Kiva, a nonprofit organization in which anyone can “lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world,” has recently gained attention for its approach on microfinance. Either individually or through teams, Kiva allows users to make loans to businesses that interest them and use the money paid back to them to repeat the process.
The University of Texas Kiva online team has loaned a grand total of $25,775 and is currently ranked No. 33 in the colleges and universities category of the site. Under the ‘We Donate Because ... ’ section of the team’s profile, the team simply quotes the University’s motto: “What Starts Here Changes the World.”
Marketing junior Vicki MacNaughton found out about Kiva through a TED talk in which one of the founders of Kiva, Jessica Jackley, lectured about how her interest in microfinance led to the creation of the organization.
“Microfinance is something I’d heard of before but didn’t know a lot about; her explanation was really enlightening and I knew that this was something I wanted to participate in,” MacNaughton said. “Being able to help someone make a life for him or herself, rather than just sending them a bit of food or something, is really the only way to enact permanent positive changes for people.”
MacNaughton has made a total of three loans so far. Her first came from $50 she found in an old birthday card when cleaning her room — remembering Jackley’s lecture, MacNaughton decided that if she had gotten by without that money until that point, she might as well use it to make her first loan.
Read more at: http://www.dailytexanonline.com/life-and-arts/2012/05/02/kiva-allows-students-microfinance-philanthropies
By Rainy Schermerhorn
