With 2009 came several New Year’s resolutions, one of which involves giving to one of my favorite nonprofit ventures called Kiva. For those of you unaware, Kiva is an organization that involves microlending to the world’s working poor. Kiva makes it possible for you to easily invest into people behind worthy projects you believe in on just about any continent with as low as $25 to get started. Kiva (US-based) partners with in-country microfinance partners who lend to entrepreneurs who apply for small loans in developing countries.
Say you want to help support a small grocery store in Kampala, Uganda run by a team of 6 women and they are in need of a small loan to buy more supplies to increase their inventory. Kiva makes this possible. The best thing about it is that Kiva was built for the everyday person who may not have thousands of dollars to give to a charity of their choice. Kiva allows you to easily start up a profile with as little as $25 and start lending in minutes.
Even better about Kiva is that the money you lend to a project is exactly that: a loan. That money is paid back to you over the term of the loan and you are able to reloan that money to another project beginning a cycle of giving. Another great purpose of Kiva that was important to me was the fact that people in developing countries are learning the principle behind lending for what you need, not necessarily for what you want. This is increasingly important in our debt-ridden society obsessed with having everything yesterday or the fact that more and more people are becoming reliant on government support for their daily needs. Kiva helps teach self-reliance and responsibility.
A couple of months ago I bought my father a gift certificate from Kiva for Christmas and showed him how it works. To my excitement, I think it was one of the best gifts I’ve ever given him. He is now lending to multiple projects on Kiva and building up his portfolio.
My pledge to Kiva is this: to lend $25 every two weeks for the year of 2009. That comes to a total of $650 for the year of 2009. Every two weeks I will feature a new project that I am supporting on Kiva in a short write-up. At the end of the year I will summarize where all my projects are in their repayment cycle and project a new goal for 2010.
I invite you to join me on Kiva by starting a profile for yourself and begin giving today. These project get funded fast but new projects are always coming in. Find one you can connect with and tell your friends about what you are doing on Kiva. If you have a story to tell about how Kiva impacted you, please comment below or email me. I would love to hear from you!
by Andre Blackman
17 Feb 2009 at 20:49
Hey Josef, what a great write up. I too have been having my eye on Kiva and will plan to get involved very soon. Over the past few weeks I have been getting more and more interested in mobile technologies for public health around the world and I am learning about the global situation better.
I will be signing up on Kiva shortly and looking forward to your posts!
by Josef Scarantino
17 Feb 2009 at 21:34
Andre, thank you for the kind compliment and kudos for your excellent blog on health and technology! I’m grateful that I can encourage even one person to get involved with Kiva. I will definitely be reading your blog as well. Thank you again.
by Marion Conway
20 Feb 2009 at 15:58
Josef,
This is a great post. I have just recently decided that it is important to have a philanthropic philosophy and tell others about it too. For the first time, my husband and I decided to address this issue in our Christmas letter; Here is the excerpt:
“In the last few years we have gotten more involved on a personal level at Saint Vincent’s Academy in Newark (where Marion went to high school) and at NJIT. We have decided that the focus of our charitable support will be on underprivileged high school students. Both NJIT and St. Vincent Academy have extra-curricula programs for these kids that expand awareness, skills and confidence in various topics such as art, culture and finance. Marion has been a mentor for SVA at many excursions and both of us have attended events at NJIT. Our involvement at both places has been inspirational and has given us a positive outlook for the future.”
I was surprised at the number of people who mentioned it and it stimulated some great conversations.
Kiva really is a wonderful concept and it seems to be bearing fruit all over the world. My son, who is 24, has adopted the same model that you have with Kiva with regular payday contributions and he has been very satisfied with the results.
Thanks for following me on Twitter and I look forward to following you too!
Marion
by Josef Scarantino
21 Feb 2009 at 11:16
Marion, thank you for the wonderful comment. I think it is a growing trend for people to become more socially concious during the holidays. I started a similar habit with my own Christmas giving a few years ago by making an effort to spend more money on gifts to nonprofits and charities that I know people would care about themselves. In the end, I found out that people really did find it more meaningful when you considered others less fortunate instead of buying that extra knick-knack that they likely do not need.
I’m planning on being a Kiva supporter for many years to come and hope that I can have a positive influence on others within my sphere of influence to think more conciously during the holidays. Thank you for posting!