Kiva: Loans That Help People in Need

Have you ever loaned some money through Kiva? If not, please consider this as a chance to change someone's life with a very small amount of money that will matter greatly to them.

I have been loaning money on Kiva for about two years now. As a college professor, I cannot afford much but the beauty of this organization is that you don't need to have a lot of money to help people. I currently have about $100 loaned to four different projects in different stages. One has already started repaying, one I just funded a couple of minutes ago to completion for a chicken coup project (Benjamin in the snapshot below).

Before I explain how it all works and why I'm doing it, I'd like to plug a Kiva project that urgently needs support. If it does not get funded in the remaining two days, Daniel will not get the loan he so desperately needs and my money will be returned to me, minus the Kiva fees that the organization charges for its operational expenses.

We all know how frustrating it can be when the help you are hoping for does not arrive, so please consider helping Daniel out. This project is the reason why I decided to write up this story in the first place, as I really don't want to see this project fail. I have already posted about it on my Facebook and Twitter accounts and am hoping to get some additional exposure here, on the wonderful creator community where people with big hearts dwell.

This happens on Kiva, but rarely: Some projects just don't get the traction and exposure to get funded. In that case, those who loaned the money will receive their refund. Most of them will just re-loan the money to another person in need. However, I put myself into Daniel's shoes and my heart breaks at the prospect that he won't get his loan. So please, again, if you can, help him out. Setting up an account on Kiva is very easy, they take credit cards, PayPal and other forms of payment, and it is really hassle-free. You can even opt out of the organizational fees if you are against them for some reason, and start out with as little as $5 for a loan.

I first found out about Kiva about five years ago, when I was actively raising funds for others on Kickstarter and GoFundMe and was exploring other platforms for charity. What makes Kiva unique is that you support the projects not through donations (even though there's an option for that as well) but through small loans. People who receive this life-changing money are very diligent about paying it back with a small interest.

It is very rare that the projects that receive Kiva's loans fail, their success rate is over 90%. I think the fact that people receive loans rather than donations is a strong motivational factor for them as they know that their hard work will be rewarded and they are not getting a free ride or pity money. They design and submit their business plan themselves, and Kiva is just a mechanism to fund it.

When the loan starts repaying, you'd get a small payment in interest that you can keep on Kiva and use it to pay their fees or accumulate it for another loan. At the end of the project, when the entire amount of loan is returned, most funders opt into funding another project rather than taking the money out completely. That way, you can get your own Kiva life cycle of projects to fund for as long as you want. I think of it as a small investment that will work in perpetuity and change people's lives for the better.

Kiva's website is simple and very easy to navigate. You can find projects from all over the world, in many areas of human activity and creativity. I personally like the idea that I help people in different parts of the world that I would otherwise probably never would heard of. So I hope this will move you to help out Daniel and others on Kiva.

Thank you for your support in advance.

UPD: Daniel’s loan has been funded. If you read this story and helped, I thank you from the bottom of my heart!