Kiva (organization)
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| Founded | October 2005 |
|---|---|
| Location | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Key people |
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| Area served | World-wide |
| Focus | Economic development |
| Method | Microcredit |
| Employees | 75[1] |
| Motto | Loans that change lives |
| Website | kiva.org |
Kiva Microfunds (commonly known by its domain name, Kiva.org) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization[2] that allows people to lend money via the internet to people in developing countries through Kiva's 142 partner microfinance institutions, which Kiva calls field partners. [3] Kiva includes personal stories of each person who needs a loan because they want their lenders to connect with their entrepreneurs on a human level. [4] Kiva itself does not collect any interest on the loans it facilitates. It is purely supported by grants, loans, and donations from its users, corporations, and national institutions.[5] Kiva is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Lending process
Kiva allows microfinance institutions around the world, called "Field Partners", to post profiles of qualified local entrepreneurs on its website, Kiva.org. Lenders browse and choose an entrepreneur they wish to fund. The lenders transfer their funds to Kiva through PayPal, which waives its transaction fee in these cases.[6] It is possible to pay by credit card through PayPal's website, even without a PayPal account, but a PayPal account is needed to withdraw funds.[7] After receiving a user's money, Kiva aggregates loan capital from individual lenders and transfers it to the appropriate Field Partners, who then disburse the loan to the entrepreneur chosen by the lender. Even though Kiva itself does not charge interest on the loans, the Field Partners charge relatively high interest rates. [8] As the entrepreneurs repay their loans with interest, the Field Partners remit funds back to Kiva. As the loan is repaid, the Kiva lenders can withdraw their principal or re-lend it to another entrepreneur.
History
Kiva was founded in October 2005 by Matt Flannery and Jessica Jackley.[9] The couple's initial interest in microfinance was inspired by a 2003 lecture given by Grameen Bank's Muhammad Yunus at Stanford Business School. Jessica Jackley, formerly Jessica Flannery, worked at the school and invited Matt Flannery to attend the presentation; this was the first time Matt had heard of microfinance, but it served as a "call to action" for Jessica. Soon after, Jessica began working as a consultant for the nonprofit Village Enterprise Fund, which worked to help start small businesses in East Africa. While visiting Jessica in Africa, Matt and Jessica spent time interviewing entrepreneurs about the problems they faced in starting ventures and found the lack of access to start-up capital was a common theme. After returning from Africa, they began developing their plan for a microfinance project that would grow into Kiva, which means "unity" in Swahili.[10][11] In April 2005, Kiva's first seven loans were funded, totaling $3,500, and the original entrepreneurs were subsequently deemed the "Dream Team." [12] By September of 2005, the entrepreneurs repaid the entirety of their original loans, and the founders realized they had developed a sustainable microcredit concept. After the success of Kiva's beta stage, Matt and Jessica founded Kiva as a non-profit. In 2006, notable entrepreneurs and bussinessmen joined Kiva's staff, including Premal Shah from PayPal and Reid Hoffman CEO and founder of Linkedin. Shortly after its first anniversary in October 2006, Kiva reached $1 million in facilitated loans and acquired its twentieth field partner. To the present day, Kiva has continued to grow and expand its field partners while acquiring support from the media and the public.
Finances
As of March 31, 2012, Kiva has distributed $300,209,450 in loans from 744,558 lenders. A total of 390,791 loans have been funded through Kiva. The average loan size is $392.13. Kiva's current repayment rate for all its partners is 98.94%.[13] According to Alexa: The Web Information Company, Kiva's website ranks in the top 9,000 of all websites worldwide and ranks in the top 4,000 for the United States.[14]
For the fiscal year of 2010, Kiva made $11,515,298 in total revenue and had $6,225,091 in total expenses, leaving $5,290,207 to invest. The organization's net assets in 2010 totaled $11,121,817. [15] Kiva itself does not charge any interest rates on its loans. Instead, the organization's main sources of funding are grants, financial backing, and discounted services from many major national corporations and institutions. Chevron Corporation, Visa Inc., and Skoll Foundation awarded Kiva a two-year $1 million grant, $1.5 million grant, and $1 million grant respectively. Kiva also won a $1 million grant in Sam's Club's "Giving Made Simple" campaign and $500,000 in American Express's “Take Part” competition. Additionally, Omidyar Network awarded Kiva a $5 million grant over 5 years to help Kiva expand its field partners and support due diligence. [16]
Impact on Women
As of April 1, 2012, 80.46% of Kiva’s loans have been made to women entrepreneurs. [17] Kiva emphasizes supporting women because women can gain the most from microcredit. Patriarchy and a strict division of labor still dominate the societies of many developing countries, and women often suffer the most from poverty because scarce resources are often allocated to a family's males, rather than its females. [18] In their non-fiction book Half the Sky, Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn tell stories of women whose lives were transformed through the microfinance institutions Kiva sponsors. With microloans, women gain spending power and spend less on instant gratification vices like alcohol, prostitution, and drugs. With extra income, they are able to educate their children, renovate their residences, or buy modern technologies and medicines. Along with economic power, a woman with a microloan often gains more independence and respect from her husband. Kristof and WuDunn write “microfinance has done more to bolster the status of women, and to protect them from abuse, than any laws could accomplish.”[19] Women are able to empower themselves and become self-sufficient through the investments given by Kiva users.
