A while back a friend introduced me to a charity called Kiva that, basically, facilitates for individuals or groups to provide loans and financing to entrepreneurs and businessmen/women in the developing world to help build a life for themselves.

It isn't charity as such - you merely provide loans to these people that they then repay over a period of time - once the loan is repaid, you can choose to reclaim the money or lend it again to another person.

you can loan as much or as little (well, sort of, $25 is the minimum loan amount I think) as you like and - because its run by a charity - the tax man will love you for it, or at least be mildly fond of you.

I set up a lending team for any Caedes members interested in joining which can be accessed here

have a look see and join in if you want/can.

Excellent post, Phil. I'd heard of this before, but only in passing. Will certainly give this some thought, and if it isn't doable for me, maybe I'll find someone willing who has fatter coffers.

due (in no part at all from here) to the surge in generosity, Kiva is pretty much fully funded this week - that brings the total micro finance loans they have facilitated to almost 50 million dollars now and increasing by almost 3 million dollars a week.

In case you were concerned about fees and such - Kiva exclusively use PayPal to direct funds from you to them and vice versa however, PayPal will waive any charges from Kiva related transactions.

Come on Caedes peeps - show some love - is $25 really too much to ask? even if they are fully funded you can add to an online credit to speed up future loans to worthy entrepreneurs.

*bumps into thread ...*

Visited the site Phil, spent some time reading ...

Feeling more than a little humbled now. Stories of a family buying a milk cow ... individuals purchasing raw materials for 'products' to be made and then sold at their respective and local markets ...


The price of a dinner and a night out?

That amount can change someone's or a family of someones' ... lives.

As the effects are not entirely or simply monetary. Pride, self-respect ... the list is long.


Have a read for yourselves ...

Great idea, yes I'm up for it. Just one question, what are your thoughts on how doing it as a group of Caedesians rather than individually will add? Thanks for bringing this charity to my attention Phil.

it will just add warm fuzzy feelings :-)

there is no other real reason other than a bit of community spirit all working together for a good cause :-)

you have the choice when you make a loan to do it individually or to count towards the lending teams total - in either event - each loan you make still shows up in your individual portfolio as well as the lending teams. The major benefit of the team lending is that if a particular entrepreneur is struggling to get funding you can all work together to provide it.

oh - and it provides a fairly shameless plug for the site here if fellow lenders want to check it out....

so...hello to Anonymous from Worcestershire, the first recruit to the team :-)

it's good to see that even though the economy is in the crapper - nearly 12,000 Kiva members have loaned over $800,000 this week alone.

I thought that anonymous person had 'wings'. Keeps them tucked in rather well, don't you think?

:o))

'Anonymous from Worcestershire'. Has a nice ring to it dontcha think? As for the wings, I don't always keep them tucked in. Very useful for flying over trolls and making a different kind of deposit ;-) I wish.

And thanks, also, to our second Anonymous member who has joined up and made a very worthy loan. Cheers.

shameless thread bump alert! the intrepid but small band of Caedes's Kiva team now has 12 loans out their to budding entrepreneurs - it would be nice to have as many lending members :-)

According to the page at the link you posted the loan is fully funded. Is there another loan that the team is financing?

new loans are added every day Reg - the link just takes you straight to the Caedes team page. to see the currently available projects seeking funds you just click on the Lend tab at the top of the page - once you've signed up to the team obviously :-)

one of the teams current loans still needs funding though - you can help out with it here if you like.

Thanks Phil. I joined up. I love the idea of that site.

Thanks Reg for joining up and for the loan you placed. This last week, over 5,000 new supporters have joined Kiva and loaned over half a million dollars to 1,500 entrepreneurs around the world.

I joined Kiva and will be glad to help out, it's sounds like you are fully funded at the moment but will be happy to make a loan if times get lean and there is a real need.

