has a familial relationship with, or sits on the board of a Kiva U.S. borrower's business, this must be disclosed on the relevant public-facing loan page on Kiva’s website (personal story).
If a Trustee has a direct investment in a business, their endorsement cannot result in a higher loan amount, and this investment must be disclosed on the relevant public-facing loan page on Kiva’s website (personal story).
Please email trustees@kiva.org and request to change your account status to "hidden." When “hidden”...
Nobody can see your public Trustee profile anymore, nor can you.
Your endorsements and endorsed loans are still public.
You cannot endorse any new loans.
Policies at a glance:
Kiva does not accept Trustee-specific edits or addenda to the Terms of Use contract.
No Trustee may endorse a borrower without signing the Trustee Terms of Use.
Key policies from the Trustee Terms of Use (copied in full in Section 3 of the Trustee Terms of Use ) that would result in closing the Trustee’s account:
Do not transmit any spam, solicitation, or advertising to any users on Kiva.org or through information made available to you through your relationship with Kiva.
Do not submit fraudulent or inaccurate information to the Kiva website.
Submitting a borrower's loan application without the borrower's understanding and consent constitutes fraud.
Do not request any money or other goods or services from borrowers in exchange for endorsing them on Kiva.
Do not physically, verbally or otherwise intimidate or abuse the borrowers you endorse on Kiva.
Eligibility
Multiple branches of the same organization may each create a Trustee profile, but each branch should have a separate person managing the profile.
No organization can have individual level Trustee accounts. Each Trustee account must be in the name of their organization, or local organizational chapter (e.g. Catholic Charities San Jose and NOT Jim Jones).
Each organization or local branch of an organization can only have one Trustee account that is connected to a more general organizational e-mail. Individuals cannot sign up as themselves and use their personal emails.
Borrowers whose business/organization wants to become a Trustee can become Trustees after they’ve repaid at least six months of their own loan, and if they are on-time on their loan.
Trustees cannot charge clients for its support in accessing a Kiva loan
Many of Kiva’s Trustees are technical service providers who are nonprofits and for-profits and who may host business courses, etc. to clients in return for a fee. This is permissible; however, the Trustee must make it clear to the borrower that the Kiva US Loan application process is free.
Data
Trustees may not ask for more data than what is provided to them in their Trustee dashboard. This is to protect the privacy of borrowers.
If you are interested in getting more in-depth data, consider becoming a Kiva Hub.
📑 Full Trustee Terms of Use here
With a revolving loan fund on Kiva.org, both organizations and individuals can maximize their impact in the sectors and countries of their choice. Loan matchers can re-lend their funds again and again, multiplying their impact and helping Kiva.org borrowers get funded twice as fast.
1️⃣ Set your criteria: When you set up a matching account with Kiva, you define where you want the dollars to go—the countries, sectors and causes most important to you.
2️⃣ A badge appears on supported loans: As Kiva lenders browse through fundraising loans, they’ll see a x2 badge with your display name on borrower profiles that fit your criteria.
3️⃣ Loans are automatically matched: When lenders support a qualifying borrower, a loan for the same dollar amount will also be made from your matching account as long as funds last.
Loan matching partners who make a commitment of over $50,000 receive:
Tailored impact: Choose the sectors and geographies you care most about.
Rapid response: Deploy funds efficiently to meet your chosen lending criteria.
Public acknowledgement: Visibility of your loan matching publicly displayed on Kiva.org.
Integrated analytics: Comprehensive data reporting.
Tax deductibility and maximized funds, depending on how your contribution is structured.
Bank of America: Through a partnership with Kiva, Bank of America matches loans for women entrepreneurs. Bank of America has helped catalyze nearly $600,000 in fully funded loans, including by participating in Kiva initiatives such as the International Women’s Day Matching Campaign.
LISC: Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), another partner of Kiva’s, sponsors a one-to-one matching fund to help borrowers reach their crowdfunding goal. Borrowers work with a LISC Trustee to qualify.
If the application FAQs, crowdfunding FAQs, repayment FAQs, or Trustee FAQs did not answer all of your questions, please share those with our team at trustees@kiva.org. Thank you.