Want to do some good in the world but haven’t been bitten by a radioactive spider yet? Kiva might be just the thing you’re looking for.
It’s been a while since I’ve shared our Kiva experience on the blog – so much so someone has mentioned the fact to me. So this month I’ve stepped up. Here’s our latest Kiva loan:
Sabina raises broiler chickens which she later sells in the community. She is asking for a loan of two hundred and fifty dollars ($250) to buy chickens and their feed for them. With this, she plans to have more income for her family.
You don’t even need a lot of money to get started. Or, for that matter, a monthly contribution. Loans are funded by multiple people each contributing US$25 each – no matter how big or small the loan required is. If you only want to do one loan then that’s all you need to put in. No one is going to be pressuring you to do any more than you decide to do yourself.
Here’s what Kiva says about the whole process:
1 Choose a borrower
Read through hundreds of borrower stories of people looking for loans to grow businesses, go to school, switch to clean energy and more. Find someone who connects with you.
2 Make a loan
Click ‘Lend’ to make a loan to the borrower of your choice. All Kiva loans are disbursed by our Field Partners who vet and work closely with each borrower.
3 Get repaid
Get updates as the borrowers you support succeed and repay their loans. You’ll see these dollars return to your Kiva account.
4 Repeat!
When borrowers repay, you can use that money to empower another person by supporting a new loan! You can also choose to donate the money to Kiva or withdraw it.
Yes! Withdrawing your own money once it’s been repaid IS an option.
Interested in checking it out? Here’s a link to the Kiva site. There’s lots of information there about how it works and the sort of good it does. Even if you decide to look now and join later and loan later still – all good. It’s up to you.
Just look me up when you get there 🙂
BFLI’s latest Kiva Stats
233 readers have joined
1344 loans by readers have been made
Our Family’s Personal Stats
210 loans
70 countries
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~ raising a family on little more than laughs ~
How does one find you on kiva I was sure l had joined up under you but you are no longer on my team list l did a search on you but l could not get you to come up.
Susan.
I’m part of three teams – ‘Paying It Forward’, ‘Australia’, and ‘Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious’
Also, we’re TEAM DEVEREAUX 😀
Thanks for this Bruce. I have been living in Manilla for three years now and I will be returning there on a more or less permanent basis once I sell my house here in Melbourne. I am involved with a programme that helps parents put their kids through school, but it seems to me that this is simply the tip of the iceberg, the poverty there is horrendous. We are hoping to buy a property in Laguna when we return and once that is dealt with, I would like to actually do something rather than chest beating and posturing. I am a retired wood turner and was considering doing something with those skills, but your post has given me something else to think about. Thanks for your efforts and please keep on blogging, your efforts are most enjoyable. Regards and thanks, Russell Painter
TEAM DEVEREAUX did not come up with any search on it.
Try going to Sabina’s loan and you’ll see me amongst the lenders 🙂 http://www.kiva.org/lend/949054