Thank you for your generous spirit by starting the Caedes Kiva Team

~~Done and done~~

Thank you both for signing up! Kiva does occasionally reach a fully funded status but they constantly update the lists and as of the moment there are approximately 200 entrepreneurs looking for assistance – just click the Lend tab to see what is available.

shameless bump alert!! well our little intrepid team of six members has passed the milestone of over $600 in micro finance loans. it would be great to get the team into double figures and the loans into four figures ;-)

Hi Phil, thanx for the timely bump. I promised myself I would make a small donation every month to help this worthwhile cause...and Feb is done now...

Rich

cheers matey! :-)

About Kiva do I have to find someone on my own to lend money to or does Caedes do it as a team effort?
Diane

If you click on Phil's link above you can register to be a member of the team. If there is no team project at hand click on "Lend Money" (upper left I believe) and a wide variety of deserving projects will appear at your beck and call!

Rich

Thanks Rich, I guess I will have read through all those pages and find someone instead of trying to be lazy and having someone telling me who to pick. I sort of suspected that all along
Ciao,
Diane

a timely bump to prick (in vain) the collective conscience - the brave little Kiva Team Caedes is now past a mini milestone of making over twenty loans to entrepreneurs around the developing world - thanks to all of you involved so far and a warm invite for others to join us :-)

!! H * A * P * P * Y !!


!! B * I * R * T * H * D * A * Y ... Phil !!


'Hair of the dog' as a cure?

No, 'icing from the corners' is what works. ;o)

Dig in, everyone ... share and share alike ... whether it be cake corner pieces, our skills and knowledge on our beloved site here ... or ... comparative good fortune to those less fortunate.


Hope you had good good day, Phil. You deserve it and many others. Thank you for your gifts of time and those, from the heart.

:o)


Note: Each of the letters of 'Happy Birthday' ... are a link to the various tutorials that Phil has created for us. I encourage all of you to take some time and give them some consideration. You will be, most assuredly ... glad that you did. I was ... and am. :o)

c'mon - seriously - out of the 2000+ regular members we can still only find 6 to lend a hand/skip a trip to chilli's?

please join if you can and help this worthwhile effort.

Phil, maybe an update will help. I made a commitment to myself to donate $25.00 a month to this worthwhile cause. Good news - the first loan I made is in the process of being repaid and paypal notified me that I have $7.00 at my disposal. Since I wasn't looking forward to having it anyway I rolled it over to my normal $25.00 and donated $32.00 this month. I will continue to roll the funds over as they get repaid.

Think about it folks. As Phil says, for the price of meal at a restraunt you can help someone climb out of poverty...and if you keep rolling that money back in the more people you can help!

Rich

And, just to add some figures:
You can always withdraw your money as it is paid back. So, actually with the current interest rates as they are, you "lose" for a 25$-loan about 50cent per year (which you would get if for the money in a savings account)... and get some of the "warm fuzzy feelings" Phil has mentioned ;-)

(Okay, to be precise, if the debtor defaults, you could lose more, depending on the amount still outstanding. But you could pick one of the many debtors with a 5-star-rated organisation with a default probability of 0%.)

yep - im pretty much at a level now with about 10 loans outstanding so will just reinvest the funds from those repayments back into new entrepreneurs.

thanks to whoever the new annonymoooos team member is and, in yet another shameless bump, im happy to say we are still creeping towards the first grand in loans made to cool people in not so cool situations.

Thanks to Diane for her latest loan pushing the Caedes teams loans to the $1000 mark - much appreciated.

~ Lil' friendly bump for a most worthy cause. ~

Read for yourselves:

"What Is Kiva?"

:o)

My girl Nieves Cuba Barra has already paid back 23% of her loan that I just lent her a few months ago. That's why I'd like more people to contribute... it is not a loss and most people pay back the loan and then you can make a re-invest on another person with a great entrepreneur idea.
I give Kive a big thumbs up, hey I am a real skeptic and something has to be pretty darn good before I give money to a cause.
Diane

thank you Diane for your timely bump of the thread and your support of this worthy cause.