Issues
Pre-disbursement of funds
When Kiva began, lenders chose who could borrow their money. Since then, the system has changed, so that loans are disbursed to borrowers before their stories are posted to Kiva's website.[20][21] This is disclosed on Kiva's site; each loan proposal states whether funds were pre-disbursed. Thus, lenders' loan funds are likely to go to borrowers other than those chosen by the lenders.[20] However, since the pay-back behaviour of the specific borrower chosen by the lender does influence whether or not the lender gets his funds back (except when an MFI has chosen to cover for borrower defaults), there is at least some connection between the lender and the specific borrower. Whether lenders' preferences are used for lender preference trend analysis by any field partners or Kiva is not stated. Kiva's response has been to keep pre-disbursing but be clearer about the process.[22]
Interest rates
Some people, including microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus, argue that the interest rates of many microcredit institutions are unreasonably high. In his latest book he argues that microfinance institutions that charge more than 15% above their long-term operating costs should face penalties.[23]
For example, in 2009 micro-loans from Kiva partners in Guatemala averaged 23.16% for the equivalent of US$430 lent on average, comparable to the commercial BanRural rate of 24.5% for a loan of US$635.[24] (For reference, the inflation rate for Guatemala typically varies between 5 and 10% and was just 0.62% in 2009.[25])
Kiva defends the interest rates of its lenders, however, saying its field partners provide much better rates than local alternatives, but must charge what they do because "the costs of making a micro-loan in the developing world are higher versus larger loans in the West."[26] Kiva itself does not keep any of the interest collected, but operates instead exclusively on donations.[27]
Field Partner fraud and institutional weakness
In an article for the journal innovations, Matt Flannery identified six microfinance institutions (MFIs) that he saw as involved in "serious fraud".[28] These are the six that he identifies:
- Women’s Economic Empowerment Consort (WEEC) -- The woman who started the MFI died, and when her husband took over, the MFI became disorganised. Money that was intended for entrepreneurs was used to pay WEEC debts.[29]
- Supporting Enterprises for Economic Development (SEED) -- In this instance Kiva pursued a legal case, however, it had not made much progress as of April 2008.[30]
- Women's Initiative to Eradicate Poverty (WITEP) -- Flannery was personally involved in this investigation as discussed in the article that he wrote for innovations. Moses Onyango, a former friend of Matt and Jessica Flannery, was involved in creating a shell MFI to funnel money to himself.[28][31]
- Rural Agency for Development (RAFODE) -- Flannery writes that this MFI embezzled funds away from borrowers who "never saw a penny." [28][32]
- Afrique Emergence & Investissements (AE&I) -- A Kiva fellow was requested by AE&I to help get operations back to normal after severe computer problems. She notified the central office of irregularities and after an investigation, Kiva closed the partnership. (AE&I paid back all outstanding loans to Kiva). However, the MFI has published a rebuttal and other partners of AE&I including AfriCap Microfinance Investment Company, and OIKOCREDIT stood by it.[33][34] AE&I has now been picked up by another online microfinance platform called MyC4.[35]
- MIFEX—Flannery writes that the loan sizes were inflated by 30 percent, and the excess was used to pay operational costs.[28][36]
Although cases of fraud do exist, Kiva made the following statement on the partner page for SEED:
- "Please realise that our audit of SEED uncovered a true exception to the norm; the vast majority of our Field Partners administer your loans with the highest integrity. Kiva will continue to audit Field Partners to monitor the integrity of your loan and to make our website a model for transparency in international development."[30]
Full-repayment frequency uncertainty
Whether defaults are extremely low has been questioned on the ground that a field partner may pay Kiva for loans defaulted to the field partner in order to maintain the field partner‘s good credit with Kiva.[20] Whether interest rates collected by field partners are enough to pay for significant defaults depends on local economic conditions for each field partner.
