Kiva - Microlending with a Purpose

My generation grew up seeing the Christian Children's fund commercials. The commercials always asked for viewers to call in and donate to children in impoverish countries that are in need. Though successful, those commercials are rarely seen these days because the Internet has replace them with micro-lending.

Kiva is an organization that lends money to entrepreneurs in third world countries that wish to create businesses for the purpose of being financially independent. It's mission is to alleviate poverty and connect people around the globe. Kiva is a micro-lending organization that has merged the recent "pay it forward" movement and brought it to a whole new level.

Kiva allows individuals to lend directly to entrepreneurs around the globe. As a lender, you can browse entrepreneurs profiles and choose someone who best suits your ideal profile. Loans range from 6-12 months and as a lender, you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. If you are satisfied with this process, you can then re-lend the money to someone else in need.

To do this, we are using the power of the internet to facilitate one-to-one connections that were previously prohibitively expensive. Child sponsorship has always been a high overhead business. Kiva creates a similar interpersonal connection at much lower costs due to the instant, inexpensive nature of internet delivery. The individuals featured on our website are real people who need a loan and are waiting for socially-minded individuals like you to lend them money