A timely bump to keep the momentum going - coming up to 40 loans/$1500 mark now :-)

The loan I made was paid in full so I reinvested and lent it to a lady in Peru who plans to purchase tin, paints, and other items for her crafts business. Everyone needing a loan on Kiva are hard working folks and just need a little hand up to succeed I wish more people would consider joining this worthy cause

OK - so the $1500 is reached and the 40+ loans passed so thanks to all involved & as Diane said, please feel free to join in the effort if you can. thanks.

>> Bumping my way through the troll throngs with something more important <<

~ le bump ~

;o)

Thanks for the regular bumping duties Les - grand total upto $1850/50 loans now - hopefully pass the $2000 by Christmas!

or much sooner.

If others fancy lending a hand.

*cough*

please check this image out to put smiles on faces :-)

/\ Nice work, Phil. :o)

(*nudges thread ... to the top*)

My other lady has already paid back half of her loan so I reinvested with a lady from Peru who sells fresh milk, cheese, and bread in a market. Kiva truly does great work!

many thanks to Bill & Chad - our two latest recruits :-)

Happy Early Christmas Phil! The $2000 dollar mark was just reached

thanks you very much Diane and a happy early Christmas to you too :-)

After today, I’m officially on my extended Christmas Holidays so probably won’t be online much till the New Year. Just checked in on the Kiva site and the brave little Caedes team has racked up to date, $2,225 in loans this year to 63 entrepreneurs’ around the world.

A big thanks to all the team members for their incredible generosity, an open invite for more of you to join the effort in 2010 and my best wishes to you all for the festive season :-)

a little bump along - we are now up to $2,575 over 77 loans and still going strong :-)

Yeah go team! I got so psyched up I immediately went out and made a new loan! Just kidding..... I had been planning to anyway you just got me moving.

checking out the various teams there, the nattily titled 'Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious Group' easily weigh in as the biggest hearted, having loaned over $1.6 million since they formed!

~ le bump ~


Read that tidbit of information on that group some time back, Phil.

Unreal, kind of ... $1.6 million dollars.


Gotta luv their group's name though.

:oD

one of the teams current loans still needs funding - you can help out with it here if you are able. Thanks.

Martha Petrona Murillo Luna living in Leon, Nicaragua was loaned $250 and she has already paid back 37% and the Caedes Lending Team was the only team to support her efforts to help make a good life for her and her family luckily she has three other individual Kiva members supporting her hard work to pay off the loan.

Best wishes Martha!
And thanks to Phil ex pat UK now living in the beautiful Mauritius, I'd love to live there myself...many heartfelt thanks for all your effort and hard work supporting this wonderful cause!

Diane

Just scraped it to the $3000 mark before the mid point in the year so a little slower than last year but still doing well all things considered. thanks everyone!

staggeringly, the previously mentioned and nattily titled Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists, and the Non-Religious Lending Team on Kivs has made history there by passing the milestone of $2,000,000 in loans to entrepreneurs.


The team have made over 65,303 loans totaling $2,007,500 and raised $1 million in loans in just 7 months. Well done to them and their incredible generosity.

two of the teams current loans still needs funding - this one and this one. Any additional help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I made a loan to the person in Lebanon that you recommended Phil
You are the most hard working and generous member of the team and have made more loans then the rest of us combined. But I try to do my little part.

Diane

Thanks Diane - I will be off Caedes for some time now due to illness/surgery but will still keep up the Kiva work in the background :-) Have to at least match last years total!

I'll leave it up to you if I may to carry the torch here and try to prick a few more of the collective consciousness :-)

Sorry to hear that you are facing some challenges, Phil. (Was wondering where you had gotten to.)

That said ... here's to a speedy recovery.

And most certainly ... best wishes on that front, as well. :o)

Hey Phil ..leaving me to carry the torch I will run the Caedes Kiva Team into the ground in record time....just kidding! Don't worry about it I will do my part, you just take care and have a speedy recovery. I had my gall bladder out a few years ago and it wasn't that bad.

