Kiva.org

So there's been a section on the freebie forums called Hey, It's Free…To Help People! for months now, which I have yet to do a darn thing with. But I decided to change that today.

A few days ago I heard about Kiva.org, which is a non-profit website that specializes in helping aspiring entrepreneurs in third world nations. Using microfinancing, they are given small loans to be used to improve their daily lives before they ultimately pay the loan back to us lenders. To idea is to enable people to help themselves individually instead of simply throwing billions of dollars in aide to a foreign government and hoping it trickles down to the people. In fact, Muhammad Yunus recently won the Nobel Peace Prize for his research into microfinancing and wrote a book called Banker To The Poor, where he details how effective the method is.

Just to give you an example, José Medina lives in Paraguay and is trying to raise $600 to purchase supplies for his handcrafts business. In 12 months time, he would have made enough money to repay the loan in full . They have had 2171 loans paid back in full and only 7 which have defaulted! Those are some darn good odds if you ask me.

Now, Kiva lets anybody loan money, but the minimum amount is $25. But I thought if anybody out there wanted to simply donate $5 or $10, that we could put our money together in a HIF pool or something and then pick a person to “sponsor” and help! It'd be kinda cool to think that all of us here at HIF specifically helped one person out there in the third world better their life!

So the basic plan of action is this: Donations of any amount can be sent to me, where I add them all together. No matter how much or little money we actually raise here, come September 12th, I'll post two or three different potential people that we can “invest” in to help them out. We'll take a day to pick a person and then I'll invest all the money I collected into their venture. We'll all be able to follow their progress along via Kiva.org I'll even post a progress bar here on HIF or something. Then when they ultimately (and hopefully!) succeed in their business, they'll pay me back. At which point, I'll announce that we need to pick a new person and start the process all over again!

The beauty of this is that your one time donation doesn't just help one person, but multiple people time and time again. If this is something nobody's interested in, no worries, but I thought since we all get so many freebies all the time, maybe we could muster up a little support and pass the baton to those who could really use it.

Thanks for taking part in this and here's to actually making a difference in the world!

About the Author:

I'm a nationally renowned freebie finder & sample vetter, which I never imagined I'd be doing while getting my Bachelor's Degree in History almost 20 years ago. In my spare time, I enjoy launching my own space program and disproving the Coriolis effect.

4 comments on “Kiva.org”

  1. Teresa,
    Did you know that there are so many organizations out there to help you, honey?? Especially now more than ever with the economy being what it is and so many people being in danger of losing their homes. The federal Government is forcing the banks to re-negotiate home loans to make them affordable for most people. They are even insuring the loans themselves in an attempt to stop all of the foreclosures that are occuring due to job loss and/or unscrupulous lenders/brokers. You obviously have access to a computer and this is great because this is the only thing you need to get started. Google Mortgage relief or Federal Gov. mortgage relief or the like (you get the picture, Right??) A whole host of entries should appear and pick and choose accordingly. BUT, BE CAREFUL. There are scam artists out there who are trying to prey on the already disadvantaged by charging fees and all sorts of costs associated with getting you in touch with the correct organization/company best suited to help you in your specific situation.

    DO NOT AND LET ME REPEAT DO NOT GIVE ANY PERSON/COMPANY/
    ORGANIZATION ANY MONEY WHATSOEVER, FOR ANY REASON. You should not have to pay ANY $$$ to receive help for any of the services out there that are legit. If they ask you for any financial INFO. make sure they are legit before you give it to them. If they ask for even a small fee- GO ELSEWHERE!!!

    Keep in touch on this posting as I’ll be monitoring it every few days and let me know if you need more specifics and I’ll try my best to help you. I feel for your situation and I’m truly sorry. I recently helped a friend save her home and I’m hoping to help you do the same. Hang in there and be persistent-DO NOT GIVE UP!!! Banks are not in the business to own homes they are in the business to make money. They do not want to own your home-believe it or not and they will usually try to help you stay in it by lowering your interest rate or extending the life of the loan to make the pymt.’s lower each month. In any case start with them.
    Very Sincerely,
    Robin

    Reply
  2. I’M NOT BEGGING; PLEASE DON’T THINK I AM. AND I REALIZE EVERYONE OUT THERE ARE HAVING HARD TIME’S. BUT I REALLY THINK WERE GOING TO LOSE OUR HOME. YOU SEE; THERE’S 6 OF US LIVING HERE AND ONE OF THEM 6 IS A LITTLE GIRL-I PRAY EVERYDAY THAT AT LEAST ONE OF THE 3 ADULT’S HIT’S ON A JOB. NOTHING IS HAPPENING AND MY POOR BROTHER HAS WENT THRU HIS SAVING’S;MY HUSBAND AND I ARE BOTH DISABLED AND MY SON AND DAUGTHER HAVE BEEN LOOKING ALSO LIKE MY BROTHER FOR A JOB. WELL, THE TOWN I LIVE IN PEOPLE JUST CAN’T FIND WORK AND UNLESS YOU HAVE REALLY GOOD TRANSPORTATION WELL THEN YOU CAN FORGET IT,THANKS FOR YOUR LOVING KIND EARS-GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

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