Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

I first posted in OOT about Kiva.org two and a half years ago:

http://archiveserver.twoplustwo.com/ubbt...rue#Post3755831

Since then, Kiva.org has really taken off, being featured on Oprah, The Today Show and in Clinton's book, "Giving".

Today I'm finally putting my money where my mouth is and I'm going to give my wife a couple hundred dollars in Kiva.org gift certificates for Christmas.

OOT often has "What should I buy my girlfriend?" threads, and Christmas is coming. So here's an idea for all you guys.

Kiva.org is a microlending site. They give loans to small businesses in the third world where a couple hundred dollars can be six months salary. When you join Kiva.org and put money into the site, you get to choose which businesses to fund. So you lend money to a farmer so he can buy a couple extra pigs and chickens. Or you lend money to a weaver to buy a better loom. Etc.

My wife spent yesterday afternoon rediscovering Kiva.org. She's an artist and some of her regular venues are farmers markets. So she's super-sympathetic since half these people are selling in local markets.

The loans aren't charity, the money gets repaid and at a rate that crushes traditional banking - Kiva.org has a 99.75% repayment rate. Nobody wants to be the one to screw it up for everyone else, and these are business people, not charity cases, so repayment is a matter of pride.

You don't get any interest on your loan, so you're foregoing whatever you would have made dumping the money in an ING account. So that is your "donation". At current ING type rates, that's around $5 per $100 loaned, per year. That's not a lot to pay to help turn someone's life around. And you get regular updates from your clients, easily worth it in "entertainment value".

Kiva.og has gift certificates. I was quickly and easily able to buy them with my credit card. They're printable (they don't actually mail anything) so anybody stuck last-minute, you're all set. Purchases are through Paypal. I haven't had an active Paypal account in years. You don't need a Paypal account and it was no problem for me to make the purchase without a Paypal account.

Obviously this is not for everyone. However, if your girl is at all "globally conscious" or "bleeding heart" this is a great gift! Or if you think a more "traditional" gift is important, as part of a larger gift - ie, Give her a $100 gift certificate to the spa to heal herself and a $100 gift certificate to Kiva.org to heal the planet.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

This is awesome actually, I am going to do this I think

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

BTW, once your loan or loans are repaid, you can take the money back out of the site or reinvest in another business or businesses.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

I found this a while back and never really got around to donating money, but I will now. Thanks for the reminder.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

I agree this looks very nice.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

According to the site, there are so many people trying to lend that they're capping the loans at $25 per business. So all you busto fools out there can contribute as well.

This is pretty cool CMAR. I'm definitely gonna do this.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

They do take donations, which are tax deductible and fund the administrative costs of Kiva.org itself. But the loans are not donations (unless you're unfortunate enough to get stuck with one of the few that default on their loan).

Well, I guess if you leave the money in circulation on Kiva.org and never take it out. It effectively becomes a donation. But the cash is always there waiting for you. Be like if you deposited money in the bank you never withdraw. You didn't really donate it to the bank...

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

[ QUOTE ]
According to the site, there are so many people trying to lend that they're capping the loans at $25 per business.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's what getting on Oprah will do!

Just ask any author...

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

I think they need to start getting some more money to build because it seems crazy that they are capping donations.

I don't even get the point of this. "So that everyone has a chance to donate we are limiting to $25!" So what is this? Just a masturbatory feel good effort for us?

If someone out there wants a $1000 loan and I want to loan him $1000, why limit me?

I guess I understand the site would die if they ran out of people looking for loans, but obviously there is no lack of people in 3rd world countries that would like loans to get businesses going.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

I expect it's a temporary administrative problem brought on by sudden growth from exposure on Oprah etc, the last couple months. They were just on Oprah in Sept, that's gotta be a HUGE boost that I'm sure they're still dealing with.

Presumably they only have a certain amount of staff and can only process so many applicants per day (etc). If they didn't cap loans they'd probably run out of borrowers faster than they can be replaced. They can't really go several days or weeks without any borrowers available or interest in the program would wither. Better to get new people signed up right away, when they're interested, rather than hope they'll come back when there are more borrowers.

I'm sure it's not a trivial process - They need "field partners" on the ground to assess applicants and then whatever administrative work Kiva itself needs to do. A big part of the point is they're not just rubber-stamping handouts to people but rather helping people with legit businesses.

It's also probably not a bad idea to encourage diversification of your loans. So if someone does default lenders aren't soured on the experience of losing all their money in one shot. If you make 10 loans for $25 each and 9 are repaid, you're still going to feel pretty good about the process. A lot better then if you made 1 loan at $250 and it defaulted.

