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Change.org & iGive.com

January 23, 2008 at 11:50 pm · Filed under Fundraising, Kiva, MFI's, Microfinance, Microlending, loans ·Tagged , ,

Today, I invested some time on KivaFriends.org and located a couple of great programs for marketing and fundraising.  Change.org has 466 Kiva supporters and has raised $203 dollars in direct donations for Kiva’s general fund.  You can donate as little as $10 and receive your very own Kiva fundraising page.  You have the option to upload a photo for your profile or a video, I chose to upload a really great Kiva video I found on YouTube.  You can see my Change.org fundraising page for Kiva here:  http://www.change.org/nonprofits/projects/view_fundraising_page/16338?network_id=493

Within the Marketing and Fund-raising section of KivaFriends.org I located several references to iGive.com.  This is an affinity fundraising site featuring 680 merchants who donate a percentage of sales to the charity or cause of your choice.  KivaFriends has an account where 75 affiliated shoppers have generated enough money to fund 55 micro-loans in developing countries.  For more details, you can visit the site via this link:  http://www.iGive.com/html/refer.cfm?memberid=550794&causeid=41751 

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Field Partner Risk Rating

January 22, 2008 at 6:12 pm · Filed under Africa, Kiva, MFI's, Microfinance, Microlending, Uganda, loans

Kiva’s Field Partners, also known as micro-finance institutions (MFI’s), all receive a field partner risk rating between 1 and 5 stars.  You can navigate to the field partners and detailed information by clicking on the About tab at www.kiva.org 

In addition to the risk rating, Kiva posts the delinquency rate and default rate of each MFI.  The risk rating is based more on how long the MFI has been involved in microlending and their record or ability to collect and repay the loans.  Some MFI’s have a newly established working relationship with Kiva and a high rating while others have worked with Kiva for several months and still have lower ratings despite delinquency and default rates of 0%.  Once you find a business you wish to invest in, I would recommend doing a little research on the MFI/field partner.  A delinquency or default rate of 0% may provide a false sense of security given that the relationship with Kiva is just a couple of months.  The lender (BRAC Uganda) working with the entrepreneurs I invested in, have only been working with Kiva for about a month, but they have an established record in microlending.    

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