You’ve probably seen their banners around the internet. If you watch video online, you’ve probably see their commercials. Today I want to talk to you about Kiva.
Kiva is a non-profit organization based out of San-Francisco. They engage in a practice called “micro-lending”. With micro-lending you give a small amount of money to a cause and you are then repaid over a short period of time (12-18 months). From what I can tell, you are not receiving interest for this. So in essence, your donation is simply the opportunity cost of not putting that money in an investment or savings.
Kiva says the default rates on these loans are around 2.5%. So you can expect to get back 97.5% of your donation.
So why would you do something like loan money and expect a negative return? Because you are loaning money to help people in poor countries start or launch a business. For instance I read about a mother who wants to purchase supplies to open a small hair-dresser in her village. It is simply the matter of the demand existing for the work, but the person able to do it doesn’t have the money to get started. That’s where Kiva comes in.
Please take the time to check out Kiva’s website today by clicking on the picture above. You can read stories and look at the potential programs to loan your money to. It is really eye opening to see the types of businesses people want to start in these developing countries. I haven’t yet given to this cause, but I plan to very soon. This is the kind of creative charitable work that The Weakonomist can get behind.
 By The Weakonomist |
The Weakonomist is the founder of Weakonomics. Clicking the picture of the puppy will tell you more about him. If you like what you're reading consider subscribing to the blog, following him on Twitter, and checking out the related posts below. Please consider a donation if you really enjoy Weakonomics. Also keep in mind that nothing I say can be construed as financial advice. |
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Said,
-2.5% returns presently beat the S&P tho right =)
Looks kinda interesting…