Sunday, October 16, 2005

Kiva is a very interesting microlending initiative. Allows anyone on the internet to make a micro-loan to an entrepreneur in Africa.

Unlike most charitible donations, the lender gets a connection with the individual, including regular updates by email. And possibly repaid. (Micro-credit typically has good repayment rate)

3 comments:

John Powers said...

I agree that Kiva is a really good idea and there are similar approaches to charitable donations where there is direct communication between donor and recipient.

What gives everyone pause is the idea that their donations will be wasted either through incompentence or theft.

Right now Kiva has a trusted network in Toro Uganda, built by one person there. So the question I have is how to build more of those networks in developing areas. And whether Kiva can be a model or an over-arching donor network. In other word should there be many more organizations like Kiva or should Kiva grow to include more trusted local networks around the globe.

John Powers said...

I agree that Kiva is a really good idea and there are similar approaches to charitable donations where there is direct communication between donor and recipient.

What gives everyone pause is the idea that their donations will be wasted either through incompentence or theft.

Right now Kiva has a trusted network in Toro Uganda, built by one person there. So the question I have is how to build more of those networks in developing areas. And whether Kiva can be a model or an over-arching donor network. In other word should there be many more organizations like Kiva or should Kiva grow to include more trusted local networks around the globe.

John Powers said...

Opps--sorry about the double post