Blog posts tagged with lending

Dec 12, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

We know you come to Kiva to lend — but we rely on optional donations from lenders like you to reach financially excluded people all over the world! Here’s why:

1. A loan is different from a donation

A loan is the money you send to our incredible borrowers around the world. These loans change lives for men, women, and children every day. From farmers to students to small business entrepreneurs — you lend because you know that everyone deserves an opportunity to build their own future.

A donation...

Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Thank you for the impact you’ve made in 2019! Together we funded more than 170,000 loans and raised more than $120 million for financially excluded people around the world. It costs us more than $3 to facilitate each $25 loan. Since every dollar lent on Kiva goes to the field, we rely on optional donations from individuals like you to cover our operating costs. Every dollar makes an impact on our progress and the borrowers we serve.

But what do your donations really do? Here are just a few highlights from this year that could not have happened...

Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Welcome to Nehalem, Oregon, a town full of hardworking men and women who have left their office careers for more hands-on work in rough fields and muddy waters. It’s become a Kiva community as well, with borrowers who have taken out loans for everything from irrigation equipment to restaurant renovation.



Nehalem is a small town situated on the northern Oregon coast, just over an hour west of Portland.

 

Patrick Rock, co-owner of local restaurant...

Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Many dream of becoming leaders and change-makers to create opportunities for others. Obstacles often stand in their way to reach these dreams. They can either stop dreaming or work through them. 

An inspiring young woman from Mombasa, a coastal town in Kenya, journeyed to the United States with a dream to bring prosperity to the world. Since she was a child, Tabitha wanted to become a social leader. 

Tabitha has been living her dream for the past 11 years, gaining experience in diverse sectors. She started her career as a Resource Development...

Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ
It's been quite a year, and here at Kiva we're taking a moment to reflect on the impact we've made together. 

The impact Kiva has around the world is entirely because of you, and that’s pretty incredible. Your support has enabled us to take what was once a “hopeful corner of the internet” and turn it into a global movement for financial inclusion. 

You have proven that it’s possible to harness the goodwill of the crowd to lift up our neighbors across the globe - and they’re grateful for you, too! 

... Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Do you have a question that isn't answered here? Check out our Help Center here.

How it works

Why is Kiva making this change?
How do I edit my auto-lending settings? 
What constitutes inactive credit? / What do I have to do to keep my account active? 
I'm seeing delays in my funds being auto-lent. What's going on?
Will my credit be lent out just once if it becomes inactive, or ongoingly? 
Does this work differently than the existing auto-lending tool? 
Is there a minimum credit balance for auto-lending to take...

Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

It’s not easy to take care of animals. They must be fed, sheltered and their health must be monitored on a daily basis.

Vera is a 46-year-old mother of 3 who does just that. She lives in a village with a flawed water drainage system that causes flooding almost every year, as it's below sea level.

Albania is a small country in southeastern Europe's Balkan Peninsula. With a population of more than 2.5 million, many Albanians like Vera are excluded from basic financial access like Vera.

"My cows and pigs were not sleeping well and could not be...

Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Many of our Kiva borrowers are entrepreneurs who need Kiva microloans to pursue their passions, whether it’s to expand their current business or create a new one. Here at Kiva, we love supporting our past borrowers who have successfully established their businesses thanks to Kiva loans. Read on to learn about all of the ways lenders can continue supporting our borrowers even after they’ve repaid their loans!

 

Apothecary Muse

The perfect cross...
Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

When it comes to combining passions, Ben Martin knows what he’s doing. The veteran and winemaker is in his fifth year of owning and operating Dauntless Wine Co., which serves the veteran community by employing veterans and sending proceeds to veteran support groups.

Ben Martin is a veteran who founded, owns and operates Dauntless.

Martin, a Kiva borrower from Forest Grove, Oregon, is excited about the future of veterans in the winemaking community.

“There's just something about it...

Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

California Governor Gavin Newsom works in a situation room dealing with the rapidly-increasing fires in the state.

In the United States, Kiva provides entrepreneurs access to 0% interest, no-fee loans up to $10,000. Because these loans on Kiva are backed by Kiva’s community of impact-driven lenders, Kiva is able to work with some of the highest impact clients that typically are overlooked by traditional lenders.

In the past several months, Kiva has been building strategic...

Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Kiva is going mobile!

Meet the mobile app developers of the Kiva office in Portland. Android developer Brian Plummer, senior iOS and Android developer Zachary Heusinkveld, Android engineer Morgan Lutz and lead mobile software engineer Eric Jensen are making magic happen for Kiva’s brand new mobile app, rolling out next spring.

