Janice, has a passion for service and getting others jazzed about doing good. As the captain and founder of the Kiva lending team Women United, she successfully invited more than 50 friends and family to lend with her on Kiva and has helped grow the team to more than 700 members. 

Their focus? Empowering women through education, business and home improvement loans. 

“By focusing on girls and women, the Women United team can aid in spurring economic progress, expanding markets, and improving health and...

Every year, 5th grade students in Rene deBerardinis’ social entrepreneurship class at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia, PA, learn about microfinance through an experiential class project. The project gives students the opportunity to become both borrowers and lenders. First, students form product teams to create business plans for small venture ideas. Students receive microloans to purchase the supplies they need to implement their ideas, and pay back their loans with the sales they make at an annual Kiva-branded market. The profits from their sales...

The Kiva community is rallying to raise $1 million in loans for refugees and internally displaced people by World Refugee Day, June 20.

When Samira and her family fled the violence of the civil war in Syria for Lebanon, they thought they would be back in their own home within months, with enough time to get the kids enrolled in the next school session....

The Kiva community is rallying to raise $1 million in loans for refugees and internally displaced people by World Refugee Day, June 20.

It was a minute that changed everything: Walida and her family were taking cover in their home in Syria to shield themselves from the ongoing bombing and fighting in the streets. In the chaos, they did not realize...

The Kiva community is rallying to raise $1 million in loans for refugees and internally displaced people by World Refugee Day, June 20.

Just off the Gihembe refugee camp’s main street is the community’s first carpenter. His name is Lubingo, and he owns Gisanga Family Carpentry with his wife and sons. 

The family is well known inside and outside Gihembe for their excellent woodworking, and their affordable furniture is found in many of the camp’s homes and businesses. But this wasn’t always the case,...

Since opening her street corner bakery in Oakland, Calif., in late 2017, Reem Assil has been busy. Assil took out a $25,000 Kiva loan to invest in equipment and inventory for her first restaurant, Reem's California, which serves up Arab bread. It also acts as an anchor in the Fruitvale neighborhood, providing good jobs for those with barriers to employment, delicious nourishing food and a healthy dose of social justice. The restaurant has received glowing media attention and garnered awards across the country, including a Best Chef nod from the James Beard Foundation for Assil herself....

On April 22, the international community celebrated Earth Day. To commemorate the holiday at Kiva, we published 2 stories about loan types that go to populations grappling with global climate change. The first story concerned agricultural loans, while the other tackled loans for clean water and sanitation...

Access to clean water and sanitation have long been considered universal and basic human rights by much of the international community. In fact, the United Nations considers it a key part of its Sustainable Development Goals, a blueprint laid out in 2015 to mitigate the effects of human-caused climate change and improve the global populations’ overall quality of life by 2030.

In developed countries, it can be easy to forget that about 1 in 10 people on Earth lack access to clean water. Half of the people who today drink from contaminated water sources live...

In a matter of days, Kiva lenders backed a $10,000 Kiva loan to one of the best restaurants in the United States at the beginning of April. Philadelphia's El Compadre, formerly South Philly Barbacoa, has received national attention for years for their slow-cooked lamb tacos, but a recent wave of press and attention following the restaurant’s feature in a Netflix documentary hosted by celebrity chef David Chang pushed their current location to its standing-room limit, necessitating an expansion.

El Compadre founder Christina Martinez, who co-owns...

Kiva loves to celebrate its interns and the meaningful work that they accomplish every day. Halfway through the internship cycle, we sat down with a few of them to hear about their work and how their time at Kiva has impacted them. Read below to hear what Kiva interns have to say about their experiences.

Olivia Cornfield – Kiva U Team (SF)

What led you to Kiva?

I studied cognitive science in college and was really interested in the idea of neuroplasticity, growth and how people can change and grow toward what they want...

In celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8, will you join us in rallying to support the dreams of 10,000 women by backing their loans? To kick off this celebration, spread some inspiration by watching and sharing this video marking International Women’s Day.