Othercat and Kiva
Ranked #1,243 in Nonprofits, #292,301 overall
Helping someone to build a better life
Today I finally joined Kiva. I'd heard people talk about it on the forum but every time it came up, I was busy doing something else. Today I was building a lens and I decided to take a break to check on FaceBook. The first post I saw was from SusannaDuffy talking about how happy she was to be able to give another loan to someone on Kiva. So I decided to drop everything else and finally find out what Kiva was. I found a great lens about it (see below) and decided it was something I wanted to do.
Squid graphic from More Squidoodles by Comfortdoc.
Please see copyright information.
What is Kiva?
Kiva is like the middle-man for lenders and entrepreneurs. They find people who need small loans to help their business and connect them with other people who are willing to lend them as little as $25. The loans are then repaid back over a period of a couple months. After the loan is repaid, you can choose to withdraw your money or loan it to someone else.
Kiva loans to entrepreneurs worldwide!
Join SquidKiva!
SquidKiva is a group on Kiva started by Kab. While each loan is attributed to the individual who loans it, it can also count towards your group total. In 2010, the group set a goal to have loaned out $6,000 total by the end of the year and they not only made it, they surpassed it! This year the goal is $11,000 total. That means $4,000 will need to be loaned out this year. If you would like to help, create your account on the SquidKiva Lending Team page or read the lens below to learn more about it.
My first loan
My first loan went to Shirley Sarte. She lives in Banga, South Cotabato, Philippines and has 2 children. In addition to running a sari-sari store, she also has a rice farm and raises pigs and ducks. She was asking for a $250 loan so she could purchase the fertilizer needed to grow the rice she sells in her community. By the time I reached her Kiva page, she only needed $25 more dollars to be fully funded. I was happy to lend her that.
One of the reasons I chose Shirley is because she's from the Philippines. My husband has an aunt from the Philippines and she's always telling us how hard everyone has to work, even when it's blisteringly hot outside. Out of respect for her, I'm going to focus my lending there.
SquidKiva Members
There are over 60 SquidKiva members, but I'm only going to show 5 at a time. Refresh the page, refresh the list.Donate to Kiva
100% of the loans made on Kiva go directly to the entrepreneurs. So they depend on donations to cover their operational costs. Right now, your dollar can stretch even further because your donation will be matched dollar for dollar by the Omidyar Network.
Kiva is the world's first online lending platform connecting online lenders to entrepreneurs across the globe. Make a loan to an entrepreneur in the developing world for as little as $25.
Are you ready to join Kiva?
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JeremiahStanghini Apr 8, 2011 @ 5:09 pm | delete
- Yay for KIVA!
With Love and Gratitude,
Jeremiah
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awelldressedbullet
Apr 1, 2011 @ 7:55 am | delete
- ~ Dropping by to leave my Angels April Fools' Day Quest Blessings ~
It may be April Fools Day, but this lens is no joke, thank you for your lens!
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carlajo73
Mar 26, 2011 @ 12:45 pm | delete
- This sounds like a neat organization!! I haven't heard of it before. Thanx for sharing!
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Margo_Arrowsmith
Mar 26, 2011 @ 6:01 am | delete
- Just about. Good for you now!
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LisaAuch
Mar 26, 2011 @ 5:05 am | delete
- This is fantastic, I personally do a lot for cancer research as it is close to my heart, but I just love the way Kiva works, off to find out even more.
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About Othercat
Creative Commons. © 2007 LensDoc (Kirsti A. Dyer). Some rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License.
Photos and text; © 2011 Catherine Taylor. All Rights ReservedReproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
by Othercat
I'm a Giant Squid, a Rocketmom graduate and the official Squid Angel for the Mental Health category. My kids are on Squidoo too!
I'm married to a wonderful...
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