Interview conducted by Casey Miller and photographed by Claire Primack.



...
Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Victor Manuale made an income for the first time when he was 13. His first client was a woman in Barranquilla, Colombia. She asked him to pick some honey for her from a nearby town called Carmen de Bolivar. 

Ever since then, Victor has been transporting natural products from Carmen de Bolivar to Barranquilla.

Victor went through many obstacles in his career, including when his brother-in-law fell ill and was unable to help him with the business. Victor had to work overtime. 

“My advice for others in this type of...

Continue Reading >>
Oct 10, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Meet our featured lender, Jacqueline Prester! Mrs. Prester is a business teacher and instructional technology specialist at Mansfield High School in Massachusetts. She’s been nationally recognized for her contributions to education in the areas of technology integration, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and STEM. 

Mrs. Prester’s entrepreneurship class is very special to us because of its massive contributions to Kiva loans! Each year, high school students research different loan applications on Kiva.org and decide which loans to spend their class funds...

Continue Reading >>
Oct 10, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Donate to Kiva today and help us invest in groups like Cacao de Aroma.

“As a kid, I saw the majority of people cultivate coca.” - Jarver Gonzales, Cacao Farmer
Life as a Cocalero

Like thousands of children in the northern jungle of Peru, Jarver Gonzales and Jorge Luis Trujillo both grew up seeing their fathers cultivate coca leaves,...

Continue Reading >>
Oct 10, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Kofi Friar is the I.T. manager at Kiva. He’s been at the company for over 2 years and continues to demonstrate his Kiva passion every day! It also helps that his pup, Ninja, is everyone’s favorite office dog! 

Interview conducted by Casey Miller and photographed by Claire Primack.

Fun fact: Kofi has a passion for fashion, and designed the shirt you see in his interview photos.
Around the...
Continue Reading >>
Oct 10, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Suzana doesn’t let her heart condition stop her from providing for her family. She wants to make sure her family is provided with all their basic needs.

Suzana is one of 2,500 ethnically Egyptian people in Albania. As a minority, this community is financially marginalized and members often have difficulty accessing loans and proper health care.

Working is difficult for Suzana because she suffers from a heart condition. However, she has been able to provide for her family by growing crops on a small plot of her family’s land.

Suzana wanted to...

Continue Reading >>
Oct 10, 2019 KV Kiva HQ
Many years ago, Levan’s grandparents started their own hostel business in Tbilisi, Georgia. His grandmother designed the building herself and Levan is certain that his interest in architecture comes from her. 
 


When Levan decided to pursue a university degree in architecture, he needed to get a loan. Instead of borrowing money from his family to pay a higher interest loan, Levan received a $375 loan from Kiva. This enabled him to be more independent, cover his own finances and relieve the financial burden on his family. 
 
He’s now in... Continue Reading >>
Oct 10, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

To celebrate our massive milestone of lending $1 billion to women, we had an amazing week-long celebration! With plenty of lending credits, borrower stories, and shared generosity, the Kiva community had so much fun interacting with each other and seeing just how strong we could be together.

Last week alone, the Kiva community came together to fund over $4 million in loans to women around the globe. That’s almost 10,000 more women who can now finance their dreams. 



Lenders like you continue to prove that...

Continue Reading >>
Oct 10, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

In October 2019, Kiva crossed the $1 BILLION dollar mark in loans to women around the world. That’s huge. That’s $1,000,000,000 deployed to almost 3 million women in 94 countries. But we couldn’t do it alone - this progress is all thanks to YOU, our incredible community. It takes a village to raise $1 billion. The Kiva village is diverse and powerful - lenders, volunteers, Field Partners, employees and corporate partners all came together to make this impact happen. 
 

Lenders

7th and 8th grade...
Continue Reading >>
Oct 10, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

There’s a saying that goes: “Don’t give me a fish, teach me how to catch it.” We’d say this encapsulates Kiva’s mission pretty well.

Over 14 years, Kiva has crowdfunded more than $1.3 billion in loans for entrepreneurs, farmers, students, educators, and more in over 90 countries around the world. 

And $1 billion of these loans? They went straight to women. 
 

How did we get here?

Kiva founders Matt and Jessica Flannery were newlyweds working in East Africa when they came up with the idea for Kiva. They...

Continue Reading >>
Oct 10, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Women are a strong force for good in the world. Countless studies show that when women have equal access to resources, entire communities benefit from the additional productivity. One of the strongest levers to pull to advance international development is the inclusion of women.  