Best wishes my dear friend and hope to see you back soon!..

Diane

Hey! Just want to say we got one new member!

Get better soon Phil!
Diane

Done and done.

The team is now ten members strong with $3550.00 in loans. How about if we try to shoot for a goal of $5000 by Christmas Time.
And no I did not resort to crying to get 2 people to join, but I did a lot of arm twisting. I'll be gone on holiday but I know the site will be in good hands
Diane

Ow! Ow! Ow! (but it's a good pain:) The only way we're going to reach $5,000 is to get more members.

Well, isn't this.. nice. =D
That carries a double meaning as 'Kiva' is also the finnish word for 'Nice'. =)

I will join next month, at the moment I am too low on budget because of my coming trip to Asia that I cannot even put as little as 25$.

We'll keep the light on for you. :D

Hi folks – just a little note to let you know I’m (more or less) ok after my surgery and recovering well.

We are currently upto $3750 so need to get in another $750 before the end of the year to match last years efforts which would be a fantastic achievement considering the dire straits the world has found itself in this year.

Many thanks to our new recruits and a little nudge to the existing team crew to reinvest paid back loans that may be sat idle in your Kiva account ;-)

Cheers – Phil :-)

Hi Phil,
Glad to hear your surgery went well and you are on the mend. I reinvested my paid back loans to
Rosas De Rosas Pampa Group in Bolivia To buy fruit to sell. The Caedes Kiva Team now has a nice round figure of $3800.

Best Wishes!
Diane

And with another one from Phil and myself, the figure is up to $3,975. One more loan will put us at $4,000. I changed my signature (below) to a note and link about Kiva but it hasn't made a dent yet. No new members.

/\ Nice. :o)


(*shakes Pretty Pony Bank ...*)


Hmmmm ...


;o)

I just made a loan to Amartuvshin Tuvdenpurev a young man who lives in his own ger, a traditional Mongolian housing tent and runs a taxi service. The team total is now up to $4175.00 in loans A nice round number of $5000 would be a great ending to 2010.

Nik...It took me 1 year 10 months to recruit 3 members so don't get discouraged.

Aren't they called yurts? Or is that something else...

I remember this because someone I know used to do felting and would joke that they were going to make one for themselves one day...

Hi Sam,

According to Wikipedia

A yurt (üi or kiz üi in Kazakh, ger in Mongolian) is a portable, felt-covered, wood lattice-framed dwelling structure traditionally used by nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. A yurt is more home-like than a tent in shape and build, with thicker walls. They are popular amongst nomads.
I knew what a yurt was but never heard of a ger until I made this loan...Join the Kiva Team and learn about the world.

~ lil' friendly bump ~


Courtesy of another friendly reminder from our own Nikoneer as to what is really important.

:o)

Kiva is not an internet scam but truly a way to accomplish something for someone else as well as yourself. The old line that states by giving a man a fish you feed him for a day, but by teaching him to fish you feed him for life is quite true. Pragmatically, however, that only works if he has the tools to go fishing. In our world money is often the common denominator, and is what makes things happen, providing those tools to that fisherman. I lived and worked in a third-world country, years ago, and was able to see, first-hand, how the rate of monetary exchange can make such a huge difference. $25 for me, the price of a good meal, can translate into vastly more money and opportunity for someone else, helping them to make a better life for themselves. A boost that they generally wouldn't get from a bank, those institutions that are more comfortable lending money to people who don't actually need it. I've been a lender for about 6 months and the people I have lent money to are already paying it back, as per their individual repayment schedules, allowing me to turn that money around and lend it to someone else. So they are getting the help they need to make a better life for themselves and their families. I did say Kiva did something for me, too. Personal satisfaction. I've always wanted to find something I could do, as an individual, that made a difference for someone else. Sometimes people won't vote because they think "What good can my single vote do? What difference can I make?" or won't take a low-risk step for someone, saying, " What could I possibly do to make a difference; I'm just one person." Well, Kiva is the answer to those questions. Even if you make just one loan -- just one - you will make a difference.

