Big news! We just got word that we’ve been invited onto the new Kiva blogger team, to support their mission to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. An honor beyond measure, indeed.
In case you haven’t heard of them, Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.
Basically, you can lend as little as $25 to a resourceful mother, entrepreneurial collective, budding leader, and/or talented artisan and they turn that modest amount into ventures that bolster their communities, feed their children, and foster better, brighter futures, all thanks to your loan.
And YES, it’s a LOAN. You get your money back. In fact, Kiva loans boast a repayment rate of more than 98%.
Since it was co-founded by spousal-preneurs – Matt Flannery and Jessica Jackley – and since we’ve been invested in the like-minded MicroCredit-NH for four years, you can imagine how well we jibe with Kiva’s vibe. And yes, that rhyme was too good to resist.
But there’s bigger news to be shared. Kiva made it to the $1 million round in the Chase Community Giving challenge, along with 99 other deserving non-profit organizations. Now, if it were any other organization, $1 million would do $1 million worth of work. For Kiva, and the entrepreneurs they support, $1 million will go much, MUCH further. From the Kiva Blog:
Winning the Chase Community Giving challenge would enable Kiva to make critical investments in staff to strengthen and expand Kiva’s Field Partner network while building and improving the Kiva website to better educate, connect, and serve Kiva lenders. By investing in Kiva’s unique model, we can generate about $10 in loans from the internet community for every $1 of award money we spend building and improving the platform.
You read it right – $10 million in loans to lift hard-working, business-minded people in third-world countries out of abject poverty. They can do it…with your vote. But you only have until Friday January 22nd to help. Here’s all you have to do:
1. Go to Facebook and add the Chase Community Giving application. (If you’re not a big fan of adding apps, don’t worry – you can always remove the app after it’s all over.)
2. Once the app is added, you’ll see a prompt asking you to become a Fan of the Chase Community Giving Fan Page in order to be eligible to vote.
3. Finally, go to the “Leaderboard” (everything on the site is prominently marked), and find “Kiva Microfunds” in the list. Currently, they’re #14 with a bullet. Click on their link, and you’ll be brought to their page.
4. Vote for ‘em!
5. Take Chase up on the convenient offer to post a note to your profile that you voted for Kiva, so you can spread the word far and wide through your network. Think Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, your blog, YouTube — all those social channels, there for you to make the world a better place with a few quick shout outs to your Friends, Fans, Followers, Subscribers, and Connections.
Easy peasy. That’s how a few clicks turns into a cool $10 million!