Controversy Surrounding Cockfighting Loan
In 2008, Kiva featured the borrowing profile of a Peruvian women asking for a loan to buy equipment for her cockfighting business.[37][38] This sparked debate among the Kiva Lending Community about the principles of the organization, and many complained that the organization was promoting cruelty to animals. Matt Flannery responded to the debate, by providing an overview of the legal issues surrounding the debate, and took a more relativist stance. Flannery wrote on Socialedge.org- a blog site designed to connect entrepreneurs for social benefit-,"...does this somehow help Kiva achieve its mission of connecting people to alleviate poverty? It's debatable. I think that allowing our partner to decide which loans to post without much interference is a good thing. We can be paternalistic when we start imposing our moral framework upon societies half a world away. Cockfighting in Peru is legal and part of a rich cultural tradition. It may not be humane or palatable from a Western perspective, but that misses the point. Kiva, the organization, should not be making those decisions. Our lenders should be the ones voting with their dollars."[37] This position has caused some lenders to pull their funds (often moving them to other microfinance sites such as United Prosperity, Zidisha.org, Wokai, Energy in Common, etc.) However, some have decided to continue to lend through Kiva, but do so in the spirit of Flannery's remarks. "Kivans Against Cockfighting Loans" was created in May of 2009, and has since lent $15,550 as of 19 May 2012 to different borrowers pursing projects that do not involve the harming of animals. [39]
Interest rates
According to its web site, Kiva quotes interest rates as the "self reported average rate charged by the Field Partner to the entrepreneur."[26] As of January 7, 2010, 35.21% is the Average Interest Rate and Fees Borrowers Pay (Portfolio Yield) to All Kiva Field Partners.
As of April 2012, there are a total of 188 field partners listed on the Kiva website and their status is as follows: 105 Active, 11 Paused, 30 Pilot and 42 Closed.[40] The following table shows the "Portfolio Yield"of a sampling of field partners.[40] "Portfolio Yield" figures are calculated by dividing all interest and fees paid by borrowers to the field partner by the average loan portfolio of the field partner that given year. The figure provides a more accurate insight into the costs of borrowing because it includes fees associated with borrowing.
Promotions and Marketing Strategies
In March 2012, Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn’s Co-Founder, lent Kiva $1 million. Kiva then allowed 40,000 people to lend $25 for “free.” Lenders still choose a borrower, but the borrower will pay back Hoffman instead of the lender who chose them. Kiva hopes that the “free” users will lend to more of their projects, and thus increase their overall user base.[41]
See also
References
- ^ "Kiva Facts & History". Kiva.org. http://www.kiva.org/about/facts. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
- ^ "What kind of organization is Kiva?". http://na3.salesforce.com/_ui/selfservice/pkb/PublicKnowledgeSolution/d?orgId=00D500000006svl&lang=1&id=50150000000IIX2&retURL=%2Fsol%2Fpublic%2Fsolutionbrowser.jsp%3Fsearch%3Dnon-profit%26cid%3D02n50000000DUOS%26orgId%3D00D500000006svl%26lang%3D1%26t%3D4&ps=1&pPv=1. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ "About Us". Kiva.org. http://www.kiva.org/about. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
- ^ Matt Flannery (2007). "Kiva and the Birth of Person to Person Microfinance". MIT Press. http://media.kiva.org/INNOV0201_flannery_kiva.pdf. Retrieved Arpril 4, 2012.
- ^ "Supporters". Kiva.org. http://www.kiva.org/about/supporters. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
- ^ "When I pay through PayPal, is PayPal taking a fee?". http://na3.salesforce.com/_ui/selfservice/pkb/PublicKnowledgeSolution/d?orgId=00D500000006svl&lang=1&id=50150000000IDir&retURL=%2Fsol%2Fpublic%2Fsolutionbrowser.jsp%3Fsearch%3Dpaypal%26cid%3D02n50000000DUOS%26orgId%3D00D500000006svl%26lang%3D1%26t%3D4&ps=1&pPv=1. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ "Kiva FAQ: Do I have to use PayPal?". Kiva.org. http://www.kiva.org/about/help/questions?subtopic=Completing%20the%20Payment%20Process#question1. Retrieved October 10, 2009.
- ^ "Do Kiva.org’s Field Partners charge interest to the borrowers?". http://na3.salesforce.com/_ui/selfservice/pkb/PublicKnowledgeSolution/d?orgId=00D500000006svl&id=50150000000IIav&retURL=%2Fsol%2Fpublic%2Fsolutionbrowser.jsp%3Fcid%3D02n50000000DV8W%26orgId%3D00D500000006svl&ps=1. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ Matt Flannery (2007). "Kiva and the Birth of Person to Person Microfinance". MIT Press. http://media.kiva.org/INNOV0201_flannery_kiva.pdf. Retrieved Arpril 4, 2012.
- ^ Flannery, M. (2007). "Kiva and the Birth of Person-to-Person Microfinance". Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization 2: 31–56. doi:10.1162/itgg.2007.2.1-2.31.
