At the end of 2011, my wife Jen and I decided we would give of either our time or our money at least once per week in 2012. We decided to donate at least two hours of our time or at least $25 each week. As we began the new year, many of our friends were interested in our new commitment, and so I decided to write about the organizations we work with and the experiences we have. The stories told here are meant to shed some light on volunteering - the kind of work that is out there, and the clientele that is served, and to provide information about who is making a difference out there, and what you can do to help. Please come back often and share our experiences as we move through our giving year.

Also, we are always looking for new organizations to work with, groups that are doing good work and could use either our hands or our money. If you know of a volunteer opportunity or worthy cause, please leave it in a comment. Thanks for your help!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Week 2 - Kiva Loan

This week we did not have a lead on a good volunteer opportunity, or could not get a spot on a volunteer crew.  We found out that these fill up pretty far in advance for places that are doing a lot of good.  Since we did have a good service opportunity, we decided to make a Kiva loan.

Kiva.org is a broker of micro loans.  These are loans given a relatively small amounts to people in developing nations for the purpose of expanding a small business, or starting one up.  The people who get these loans are in geographic locations and income brackets that the large banking industry has left behind.  Access to small amounts of credit allows them to support themselves whereas lack of credit might leave them dependent on charity or completely destitute.  The best part is that these are loans, and they get paid back, allowing the person making the loan to either recover the money or help someone else.  There is a great deal more information about micro loans and about the risks and rewards involved with them on the Kiva site, found at:

www.kiva.org

Our first Kiva loan went to a woman named Yugabet, in Kenya.  This is her profile from the site:

Yugabet is a resident of Mombasa, Kenya. She is married and has one child. Yugabet is a fish monger, a business she has run for one year. She learned of Milango from her friends.

Yugabet is applying for a loan of 80,000 Kenya shillings to purchase fish. Her main challenges include the high cost of products and transportation.

She will use the extra income from this loan to purchase a freezer and open a shop. 

 We chose to make this loan because we wanted to support a woman entrepreneur in Africa, although you can choose from many countries and many types of businesses.  We also chose this loan because we could give the last money needed to complete the loan.  "Milango", mentioned in the profile above, is the African partner to Kiva that actually makes the loan.  This loan is expected to be repaid in 11 months, in small increments.

Getting signed up with Kiva was easy, and we had no trouble making the first loan, although I was a little surprised by the automatic addition of a small donation to Kiva for operating expenses that popped up on the checkout page.  I was happy to contribute, but it was something I would have liked to hear about before checkout.  Overall, we recommend this site.


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