Women are at an economic disadvantage. Worldwide, women earn 63% less than men and spend three times as many hours on unpaid labor such as housework. Access to capital, like formal bank loans, is a primary constraint to the growth of female-owned businesses.

...

Continue Reading >>
Sep 9, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Many of our Kiva borrowers are entrepreneurs who need Kiva microloans to pursue their passions, whether it’s to expand their current business or create a new one. Here at Kiva, we love supporting our past borrowers who have successfully established their businesses thanks to Kiva loans. Read on to learn about all of the ways lenders can continue supporting our borrowers even after they’ve repaid their loans!

 


Naked Geometry

Naked Geometry...
Continue Reading >>
Sep 9, 2019 KV Kiva HQ
David didn’t follow in his father’s footsteps. Instead, he learned cheesemaking from his neighbor and decided to start a dairy business of his own.

As the oldest of four children, David lives with his parents and brother. His father and brother both work in agriculture. 



On a sunny day in December 2018, David proudly showed off his farm and corral to one of Kiva’s fellows in San Cristóbal, Costa Rica. The mountainous area is known for its coffee production and other types of agricultural activities. 

David owns two cows that he... Continue Reading >>
Sep 9, 2019 KV Kiva HQ
Kiva loan applications are often not originally in English or are posted in countries where English is not the primary language. A team of volunteers with the Review and Translation Program (RTP) edit, translate and review our loans from around the world. More than 400 volunteers from Munich to Nova Scotia dedicate their time to contribute to Kiva's work. In the past 3 months, our volunteers have reviewed more than 36,063 loans!

This quarter we are celebrating two of our incredible volunteers: Martha and Laura! All our volunteers are motivated by the opportunity to expand global... Continue Reading >>
Sep 9, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

“Rocky pays the rent.”

That’s what the Clinton Street Theater’s previous owner told Lani Jo Leigh as he left the decrepit building, formerly a neighborhood historical landmark, in a state of disrepair.

Lani Jo Leigh stands proudly in front of the renovated concession stand that she used a Kiva loan to purchase.

“He burned all his bridges with distributors and left the place a really, really big mess” by the time Lani became the owner of the Portland...

Continue Reading >>

Pages

Blog posts tagged with lending

Dec 12, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

We know you come to Kiva to lend — but we rely on optional donations from lenders like you to reach financially excluded people all over the world! Here’s why:

1. A loan is different from a donation

A loan is the money you send to our incredible borrowers around the world. These loans change lives for men, women, and children every day. From farmers to students to small business entrepreneurs — you lend because you know that everyone deserves an opportunity to build their own future.

A donation...

Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Thank you for the impact you’ve made in 2019! Together we funded more than 170,000 loans and raised more than $120 million for financially excluded people around the world. It costs us more than $3 to facilitate each $25 loan. Since every dollar lent on Kiva goes to the field, we rely on optional donations from individuals like you to cover our operating costs. Every dollar makes an impact on our progress and the borrowers we serve.

But what do your donations really do? Here are just a few highlights from this year that could not have happened...

Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Welcome to Nehalem, Oregon, a town full of hardworking men and women who have left their office careers for more hands-on work in rough fields and muddy waters. It’s become a Kiva community as well, with borrowers who have taken out loans for everything from irrigation equipment to restaurant renovation.



Nehalem is a small town situated on the northern Oregon coast, just over an hour west of Portland.

 

Patrick Rock, co-owner of local restaurant...

Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Many dream of becoming leaders and change-makers to create opportunities for others. Obstacles often stand in their way to reach these dreams. They can either stop dreaming or work through them. 

An inspiring young woman from Mombasa, a coastal town in Kenya, journeyed to the United States with a dream to bring prosperity to the world. Since she was a child, Tabitha wanted to become a social leader. 

Tabitha has been living her dream for the past 11 years, gaining experience in diverse sectors. She started her career as a Resource Development...

Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ
It's been quite a year, and here at Kiva we're taking a moment to reflect on the impact we've made together. 

The impact Kiva has around the world is entirely because of you, and that’s pretty incredible. Your support has enabled us to take what was once a “hopeful corner of the internet” and turn it into a global movement for financial inclusion. 

You have proven that it’s possible to harness the goodwill of the crowd to lift up our neighbors across the globe - and they’re grateful for you, too! 

... Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Do you have a question that isn't answered here? Check out our Help Center here.

