For Christmas 2008, I received a $50 gift voucher for Kiva, an international non-profit organisation whose mission is to expand financial access to help underserved communities thrive.
Kiva does this by crowdfunding loans and unlocking capital for the underserved, improving the quality and cost of financial services, and addressing the underlying barriers to financial access worldwide. By lending as little as $25, I am part of the solution to make a real difference in someone's life.
So I took my gift voucher and made two loans. I also decided to put in an extra $15 per month to top up my loan amount. Kiva presents me a list of the available loans and then manages the loan repayments, and when loans are repaid, I lend out more loans at $25 per loan.
Since 2008, I have lent $3,775.00 over 151 loans, with only $105 being lost due to loan defaults. I don't have any particular plan about who I lend money to. Instead, when my balance is back at $100, I browse the available loans and pick the ones that appeal to me on the day.
$25 is not a lot of money, but it can add up over time to make a small difference somewhere. So I guess the gift I received in 2008 is the true ideal of the "gift that keeps on giving".
Kiva does this by crowdfunding loans and unlocking capital for the underserved, improving the quality and cost of financial services, and addressing the underlying barriers to financial access worldwide. By lending as little as $25, I am part of the solution to make a real difference in someone's life.
So I took my gift voucher and made two loans. I also decided to put in an extra $15 per month to top up my loan amount. Kiva presents me a list of the available loans and then manages the loan repayments, and when loans are repaid, I lend out more loans at $25 per loan.
Since 2008, I have lent $3,775.00 over 151 loans, with only $105 being lost due to loan defaults. I don't have any particular plan about who I lend money to. Instead, when my balance is back at $100, I browse the available loans and pick the ones that appeal to me on the day.
$25 is not a lot of money, but it can add up over time to make a small difference somewhere. So I guess the gift I received in 2008 is the true ideal of the "gift that keeps on giving".