I invite you to just take a look... no commitment... just a look:

http://www.kiva.org/about

Just giving this a little bump!
Nikoneer has put it so well, much better than I could with my limited English ;-)

So, if you want to give a person a fishing rod for christmas, or better put, lend him some money so that he can buy his own tools, now you know you can just klick here: http://www.kiva.org/
(And, if you look for some ideas for christmas presents - there are also gift certificates available...)

Absolutely. Giving someone a Kiva gift certificate allows them to experience the warmth of helping someone else and perhaps making Kiva a little corner of their life, as we team members have. It really does feel good to individually make a difference. Merry Christmas to my teammates and to you all.

-Nikoneer

Merry Christmas to the Caedes membership from the Caedes Kiva Team. We have submitted an image for the holiday and your perusal:

http://www.caedes.net/Zephir.cgi?lib=Caedes::Infopage&image=Nikoneer-1293144113.jpg

And a Happy and prosperous New Year, too!

-Nik

When I logged on to make an new Kiva Loan I got this Message

++++++++++++++
Wow! We don't know what to say

Every loan is currently funded, but don't worry -
we're adding new entrepreneurs every day.
++++++++++++++

I was amazed and happy to see so many people support this site.
Well since they don't need any help at this moment can I recommend
my second favorite charity. "Doctors Without Borders"
I have been with them a long time and they are super!

~ le bump ~


New Year is upon us, maybe some thought and consideration can be given to those things that are truly important.

I just made a loan to Rosa Alexandra Jetón Mogrovejo who is 27 years old, single, and lives at the home of her parents in Ecuador, SA
Her mother sells roasted pork and her father is a professional driver.Rosa helps with her mother’s business and works Sunday through Sunday from 7am to 8pm. and the money from this loan will be invested in pork to sell. Her goal is to grow the family business.

The $5000 mark is really close now thanks to all our generous members!
Diane

With a team of 10 (beginning in September, 2008) we just hit the $5,000 mark. Imagine what we could accomplish with more members. It's only $25 folks, and it's a loan. You get it back! We ten members are not "out" $5,000. It's cumulative -- we loan, and reloan the same money again and again getting (and giving) the most benefit out of it.

"What do you think of people in poverty?

Maybe what Jessica Jackley once did: "they" need "our" help, in the form of a few coins in a jar.

The co-founder of Kiva.org talks about how her attitude changed -- and how her work with microloans has brought new power to people who live on a few dollars a day."


Jessica Jackley: "Poverty, money -- and love"

/\ Very impassioned and moving talk.

Well worth the expenditure of time to give it a listen.


(*has faith redeemed that there are actual heroes, in and amongst us*)

I gave it a listen. She seems most sincere and is a remarkably good speaker. This endeavor has been very successful and well intentioned.

In case any of you wondered what Caedesians were on the Caedes Kiva team:

PhilUK from Mauritius (who started the team in Sept. 2008)
Mia04 from Austria
marcaribe from Tennessee
Bill from Texas
regmar from Louisiana
Rich from Wisconsin
Nikoneer from North Dakota
and three anonymous members

All august individuals (except me - I'm more of a februarian) who wouldn't mind an expansion of the ranks. It's a great cause and it feels good.

"The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions -- the little soon forgotten charities of a kiss or smile, a kind look, a heartfelt compliment, and the countless infinitesimal of pleasurable.. and genial feeling."

~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge


Wanna see some *genial smiles?


(*adj. - conducive to life, growth, or comfort.)

