Kiva Microfunds facts for kids
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| Tax ID No. | 71-0992446 |
|---|---|
| Founded | October 2005 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Key people |
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| Area served | World-wide |
| Focus | Economic development |
| Mission | "To connect people through lending to reduce poverty" |
| Method | Microcredit |
| Revenue | $19,847,885 |
| Endowment | $27,389,839 |
| Motto | Loans that change lives |
Kiva Microfunds is a non-profit organization that allows people to lend money via the Internet to low-income entrepreneurs and students in over 80 countries. Kiva's mission is "to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty." Kiva was founded in October 2005 by Matt Flannery and Jessica Jackley.
Since 2005, Kiva has crowd-funded more than a million loans, totaling over $1 billion, with a repayment rate of between 98 and 99 percent. As of November 2013, Kiva was raising about $1 million every three days. Over a million lenders worldwide use the Kiva platform.
Kiva relies on a network of field partners to administer the loans on the ground. These field partners can be microfinance institutions, social businesses, schools or non-profit organizations. Kiva includes personal stories of each person who needs a loan because they want their lenders to connect with their entrepreneurs on a human level.
In 2011, Kiva added a new category of loans to help borrowers move to cleaner and safer forms of energy, green agriculture, transport and recycling. Green Kiva loans help fund solar panels, organic fertilizers, high-efficiency stoves, drip irrigation systems, and biofuels. As of December 2013, Kiva lenders had crowd-funded 4,600 green loans.
Google awarded a $3 million Global Impact Award to Kiva in 2013 to fund the Kiva Labs project, which looks for ways to increase the flexibility and impact of microfinance.
Kiva itself does not collect any interest on the loans and Kiva lenders do not make interest on loans. Kiva is supported by grants, loans, and donations from its users, corporations, and national institutions. Kiva is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Images for kids
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Early Kiva field partners (September 2006)
See also
In Spanish: Kiva (organización) para niños