How it works

Why is Kiva making this change?
How do I edit my auto-lending settings? 
What constitutes inactive credit? / What do I have to do to keep my account active? 
I'm seeing delays in my funds being auto-lent. What's going on?
Will my credit be lent out just once if it becomes inactive, or ongoingly? 
Does this work differently than the existing auto-lending tool? 
Is there a minimum credit balance for auto-lending to take...

Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

It’s not easy to take care of animals. They must be fed, sheltered and their health must be monitored on a daily basis.

Vera is a 46-year-old mother of 3 who does just that. She lives in a village with a flawed water drainage system that causes flooding almost every year, as it's below sea level.

Albania is a small country in southeastern Europe's Balkan Peninsula. With a population of more than 2.5 million, many Albanians like Vera are excluded from basic financial access like Vera.

"My cows and pigs were not sleeping well and could not be...

Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Many of our Kiva borrowers are entrepreneurs who need Kiva microloans to pursue their passions, whether it’s to expand their current business or create a new one. Here at Kiva, we love supporting our past borrowers who have successfully established their businesses thanks to Kiva loans. Read on to learn about all of the ways lenders can continue supporting our borrowers even after they’ve repaid their loans!

 

Apothecary Muse

The perfect cross...
Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

When it comes to combining passions, Ben Martin knows what he’s doing. The veteran and winemaker is in his fifth year of owning and operating Dauntless Wine Co., which serves the veteran community by employing veterans and sending proceeds to veteran support groups.

Ben Martin is a veteran who founded, owns and operates Dauntless.

Martin, a Kiva borrower from Forest Grove, Oregon, is excited about the future of veterans in the winemaking community.

“There's just something about it...

Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

California Governor Gavin Newsom works in a situation room dealing with the rapidly-increasing fires in the state.

In the United States, Kiva provides entrepreneurs access to 0% interest, no-fee loans up to $10,000. Because these loans on Kiva are backed by Kiva’s community of impact-driven lenders, Kiva is able to work with some of the highest impact clients that typically are overlooked by traditional lenders.

In the past several months, Kiva has been building strategic...

Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Kiva is going mobile!

Meet the mobile app developers of the Kiva office in Portland. Android developer Brian Plummer, senior iOS and Android developer Zachary Heusinkveld, Android engineer Morgan Lutz and lead mobile software engineer Eric Jensen are making magic happen for Kiva’s brand new mobile app, rolling out next spring.

Interview conducted by Casey Miller and photographed by Claire Primack.



...
Continue Reading >>
Nov 11, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Victor Manuale made an income for the first time when he was 13. His first client was a woman in Barranquilla, Colombia. She asked him to pick some honey for her from a nearby town called Carmen de Bolivar. 

Ever since then, Victor has been transporting natural products from Carmen de Bolivar to Barranquilla.

Victor went through many obstacles in his career, including when his brother-in-law fell ill and was unable to help him with the business. Victor had to work overtime. 

“My advice for others in this type of...

Continue Reading >>
Oct 10, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Meet our featured lender, Jacqueline Prester! Mrs. Prester is a business teacher and instructional technology specialist at Mansfield High School in Massachusetts. She’s been nationally recognized for her contributions to education in the areas of technology integration, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and STEM. 

Mrs. Prester’s entrepreneurship class is very special to us because of its massive contributions to Kiva loans! Each year, high school students research different loan applications on Kiva.org and decide which loans to spend their class funds...

Continue Reading >>
Oct 10, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Donate to Kiva today and help us invest in groups like Cacao de Aroma.

“As a kid, I saw the majority of people cultivate coca.” - Jarver Gonzales, Cacao Farmer
Life as a Cocalero

Like thousands of children in the northern jungle of Peru, Jarver Gonzales and Jorge Luis Trujillo both grew up seeing their fathers cultivate coca leaves,...

Continue Reading >>
Oct 10, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Kofi Friar is the I.T. manager at Kiva. He’s been at the company for over 2 years and continues to demonstrate his Kiva passion every day! It also helps that his pup, Ninja, is everyone’s favorite office dog! 

Interview conducted by Casey Miller and photographed by Claire Primack.

Fun fact: Kofi has a passion for fashion, and designed the shirt you see in his interview photos.
Around the...
Continue Reading >>
Oct 10, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Suzana doesn’t let her heart condition stop her from providing for her family. She wants to make sure her family is provided with all their basic needs.

Suzana is one of 2,500 ethnically Egyptian people in Albania. As a minority, this community is financially marginalized and members often have difficulty accessing loans and proper health care.

Working is difficult for Suzana because she suffers from a heart condition. However, she has been able to provide for her family by growing crops on a small plot of her family’s land.

