Feature request: Gifts in the future

[Guest]

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[jlgallup]

It would be great to be able to sign up for a gift on Kiva that would be sent to the recipient by email on a specified future date (e.g. their birthday, Christmas, etc.)  If this is already possible, and I wasn't able to figure it out, let me know.  This would allow the gift-givers to plan ahead and not have to remember to do go back to the Kiva site on the day that the gift should be delivered.

Thanks,
John

[Jane Sladen]

It would be great to be able to sign up for a gift on Kiva that would be sent to the recipient by email on a specified future date (e.g. their birthday, Christmas, etc.)  If this is already possible, and I wasn't able to figure it out, let me know.  This would allow the gift-givers to plan ahead and not have to remember to do go back to the Kiva site on the day that the gift should be delivered.

Thanks,
John

Ah, but ... suppose you do this in July for Christmas?  Kiva would have to take the money out of your account, in case it was not there in December.

..... six months when the money could have been used for better purposes.

There are ALL kinds of free programs out there that will remind you of birthdays etc.

Jane Sladen.

[jlgallup]

I don't see why it is a problem if someone wants to have their money withdrawn ahead of time - it is their choice to lose a bit of interest (which Kiva can keep).  The main benefit of this to the user would be for short delays, such as being able to arrange a Kiva gift the week before someone's birthday.  This is not an earth-shattering improvement, but it makes the Kiva service that much more convenient, which is why Kiva is a success in the first place.  Before Kiva, people could always seek out an individual micro-finance organization in another country and give them money to lend.  It just wasn't so easy.

Kiva would also attract more gift giving if the person giving the money could set up gifts for a number of people (for different future dates) at the same time.  Some of these gifts would never happen if the gift-giver has to return to the Kiva site for each of the future gifts.

John

[wthepoo]

Hi John,

thank you and welcome to Kiva Friends.

I think it's a suggestion worthwhile for Kiva to explore (though their engineering resources are quite limited). Maybe you should also send Kiva's Customer Service an e-mail (contactus@kiva.org) as while Kiva staffers do regularly read posts here on KF, they won't catch all the posts.

Instead of buying the gift certificates "on the day", you can already buy them ahead, though, and just uncheck the "send recipient an e-mail" (or similar) option. You can then find the necessary information to redeem the GC (your e-mail-address and the Gift Certificate's ID/code), even print a nice certificate, and mail the information or even give the printed certificate to the recipient "on the day". It's a bit less comfortable, though, I agree.

Best wishes,
Wolfgang.

[granite]

I can certainly appreciate the merits of having an option to delay sending the E-mail until a certain date.  I buy my christmas gifts last minute... but this is a great way for someone to have everything planned out well in advance.