They're saying the restriction is temporary, so hopefully if they're able to get more staff, volunteers, and/or field parters they'll lift the restrictions. If you'd like to help this out, I expect including a donation for Kiva itself along with funding a loan would be the best way to do it.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

Cool idea. This sounds like something my gf would like alot.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

CMAR,

Sounds good to me! Plus it gives me an excuse as a poor student to do this as Christmas gifts without breaking the bank.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

CMAR,

This is such an awesome idea. I'm like excited to give this to my girlfriend. Thanks!

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/5099/festivusch3.jpg

Like they're going to remember that they're owed 25 bucks in 6 months.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

lol

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

[ QUOTE ]
Cool idea. This sounds like something my gf would like alot.

[/ QUOTE ]

+1

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

Why $25?

From the website, clicking the "Why Only $25" link.

Thanks for supporting Kiva.org! Due to overwhelming user interest, we are temporarily limiting loan contributions to $25 per business so that everyone has a chance to make a Kiva loan. We appreciate your patience and look forward to removing this limit soon!

Sorry if it's already been posted, I just did a quick read over the replies.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

Yeah, you're limited to $25 per business at this time. So if you give someone a $100 gift certificate, they'd get to pick out 4 businesses to give loans to. I bought my wife a $200 gift certificate so she'll be making 8 loans.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

I have already been been paid back on 2 of my 3 loans I made this spring.

[ QUOTE ]
Dear XXXXX XXXXXX,

This email confirms that $25.00 of your loan to Maria Benita
Verastegui Rodríguez is now redeemable.

This amount can now be re-loaned to another business, donated to Kiva
or withdrawn.

Kiva


[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

WTF 0% interest? what a scam.






Seriously though, very cool. Can't wait til you can do more. I spend enough money on dumb crap, might as well risk it on someone. I think it'd be real cool to donate a few grand to one place and then see it succeed.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

Kiva staked me in the Sunday Million yesterday

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

[ QUOTE ]
Kiva staked me in the Sunday Million yesterday

[/ QUOTE ]lmao

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

From what I've seen, it looks like you want to pay attention to the "Field Partner" and their rating. These are the local organisations that actually administer the loans "on the ground".

You can actually get a list of all loans that have been defaulted:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=busines...rtBy=Popularity

Usually the "Field Partner" has a low rating in these defaults. So one or two star field partners should be considered fairly speculative. That's fine if you want to go that way, just be aware...

OTOH, you'll see five star field partners who've handled a thousand loans and never had a single default.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

This guy looks trustworthy, but there's just something about him that isn't quite right....




http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w...ah2179/idi.jpg

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

This thread is the bee's knees

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

This is definitely pretty neat. I'm wondering how it is different from www.MicroPlace.com which was just started by Ebay. Or isn't it?

Also, www.prosper.com is another one, but slightly different.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

[ QUOTE ]

The loans aren't charity, the money gets repaid and at a rate that crushes traditional banking - Kiva.org has a 99.75% repayment rate.

[/ QUOTE ]

This site is awesome, but I don't see how this claim could possibly be true.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

The loans aren't charity, the money gets repaid and at a rate that crushes traditional banking - Kiva.org has a 99.75% repayment rate.

[/ QUOTE ]

This site is awesome, but I don't see how this claim could possibly be true.

[/ QUOTE ]

Read the book "banker to the poor" by the bangladeshi guy who won the nobel prize in economics for his experiments in microlending. He started the whole thing in bangladesh and made it very community centered and stuff. His repayment was over 99% as well.

Basically, he structured it so you have to have multiple steps and blocks before you can actually get a loan. You join a community group, and get your loans one at a time. If one person fails to make decent progress toward repaying the loan, then the rest will likely never get loans, so the community pressure is intense. There are lots of community meetings and steps to take and so forth, and everyone knows exactly how everyone else behaves.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

Noah, I couldn't stop laughing.

So the field partners are like lone sharks?

Edited to remove picture

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

Cool beans. I think I'll be trying this out instead of Heifer Intl. as my charity gifts this year.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...eeindabowl.jpg

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

Part of my masters thesis focused on microcredit, thank you for this link, I will definitely be looking into this.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

just put 25$ on, + 2.50 for the site admin costs, hopefully mabel sunday in nigeria sells a lotta soft drinks

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

I really wish Idi the Nigerian had a lathe instead of a sewing machine

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

Seems like an awesome site, Definately something to consider for the holidays. Is it wrong for wising they would produce interest?

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

This is really awesome, thanks for sharing.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

This is great, my sister is the perfect candidate for this kind of gift. She's going to think I'm so thoughtful...muhaha

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

[ QUOTE ]
Seems like an awesome site, Definately something to consider for the holidays. Is it wrong for wising they would produce interest?

[/ QUOTE ]

Microplace.com or prosper.com

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

Bump.

It appears that you can now lend whatever amount you wish up to the full amount of the loan, for those of you that were interested.

Re: Kiva.org - Xmas gift suggestion for ballas
 

Anyone think about being a Field Partner? Looks like a great way for a poker player to give back, I'm definitely going to look into it.