- ^ Narang, Sonia (2006). "Web-Based Microfinancing". New York Times Magazine (New York Times). http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/magazine/10section4.t-6.html?ex=1323406800&en=72e9b0bb93393330&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ "History". Kiva.org. http://www.kiva.org/about/history. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
- ^ "KIVA Stats". Kiva.org. http://www.kiva.org/about/stats. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
- ^ "Kiva.org". Alexa.com. http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?site0=kiva.org&site1=&site2=&site3=&site4=&y=r&z=1&h=300&w=610&range=3y&size=Medium&url=kiva.org. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
- ^ "Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax". Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service. http://cms.kiva.org.s3.amazonaws.com/Kiva_Form_990_-_2010.pdf. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
- ^ "Supporters". Kiva.org. http://www.kiva.org/about/supporters. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
- ^ "Statistics". Kiva.org. http://www.kiva.org/about/stats. Retrieved April, 1 2012.
- ^ Jackson Lee, Ruth. "The Microfinance Movement: Closing the Gender Gap with a Click". http://www.law.fsu.edu/journals/transnational/vol17_1/RJLee.pdf. Retrieved April, 1 2012.
- ^ Kristof, Nicholas D., Sheryl WuDunn (2009). Half the Sky. New York: Vintage Books.
- ^ a b c Roodman, David (Oct. 2, 2009). "Kiva Is Not Quite What It Seems". Center for Global Development. http://blogs.cgdev.org/open_book/2009/10/kiva-is-not-quite-what-it-seems.php. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
- ^ Stephanie Strom (Nov. 8, 2009). "Confusion on Where Money Lent via Kiva Goes". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/business/global/09kiva.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Kiva&st=cse. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
- ^ Flannery, Matt (Oct. 12, 2009). "Matt Flannery, Kiva CEO and Co-Founder, Replies". Center for Global Development. http://blogs.cgdev.org/open_book/2009/10/matt-flannery-kiva-ceo-and-co-founder-replies.php. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
- ^ Yunus, Muhammad (2007). Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism. New York: PublicAffairs. pp. 320. ISBN 978-1-58648-667-9.
- ^ Shearer, Laura (2009-04-15). "The Coffee Trade Nothing Fair About It". La Cuadra. http://lacuadraonline.com/featured-stories/the-coffee-trade-nothing-fair-about-it/3/. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ "Guatemala inflation rate drops to 25-year low". Reuters. 2009-07-07. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0734249820090707. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ a b "Kiva Help - Interest Rate Comparison". Kiva.org. http://www.kiva.org/about/app.php?page=help&action=InterestRateComparison#AverageInterestRateBorrowerPaysToKivaFieldPartner. Retrieved October 10, 2009.
- ^ "Kiva - About Us". http://www.kiva.org/about. Retrieved 2012-03-18.
- ^ a b c d Flannery, M. (2009). "Kiva at Four (Innovations Case Narrative: Kiva)". Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization 4 (2): 31–49. doi:10.1162/itgg.2009.4.2.31. http://media.kiva.org/INNOV-SKOLL-2009_flannery.pdf.
- ^ "Women’s Economic Empowerment Consort (WEEC)". Kiva. http://www.kiva.org/partners/6. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ a b "Supporting Enterprises for Economic Development (SEED)". Kiva. http://www.kiva.org/partners/32. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ "Women's Initiative to Eradicate Poverty (WITEP)". Kiva. http://www.kiva.org/partners/11. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ "Rural Agency for Development (RAFODE)". Kiva. http://www.kiva.org/partners/33. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ "Africa Emergence & Investissements (AE&I) response". Africa Emergence & Investissements. http://www.aei-investissements.com/pdf/reaction_to_kiva_web_site.pdf. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
- ^ "Africa Emergence & Investissements (AE&I) main site". Africa Emergence & Investissements (AE&I). http://www.aei-investissements.com/. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
- ^ "MYC4 forum, partner AE&I". MYC4. https://www.myc4.com/Forum/View/14/11610?page=2. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
- ^ "MIFEX". Kiva. http://www.kiva.org/partners/7. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ a b Flannery, Matt (March 29, 2008). "Cockfighting". Skoll Foundation. http://www.socialedge.org/blogs/kiva-chronicles/topics/cockfighting. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ Smiley, Lauren (February 27, 2008). "Kiva's Microloans Underwriting Cockfighting in Peru". SF Weekly (San Francisco). http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-02-27/news/kiva-s-micro-loans-underwriting-cockfighting-in-peru/. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ "Kivans Against Cockfighting Loans". http://www.kiva.org/team/kacl. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ a b c "Our Field Partners". http://www.kiva.org/about/partners. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ Pan, Joann. "725,000 Loans Granted By Kiva, 2.6 Billion To Go". Mashable Business. http://mashable.com/2012/03/15/725000-loans-granted-by-kiva-2-6-billion-to-go/. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
