What is Kiva?
Kiva is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. It allows individuals to lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world. Kiva operates in over 80 countries with a focus on providing access to capital for low-income entrepreneurs and students.
Kiva works by partnering with local microfinance institutions who vet and upload profiles of qualified borrowers to the Kiva website. Lenders browse and choose an entrepreneur or student they wish to fund. The lenders provide the funding which gets disbursed to the borrowers as a 0% interest loan. As repayments are made, lenders can relend that money to another borrower or withdraw their funds.
Since launching in 2005, Kiva lenders have funded over $1.7 billion in loans around the globe. These loans have a remarkably high 97% repayment rate. The Kiva model reduces overhead and interest rates for borrowers while still providing access to the capital they need to grow their small businesses, go to school, improve their living situations, etc. Kiva relies on voluntary support from lenders to operate.