Giving has never been more convenient

Not so long ago, it was a commonplace to come by excuses like - "Oh, donations are not transparent. You never know where your money goes", "I want to give, but I'm just too busy to spend the time and put in the effort" etc. A powerful synergy of technology and an innovative business model gives a straight forward solution - a seamless, integrated, transparent, easy-to-use, global philanthropic tool.


Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world. The way it works is simple:
1. You give money to a NGO anywhere in the world
2. NGO collects the money from you and others who loaned
3. NGO gives all the money to the local poor entrepreneur who needs it
4. Entrepreneur makes the investment and repays the loan to local NGO
5. Local NGO repays the loan back to you - you may withdraw or re-invest the money back to another entrepreneur!
All you do is actually login to a website, choose an entrepreneur, make the loan and carry on with your life - can it get simpler?!!


One of my friend had mentioned -

Kiva is creating an impact. This week alone Kiva lent out nearly $800,000, and 7000 more people started lending. The default rate is 2.85 percent and the delinquency rate is 2.21 percent. Incredible. I looked at some interesting benchmarks. The average Kiva lender has lent $134 to date and received $75 back through 3.6 loans. This isn't the total amount lent out. It includes all the loans through money that was recycled. $59 is still in the system and in June there are 400,000 lenders, which means Kiva has $24MM in the system right now. One billionnaire could increase that amount 50 times. Even at a 2-3 percent delinquency rate, that is a 25 percent better return than the Nasdaq. The personal social return is priceless.

Now that makes not just personal satisfaction, but even a rational business sense!


Kiva was founded by Harvard and Stanford graduates and the management & administration team cannot be more qualified or experienced - this is a sharp contrast to most NGOs I've come across. Social Entrepreneurship, Community Service organizations, SHGs, NGOs are professional business organizations and have to be run with a discipline of any business organization. It took a Kiva to make the world understand this. In short, if you are not pretty damn good enough, you just cannot be a part of a community initiative no matter how noble your thoughts are. Kiva is here to make a difference to this world and has people who actually can do that, not just anybody. Kiva is supported by most of the Fortune 100 companies of the likes of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Paypal, Intel and even companies that touch your everyday lives like Starbucks, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube etc.

Giving cannot get simpler or more transparent. Visit Kiva by clicking on any of the Kiva banners on this post and I bet you will spend at least half hour just WOWing at the numerous things you can do with Kiva - from lending to volunteering. Anything you do with Kiva has a measurable impact. Visit my Kiva lender page to know what impact I made, how much, when and where - everything!