Kiva - "Sub Accounts" - for children/young adults - Group Accounts

[Guest]

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[aricardo]

I am REALLY new with Kiva but I am hooked.  This is so addictive.

As such, I wanted to have my niece and nephew learn the value of helping others and come in contact with learning of other cultures beyond the US.

I wish Kiva could allow "sub accounts" to be created under my account.  This "Sub Account" would allow me to fund it and give the account to my niece and/or nephew and allow them to decide who to lend to.  The "Sub Account" would not be able to have funds withdrawn.  From my "Primary Account", I could decide how much money I want to put into a "sub account" and allow them to use the funds for borrowers. 

I think this same concept would work great for the need for actual Group Accounts.  I know there has been discussion on this to have formal Group Accounts for people that want to combine their funds, perhaps under a common school or organization and use the funds collectively.  This same functionality could be used by groups.

What are your thoughts?

Any means of improving this idea?

[Peter S]

Hi Alex

"I am hooked.  This is so addictive" - you can say that again. You've come to the right support group for the addicted. Looking at how many borrowers you have accumulated in just a few days, I have to say you've got it bad, and that is good.  And you have a great Google loan map already..

With the sub-account idea - seems a good idea to me, I'm sure others here will have more expansive thoughts on that - until Kiva introduces that kind of functionality, you can of course achieve much the same effect if you give them Gift Certificates, to use in Kiva accounts of their own.  Until they're old enough to have PayPal accounts, they wouldn't be be able to get at the $$.

Peter

p.s.   a big  to Kiva Friends

[cpbailey]

It is a great idea to be able to have two passwords for an account; one would be able to loan only, and the other would be the master account and could be used to loan, donate, transfer gift certificates, and return to Paypal.  For larger group investments, there ought to be a way to co-sign any removal of funds.  Some of the accounts have a sizable loan balance!

For example, a school club may raise funds for Kiva loans.  The school may consider the ability to trace the trail of money before permitting the club to open an account.  (Paypal is one issue--does it go thru a personal account?  Does the school need to open an account?  Who can move money from the account?  Who will have access?  How will access change hands if the teacher leaves the school for any reason?)  The issues may make it easier to support a different non-profit.

Colette

[Nicole & Hiren]

Hi, Alex! That really IS a great idea. In the absence of such ability, though I would also recommend opening separate Kiva accounts for them. My daughter has one as does my son (he's getting his first Kiva loans for his first birthday. Shhh...don't tell him.)

You can check them out here if you wish.

http://www.kiva.org/lender/ashlan

http://www.kiva.org/lender/rohang

By the way, when I signed them up, they asked for the email of the person who recommended Kiva to them. I gave them my email addy, and now when I log in and go to My Portfolio-->My Invites, I can see how many loans my daughter has made. It also lets me go to her page with one click.

I know that doesn't completely solve your issues, but it's something. For now. 

Nicole

P.S.: Welcome to Kiva! And WELCOME to Kiva Friends!

[Wood Fairy Glenda]

What gorgeous kids, Nicole! and congrats to your daughter for her early great philanthropic sense.

[KivanSteven]

Nice pics Nicole...maybe we'll see them here on KF in 5-10 years

Alex, are you the same Alex that contacted me through KIVA concerning the google map, etc?  If so great to see you, and so glad you decided on joining here...

I have no doubt that in no time youll wonder how you ever got along without KivaFriends, lol.

Great idea by the way.  I would rather have my daughters account linked up to mine than be completely separate.

[Nicole & Hiren]

Thanks for the compliments, guys! I think they're cute, too, but I'm not an impartial judge. 

We give Ashlan a weekly allowance. Part of that she can spend, part of it she invests, and part of it she has to reserve for charity. Kiva is hands down the best charity we've found for her. She absolutely loves sitting down and picking out her borrowers. It's so much more personal than sending funds to other (very worthy) charities like Heifer International.

She also requested Kiva loans for Christmas and from her grandparents (in lieu of toys). I'm grateful to Kiva for making the process so easy and personal.

Nicole

[Henry]

very cute!!!!!

[aricardo]

Hey Steve.  Yes, it's the same "Alex"   

I would hope the Kiva folks look into this.  I am in Sales so I am always wearing my "Sales Hat".  And if Kiva's Development Team were to consider this, they would see the amount of additional funds that would come in with parents and unwed uncles (like me!) that want to get children involved and learn some important life lessons from this.   I think they would see a significant increase in funds.

Hopefully they are reading.   

[wind5001]

Hi Alex,

first of all welcome to KivaFriends...I don't know why, but this is the first time I get to reading your post. I think it's a very interesting idea and it should be feasible, too. The reason for having these sub-accounts are absolutely valid and I hope Kiva will come up with an idea of implementing it.

Keep on loaning
Oli

And Nicole: Just saw that your daughter is on one of the Kenyan loans that was supported by the Mark Agwonah Fund!!

[Nicole & Hiren]

And Nicole: Just saw that your daughter is on one of the Kenyan loans that was supported by the Mark Agwonah Fund!

Thanks for pointing that out, Oli; I hadn't noticed. That's one of her favorite loans, too!

Nicole

[Agent001]

Just a note - we pester Kiva very, very (very) regularly (sorry Fiona) about adding group account, or sub-account, or dual password functionality. Our group is one of those with "substantial balances" and it is only going to increase dramatically, this is a fairly pressing concern for us.

They're definitely aware of it as a priority, but as many have noticed their engineering concern of late is increasing functionality for partner organizations on the OTHER end of the system to make sure they can keep the loan supply coming in a scalable and responsible way. That said, a bit more pressure from all you fine folks wouldn't bother us as its definitely a direction we hope to see sooner rather than later

Check the website for some dynamic group lending action if we do say so ourselves! www.agentsofchange.ca

Shawn
Agents of Change

[wind5001]

Just an update from me:

I informed Fiona about this thread and she has taken notice of it. She thinks it's a great idea. She said they're currently working on group loans, but she wants to spread this to the developpers, too.

Oli

[AccountAbility]

The discussion about donor directed charitable funds on the thread about tax deductions has run parallel to this in one aspect. 
http://www.kivafriends.org/index.php/topic,1274.0.html

To quote a section here:
"To be truly efficient in allowing donors to direct their donated loan portfolios, Kiva has to be directly involved so that the accounts are set up appropriately.  On another thread there has been a discussion of sub-accounts to give to children etc, which would get credit infusions from outside and would not allow withdrawals.  Mechanically these would operate the same as donor directed charitable accounts, so now we have two constituencies who can request this modification from Kiva."

I thought it useful to bring that thought over here to link the similarity of the mechanics to accomplish.

Dan