Is asking on this forum for help for projects outside Kiva acceptable?

[Guest]

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[RedHeadPeter]

I'm a member of the London team. I am also involved in fund-raising for a project in Ethiopia (not drought or famine relief). It isn't a project that lends itself to micro finance and in any event there are no loans to people in Ethiopia because currency controls mean you can't get the US$ back out.
I asked the London team at a meeting yesterday about the ethics of using the London team messaging system to ask people to help this project financially. The concensus, and a concensus I had no difficulty accepting, was that this would be inappropriate.
But one person present, and a recent Kiva fellow, suggested using the kiva friends forum as an avenue to seek financial assistance. It begs some questions about how people outside the UK contribute which I am looking into - in the UK the support organisation is a registered charity, people can contribute through JustGiving (who handle arrangements to get the tax that has been paid by the donors on their donation back from the REvenue and into the charitys hands).
But the first question is about the ethics of using KivaFriends for this. I certainly wouldn't just jump in without asking this question and asking for peoples views - or indeed if there is a rule somewhere that says I can't do it.
Can you help?
Peter

[wthepoo]

Thank you, Peter, for asking prior to posting the details and welcome to KF.

The ToU state the following:

As of June 2008, sites and services offering to give a percentage of sales to Kiva must be approved by a moderator and/or Kiva themselves before being posted on the forum - otherwise they will be seen as unsolicited advertising and/or spam, and will be removed.

Using the Kiva Friends forum for unauthorized solicitations and/or fundraising, especially for things not directly related to Kiva, is also prohibited.

Thus, in principle, such a request is not "acceptable" here as this forum is intended to be about Kiva and the Kiva lenders' community. 

But there have been (rather rare) instances before - mostly though with at least some connection to Kiva or former Kiva projects or to microfinance - where the administrators/moderators allowed fundraisers to be posted here. The moderators will thus gladly discuss your request and let you know (it could some time, though, so please be patient); could you send me some more details in a PM, please?

Best wishes,
Wolfgang.

[RedHeadPeter]

Wolfgang,

Many thanks for the swift and helpful reply. The PM should be in your inbox now.

Peter

[eileen]

Is there a procedure for getting approval to start a new "common interest" team where the common interest is supporting a philanthropic organization?