$41mil Raised Through Kiva Micro Loans
Kiva.org is an amazing service that provides micro-credit loans to business people all over the developing world. I tried to log-in today and make a loan myself but then I saw the amazing news that they had actually funded every single loan on the site and managed to rasie over $41 million for business people in the developing world.
This really is an amazing way for people in richer countries to help people in the developing world. Here's what I like about it:
1. You lend money through Kiva so you do get it back
2. It's perfectly transparent, you know EXACTLY how, who and where you money is being spent on
3. It's very easy to set up, just go to Kiva.org and set up an account in about 10 minutes
4. When you get the amount of money you lent paid back, you can easily re-lend it
This to me certainly is the right model for humans to help other humans out going forward, I hope all the major aid agencies and charities can take a look at how Kiva works and implement some of their techniques. Although it's quite sad, a big reason people I know don't give more charity is because of a lack of transparency, with the Kiva this isn't an issue. After all if you were giving money (lending actually) wouldn't you be more willing to give if you knew exactly who you were helping and how you helped them?
This really is an amazing way for people in richer countries to help people in the developing world. Here's what I like about it:
1. You lend money through Kiva so you do get it back
2. It's perfectly transparent, you know EXACTLY how, who and where you money is being spent on
3. It's very easy to set up, just go to Kiva.org and set up an account in about 10 minutes
4. When you get the amount of money you lent paid back, you can easily re-lend it
This to me certainly is the right model for humans to help other humans out going forward, I hope all the major aid agencies and charities can take a look at how Kiva works and implement some of their techniques. Although it's quite sad, a big reason people I know don't give more charity is because of a lack of transparency, with the Kiva this isn't an issue. After all if you were giving money (lending actually) wouldn't you be more willing to give if you knew exactly who you were helping and how you helped them?