Dear Caedes friends,
I just made a loan to Jorge Faustino Moreira Herrera he is 55 year old, married, and lives with his wife and children in Bolivia. Jorge likes working in agriculture and is requesting a loan to grow more corn, rice, and passion fruit, much of which he sells at local market. With the support of the loan, he will have the economic help needed for supplies. He faces challenges like pests and plant diseases and changes in the weather. Please join with me to help his dream of growing more food come true by joining the Caedes Kiva Team which allows you to make small loans to entrepreneurs on five continents, changing one life at a time and rising many out of poverty once and for all.
Thanks for listening!
Diane

One of our members just made his 100th loan. All I can say is a heartfelt thank you and Congratulations on reaching this monumental milestone. Our small group of 11 members has given $5,600 so far...not too shabby eh!

Just to let you know, the Caedes Kiva team just hit the $6,000 mark, but I want to remind you that does not mean we have loaned 6,000 dollars, entirely out of our own reserves. Much of that is money that previous borrowers (entrepreneurs in third world countries--and even in the United States) have paid back to us and we've re-loaned, making our money do the right thing, over and over again. I invite you to consider joining the team... just $25 (that you can get back) can make a huge difference to an honest and hardworking (but unfortunately disenfranchised) person elsewhere in the world improve their lot in life. I'm not rich, by any means, but what little I can do as a team member feels great.

Three cheers for Nik! He just made his 38th loan to Kim Oquino from the Philippines
to purchase fertilizers and pay for labor.
Our grand total of loans make is now $6,025

Phil and I just made a loan to Katsele Nyondo in Kenya to buy fish to sell, this is my 15th loan and I haven't lost a cent. Our team total is up to $6,300 loaned out but I am a small fry compared to Phil who just made his 117th loan. Kudos to him!
I hate to repeat myself but I wish more people would join...It's a net net win, I wouldn't give to anything I lost money on.
Peace and Love To All
Diane

Add another loan today. That's four from Phil, Diane, Mia, and myself in the last couple days (the Kiva Caedes team has made a total of 227 loans). And Diane's right--I haven't lost a cent either.

-Nik

People might be interested in this info graphic relating to the Kiva Scheme.

http://flowingdata.com/2011/09/07/five-years-of-kiva-lending-and-borrowing/

/\ Good good stuff.

Although, parts of me twisted brain.. thinks the graphic looks like something from a depiction of intercontinental thermonuclear warfare.

That silliness aside..


"It's been an impressive $240 million in loans around the world with a repayment rate of almost 99 percent."

Wonder how close our banks come to that repayment number?

Consider this about the success of Kiva, as well:

---Right now there are 7 seconds between loans.

---The to-date repayment rate is 98.87%.

---$2,725,575 has been loaned this past week.

---4,343 new lenders have joined the ranks this past week.

---6,013 new loans have been made this past week.

---39,206 total lenders have made a loan this past week.

---There are Kiva lenders (like those of us on the Kiva Caedes team) in 216 countries.

---There are Kiva entrepreneurs (borrowers) in 60 countries.

and

---The first Kiva loans were made in April of 2005 and, to date, $247,489,725.00 has been lent to people in an effort to alleviate poverty by helping individuals help themselves. The old saw about giving a person fish you feed them for one day and teaching them to fish is feeding them for life, is almost completely true. What we're trying to do is make sure she (and he, 80% of the entrepreneurs are women) is able to afford a fishing pole to catch these hypothetical fish.

Now these are some impressive numbers. I invite any of you Caedesians to join the team and receive the satisfaction that we ten current members have.

-Nikoneer

To give a somewhat dated answer to Les's question, a February, 2009 analysis of Small Business Administration-backed loans found that the failure rate in the U.S. hit the double digits, with 11.9% of the SBA's loans the previous year going into default. With the current economy headed for the porcelain God in the water closet, it's likely higher now than it was then.

Coram: thanks for the link, that's pretty cool...

Nik, if your motivational message (I invite any of you Caedesians to join the team and receive the satisfaction that we ten current members have) to join Caedes Kiva doesn't work
How about inserting a hidden subliminal message so after someone reads it they feel an overwhelming urge to join Caedes Kiva Team...joking. Whew! I just noticed I am the 100th post here...wonder if I win some sort of prize.