Group Lenders

[Guest]

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[RichardF]

I think the groups that lend at Kiva are very interesting. They include businesses, churches, clubs, extended families, groups, schools and other caring communities. 

Kivapedia now includes these groups at List of Kiva Group Lenders.

Because this new location is a wiki, you can help expand it to your heart's desire! 

And...because the pages are cross-linked, we still can discuss the list here. Is that cool or what?! 

[Joe]

Great list! Thanks for getting it started. It'll be nice to watch the list grow as more groups are found.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Gumball Capital has any loans on Kiva yet. They're just taking pledges from people that have promised to donate at a later date. The following is from their How To Donate page:

http://www.gumballcapital.org/donate.php

100% of your contribution goes directly to developing-world entrepreneurs.

As soon as we finalize our non-profit bank account, you'll be contacted with details on how to pay via credit, cash, or check and make sure that your gift is fully tax-deductible.

We take your privacy seriously: your information will be used only for the purposes of collecting your donation and updating you on which entrepreneurs we lend your capital to. For more information, see our full Privacy Policy.

Thank you for your contribution!

[Spartan]

Wow!! Nice list. I bet you have spent some serious time building it. Kudos to you for the effort. 

[RichardF]

Thanks. It's really not much more than some "browsing time" with a little copy-and-paste editing.  Until Kiva adds their own search feature on lenders, anyone can look for "types" of lenders on just about any search engine with something like - site:kiva.org/lender California - to look for lenders who say something about California on their page. Multiple words in quotes like - site:kiva.org/lender "San Francisco" student - works too.

[AccountAbility]

Since we are on the list as a "group lender" let me clarify where we are coming from and see if that meets the definition.  All the loans we've made are ours.  The incentive to start lending last December was in trying to find a way to give Christmas gifts to our clients in a way that made a difference in the world and not just fluff.  So we made some loans "in honor" or our clients and sent them a letter including the pictures and descriptions of the loans we had made, encouraging them to perhaps invest on their own.  (In previous years we had actually donated the funds to an organization who used them for business startups among women.)  So with this year's we have every intention of rolling those funds over into new loans, although we have no obligation with our clients to do so.  We got such good feedback from our clients we will undoubtedly do it in the future.  While we do "talk it up" with our clients from time to time, it is more to encourage them to be investors as well.  So that is our "group", just my wife and I, who are the principals in our business.

[RichardF]

Hi, AccountAbility.  I knew your "group" was a bit iffy when I included it, so that's why I added the "sole proprietor" comment.  Extended family groups are a bit hard to call sometimes too.  Let me know if you want your page to stay or go.  Whatever you decide is fine with me. 

[AccountAbility]

I'd say let's leave it for now, and if it in some way encourages other businesses to do as we did, then that is a good thing.  In the meantime, perhaps other "groups" could respond and explain how they are lending, perhaps giving good ideas to the rest of us too.

[Spartan]

If you guys are looking for something a little different name wise that may seem more appropriate, in Hawaii we called extended families an "ohana" and informal groups a "hui". I think those words would play nicely given the organizational name Kiva.

[RichardF]

I'd say let's leave it for now, and if it in some way encourages other businesses to do as we did, then that is a good thing.  In the meantime, perhaps other "groups" could respond and explain how they are lending, perhaps giving good ideas to the rest of us too.

Sounds good!  I really enjoy seeing the diversity in the different types of "group" lender dynamics at Kiva.  I've been debating with myself about adding a "suggestion" to implement personal messages for Kiva lender pages.  Then it would be a lot easier to invite folks over here to share their stories.

[RichardF]

If you guys are looking for something a little different name wise that may seem more appropriate, in Hawaii we called extended families an "ohana" and informal groups a "hui". I think those words would play nicely given the organizational name Kiva.

Different types of groups in different cultures have their own names for themselves.  I'm not particularly looking for another label to put on them.  I'm just listing a collection of lender affiliations I find interesting, and I thought others might find them interesting too.