Suzana wanted to...

Continue Reading >>
Oct 10, 2019 KV Kiva HQ
Many years ago, Levan’s grandparents started their own hostel business in Tbilisi, Georgia. His grandmother designed the building herself and Levan is certain that his interest in architecture comes from her. 
 


When Levan decided to pursue a university degree in architecture, he needed to get a loan. Instead of borrowing money from his family to pay a higher interest loan, Levan received a $375 loan from Kiva. This enabled him to be more independent, cover his own finances and relieve the financial burden on his family. 
 
He’s now in... Continue Reading >>
Oct 10, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

To celebrate our massive milestone of lending $1 billion to women, we had an amazing week-long celebration! With plenty of lending credits, borrower stories, and shared generosity, the Kiva community had so much fun interacting with each other and seeing just how strong we could be together.

Last week alone, the Kiva community came together to fund over $4 million in loans to women around the globe. That’s almost 10,000 more women who can now finance their dreams. 



Lenders like you continue to prove that...

Continue Reading >>
Oct 10, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

In October 2019, Kiva crossed the $1 BILLION dollar mark in loans to women around the world. That’s huge. That’s $1,000,000,000 deployed to almost 3 million women in 94 countries. But we couldn’t do it alone - this progress is all thanks to YOU, our incredible community. It takes a village to raise $1 billion. The Kiva village is diverse and powerful - lenders, volunteers, Field Partners, employees and corporate partners all came together to make this impact happen. 
 

Lenders

7th and 8th grade...
Continue Reading >>
Oct 10, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

There’s a saying that goes: “Don’t give me a fish, teach me how to catch it.” We’d say this encapsulates Kiva’s mission pretty well.

Over 14 years, Kiva has crowdfunded more than $1.3 billion in loans for entrepreneurs, farmers, students, educators, and more in over 90 countries around the world. 

And $1 billion of these loans? They went straight to women. 
 

How did we get here?

Kiva founders Matt and Jessica Flannery were newlyweds working in East Africa when they came up with the idea for Kiva. They...

Continue Reading >>
Oct 10, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Women are a strong force for good in the world. Countless studies show that when women have equal access to resources, entire communities benefit from the additional productivity. One of the strongest levers to pull to advance international development is the inclusion of women.  

Women are at an economic disadvantage. Worldwide, women earn 63% less than men and spend three times as many hours on unpaid labor such as housework. Access to capital, like formal bank loans, is a primary constraint to the growth of female-owned businesses.

...

Continue Reading >>
Sep 9, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

Many of our Kiva borrowers are entrepreneurs who need Kiva microloans to pursue their passions, whether it’s to expand their current business or create a new one. Here at Kiva, we love supporting our past borrowers who have successfully established their businesses thanks to Kiva loans. Read on to learn about all of the ways lenders can continue supporting our borrowers even after they’ve repaid their loans!

 


Naked Geometry

Naked Geometry...
Continue Reading >>
Sep 9, 2019 KV Kiva HQ
David didn’t follow in his father’s footsteps. Instead, he learned cheesemaking from his neighbor and decided to start a dairy business of his own.

As the oldest of four children, David lives with his parents and brother. His father and brother both work in agriculture. 



On a sunny day in December 2018, David proudly showed off his farm and corral to one of Kiva’s fellows in San Cristóbal, Costa Rica. The mountainous area is known for its coffee production and other types of agricultural activities. 

David owns two cows that he... Continue Reading >>
Sep 9, 2019 KV Kiva HQ
Kiva loan applications are often not originally in English or are posted in countries where English is not the primary language. A team of volunteers with the Review and Translation Program (RTP) edit, translate and review our loans from around the world. More than 400 volunteers from Munich to Nova Scotia dedicate their time to contribute to Kiva's work. In the past 3 months, our volunteers have reviewed more than 36,063 loans!

This quarter we are celebrating two of our incredible volunteers: Martha and Laura! All our volunteers are motivated by the opportunity to expand global... Continue Reading >>
Sep 9, 2019 KV Kiva HQ

“Rocky pays the rent.”

That’s what the Clinton Street Theater’s previous owner told Lani Jo Leigh as he left the decrepit building, formerly a neighborhood historical landmark, in a state of disrepair.

Lani Jo Leigh stands proudly in front of the renovated concession stand that she used a Kiva loan to purchase.

“He burned all his bridges with distributors and left the place a really, really big mess” by the time Lani became the owner of the Portland...

Continue Reading >>

Pages