How much do you donate to kiva?

[Guest]

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[jgbndaudio]

Hello,

Just wondering if most people are donating the 10% that Kiva recommends or what other people are donating.
I generally do loans of $25 and give Kiva $1 for each of those. For the few bigger loans I have I gave the 10%.

Thanks,

Scotty

[Laurie]

Interesting question, Scotty, and it prompted me to review my contributions.

I generally loan $25 at a time and "skip the step" of making a donation to Kiva because I don't want to deal with the little $2.50 addon. (I somewhat complusively track our expenses and tend to forget about little amounts like this.)  Instead, I add a larger contribution every so often, $10 or $20, trying to stay around 10% of our total loans.

I like the fact that Kiva includes the contribution screen, as it reminds me to support their innovative idea and hard work and makes it easy to do so.  I have been surprised by how much enjoyment Kiva has added to my daily life and DEFINITELY want to help keep it going.

Safe travels,
Laurie
Writing this morning from Charleston, Oregon, USA

[AccountAbility]

We are very familiar with the necessity of back office costs, overhead and the unsung folks in the background who make the whole thing work.  So we have always chipped in the 10% contribution to keep the system running smoothly.   And because we always donate the same 10%, the accounting is easy.

[Ruby63]

I have to admit that I don't donate to Kiva, unfortunately I am on a very low income and feel that my money is best spent helping the entrepreneurs. 
Ruby63
 

[KEDS]

I don't donate the 10% each time I make a loan.

My employer matches employee gifts to charitable organizations, dollar-for-dollar, so sometime towards the end of the year I will total up what 10% would have been for the loans I make this year and will make a contribution and have my employer match that amount at that time. That way Kiva gets twice as much money!!

KEDS

[AccountAbility]

Employer matches are great!  Unfortunately we're the employer so it doesn't get us much value. 
I would also like to say that donations are just that--donations.  So every way people help Kiva is good.   I just know by looking through all our posts here that we also expect a lot from Kiva.  So I view donations as a way to put my money where my mouth is--by helping them to do all the good things they do.

[Ramón]

I *always* donate the 10%. I think contributing to the stability of Kiva is extremely important, as there is no way to invest more or recover paid back loans without Kiva.

To make it even better, I tend to remember the "reloaned" amounts (fully paid back loans that I reloan to a new entrepreneur), and I generally add an 10% to a new, paid loan to compensate for the fact that when "reloaning", Kiva doesn't ask for a donation.

Remember-- since Kiva's stability could become the "single point of failure" in a further risk diversed system, it's enormously important to keep that machine well oiled. And-- at least their CEO doesn't pay himself $600,000 per year in bonuses, like some large charities do.

--Ramón

[Robert]

I must confess that I haven't yet made a donation. The first argument by Kiva is the taxation regime of donations (1.  "Is Kiva.org a 501c3?" Yes.  Kiva.org has received tax-exempt status and is a 501c3 non-profit.  Your donation to Kiva.org is tax-deductible.) As a non-US resident, this is of no help to me. I think that my money is better used if donated to charity organizations that are tax-deductible under my national legislation. However, I always felt ill at ease when I skipped the donation window.

So, how can I help Kiva? First, Kiva gets some interest on my undisbursed loans and repayments. The interest payment on this money is not enough to oil the machine, but it's more than nothing and is going to increase over time. Second, I'm a translator and I will soon offer volunteer translation services to Kiva. Right now, I'm really busy, but in approximately 2 weeks it should be possible. Hope this helps.

[Peter S]

For me, the suggested 10% every time, to help Kiva keep doing what it's doing.

I suppose at some future point there might be economies of scale kicking in, when maybe Kiva will be in a position to reduce the suggested percentage contribution.

[Marley]

I donate the 10% with each loan. Having worked for a non-profit organization myself at one time, I suspect that they very much need the income. I appreciate that they barely ask for our support, keeping all the focus on the the clients. I'm so grateful for this brilliant idea being implemented so gracefully. They need to make ends meet in order to continue. I've spent some time trying to figure out how they meet thier expenses and I can't imagine how rent, salaries and other operating expenses are covered.