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Related: About this forumIt's a Small World - LGBTs are learning that with Kiva, a tiny loan can change a life.
http://www.advocate.com/Print_Issue/The_Advocates/A_Small_Way_to_Change_the_World/Some LGBT folks are finding that joining a team of like-minded people can mean more than hitting home runs in a gay softball league. Kiva, a person-to-person microlending organization founded in 2005, is the answer for those more interested in solving problems. Kiva aims to helps low-income individuals help themselves out of poverty by starting or expanding businesses. Most recipients live in developing countries, but many are in hard-hit areas of the United States such as Detroit and New Orleans. The system is simple: You lend $25 or more, select the recipient, track their progress online, and then the money comes back to you. A local microfinance institution distributes the money to the recipient, who has six to 12 months to repay the loan; to date nearly 99% of the funds have been repaid. When they receive payment, many Kivans (as members are called) simply reinvest.
Kiva has several common-interest groups, and GLBT Kivans & Friends is among the fastest growing. That group ranks third in the amount of money lent to small business owners in the history of Kiva. Its 4,200-plus team members have combined to give nearly 52,000 loans since it launched four years ago. Those loans amount to almost $1.5 million in contributions to entrepreneurs around the world.
While the group has only identified one openly gay entrepreneur "Many of the countries that Kiva operates in provide few rights for LGBT individuals, so most individuals in those countries are closeted," notes its website (Kiva.org) that doesn't stop the giving.
The recipients are people like Eugenio, a 19-year-old coffee farmer in Peru whose $375 loan helped him hire day laborers and buy sacks of fertilizer, or Jeanett Lynn, a Detroit woman who used a $2,150 loan to buy a computer, legal documents, and training and marketing materials for her small business, which provides personal assistance, concierge, and elder-care services. Often the loans are just a few hundred dollars or even smaller amounts, but in less financially robust countries, that much money can go far.
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It's a Small World - LGBTs are learning that with Kiva, a tiny loan can change a life. (Original Post)
xchrom
Feb 2012
OP
William769
(55,147 posts)1. Thanks xchrom.
Great article.
niyad
(113,323 posts)2. kiva is an excellent organization
jannyk
(4,810 posts)3. There's also a DU Kiva group
I've been a member of Kiva since 2006. It's a wonderful organization!
racaulk
(11,550 posts)5. Kiva is a great organization that does wonderful work.
I've been a member since 2008 and I gladly support them and share the word with others. I first heard about Kiva on DU, in fact.
Great article, xchrom. Thanks for posting this!
DURHAM D
(32,610 posts)6. Thanks for posting.
Kiva is a great thing.