Site: Kiva – Loans that change lives

URL: http://www.kiva.org/

Brief Summary: You can help people throughout the world by joining with others to give microloans.

More Info: If you aren’t familiar with the concept of a microloan, it is a loan that may be small to you, but for someone in need it is very important.  Also, these people may not be able to get regular loan through a bank because of limited assets.  People use these loans for a wide variety of reasons, most use them to help build a business they are working on, so they can make more money and continue to build their business. You can read more about microloans and micro finance at http://www.kiva.org/about/microfinance/.

Kiva is a site that allows people to be part of these microloans.  You loan money in $25 increments that is combined with other people to complete the loan for that person.  This isn’t a charitable gift, but simply a loan. The people you give the loan to will pay the loan back over several months to several years depending on the loan.  You can then withdraw your money or loan it out again.  This isn’t a money making opportunity either, although interest is charged on the loans, the interest is used to cover the fees of administering the loans and you won’t receive the interest. Also, keep in mind that these are loans and may not be repaid in full, so there is a little risk involved. You can view the history of how well people have paid past loans to help you make a decision.

I am currently supporting 4 people.  Here is what I’m helping people do – this will give you an idea of who/what you can support.  There are a wide range of people to support for a wide variety of reasons – Kiva provides a nice search engine to allow you to find who you want to support.  I am helping Alex in Lima, Peru help repair his car he uses for taxi service; Wilma in La Paz, Bolivia buy fabric and other materials for craft classes she teaches; Iloa in Vavau, Samoa buy more baking equipment to grow her bakery; and Limber in Bolvia buy a car so he can easily travel to work.  You can read all about the loans I have given at http://www.kiva.org/lender/mathwhiz.

In my continuing series (although I skipped a week) of alternative gift ideas, Kiva offers two ways of using them to give an alternative gift.  One is you can create an account and give a loan to someone and let the person you would have given a gift to know that you gave a loan instead. The other option is you can buy a gift card from Kiva and give that as a gift so someone can make their own loans.