Kiva Update no.1 Recipe

Good work Heidi. I love your recipes and now your ability to positively impact the world. I just joined Kiva and made my first loan.
Thanks

Hi, everyone. Longtime reader of 101 Cookbooks, and I’ve been a Kiva member since December 2006 — it’s nice to see the two interests converge. I thought my experience, since it’s relatively long-term, might be useful for anyone who has questions or concerns about the Kiva organization.
Since 12/06 I’ve made 23 loans to small business entrepreneurs or groups in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. I have invested a total of about $200 to date and have rolled the payback amounts into new loans and an occasional gift to Kiva’s operational fund, for a total of $575.
Of the 23 loans, to date only 2 defaulted, and these were 90% repaid at the time, so I “lost” a total of $5.00. The recipients were two Kenyan women who unfortunately got caught up in the country’s political crisis.
7 loans have been fully repaid, and the remainder are in process of repayment. I intend to continue rolling over funds to new loans — it seems like a great way to make an ongoing charitable contribution.
I understand the concerns about lending rates but as has already been said here, Kiva reports the rates are always lower than the going rates for moneylenders within the country or region. Without the third parties’ involvement, Kiva would not be able to disperse its funds to so many qualified recipients.
I’ve been very pleased with Kiva; I see it as a way to make a difference with a minimal amount of bureaucracy. I hope you consider adding it to your charitable portfolio.
(And happy cooking!)

That’s fantastic. What a great way to enable people!

Wow! This is an amazing story. I’m going to see this more often now.

mai aap sa vat karna chatahau

I think I know where Kitty is coming from – I’m careful to read over the information on the field partners before my Kiva donations are made, and frankly, I’m a little picky. As I am with most things. I think I’ve made the point before that some of the percentages charged by the field partners to the loanees seems extravagant, but often lower than the going rate in that part of the world – say 34 percent vice the average of 68 percent! That’s a crazy percentage rate for a loan! I do think that is a wonderful medium to help people, but Kitty’s concerns are one of the reasons I like DonarsChoose.org, or organization like http://www.operationiraqichildren.org. The idea of changing a young life to alter the future appeals to me.

I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I have to be the voice of dissent here.
Looking over their site, I see no prospectus, I see no long term record or plan, and I see no definite rules for disclosure of their lending procedures. Lest we forget, *this* country is currently in a mortgage crisis for granting loans to people who cannot afford them. Now, I know this is to help people in impoverished nations in a locatarian form or fashion, but it borders on irresponsible.
I’m not implying it’s a scam, but as it stands, it is a nonprofit, it is not bound by federal or international lending regulations, there is no regulated disclosure of how your funds are being distributed, and most importantly, since it is not public, there is no fiduciary duty to you, or anyone else. Another issue is that this is pushing money out of this country, and it is stated on the site that there is no guarantee, and in fact a high likelihood that none of it will come back. That further weakens an ailing economy.
A much better way to help these people would be to invest in emerging market funds. Emerging market funds have extremely high standards of both accountability and disclosure. South American countries currently make up some of the top returning countries in this sector. That helps people, because emerging market funds make their money by producing jobs, building and supporting infrastructure and modernizing countries. If you’re unsure about anything, they are also required by law to hand over their books to you, and are required to publicly post them quarterly. On top of all this, they also leverage their own assets, and in general are in possession of much larger sums of money to help impoverished nations.
A good example of how this works is Belize. Belize is a small nation, with a low national income. Belize, a corporate partner and an emerging market fund worked together to install a nationwide cellphone network. This went a long way towards helping Belize’s tourism industry, which is its primary source of income. It also provided full phone and data coverage to a country whos previous landline saturation had been less than 13%. It also brings me to another point, because all parties benefitted. A large portion of the profits turned right around and went back into the emerging market fund, to be loaned to other such causes. Everyone wants a feelgood story, but in reality, this is a far more effective way of improving their quality of life, while reducing the risk that the money ends up in the pockets of warlords and corrupt government officials.
I truly feel that helping people in nations like this improve their standard of living is important, however, I feel that there is too much chaff with this particular entity for it to qualify as acceptable risk. Give save the children 14 cents a day, and that child eats for a day. Raise the GDP of the country the child lives in by 1.5%, invest in that country’s agricultural sector, and that child has a shot at a better life.

I’m very happy to be part of this team. Thank you Heidi. I love your site for all that it is: a wonderful, visual introduction to new food ideas, and a medium for the extrapolation of information such as kiva.org. I’ve had money sitting in my “account” at Kiva for a while, waiting to be loaned. Often when I log in there aren’t any loans unfulfilled! Terrific! Today there were 7. Also, with a crazy degree in Cultural Anthropology, and a desire to know about the Field Partners before loaning money, sometimes I wait until I find my “correct match” before loaning. That’s the idea right?
So, with that thought, choose where my money goes, I hope I’m not being too forward in asking that you might take a look at a different giving option. I fond of donorschoose.org. On this site you’ll find listings that come from one page proposals submitted by teachers across the United States. There is such a need, and one can cater their donations to what matters to them – you choose. Bibliophile? There are currently 2,850 requests for books. Technology your gig? 3,613 requests. Want to fund something completely, but you have only $100? Over 100 requests open. Love literacy and history? (7,783 requests). Have a 3rd grader that might like to see how thier loan impacts other 3rd (3rd – 5th) grade classes? (3,801 requests). Grow up in rural Pennsylvania (396 requests from your state), or Mississippi? (268) How about Northern California? (905) I grew up here, although I call it “central” California. I was born in Santa Cruz. My niece is just starting her second year as a teacher in Watsonville. My sweet, blond, 5 foot 2 inch, 96 pound, former competitive cheerleader teaches a group of children she loves – over one third of them have restraining orders against a parent or other relative. She finds herself daily having to say: no, I’m sorry Mr. X (who is a full foot taller than Rachel and outweighs her by about 100 pounds), but you can’t pick up your nephew, and to top off her time in the classroom, she can’t get art supplies. We’re already sending her supplies, but that got me thinking about all the other teachers who don’t have someone. And, then a friend who teaches in Washington DC mentioned that he just submitted a request to DonorsChoose.org. I know I went on too long, so to those of you who are still with me, thanks. I hope you’ll take a look at this alternative for giving. Oh, these aren’t loans that get paid back, but they are tax deductible.

hi

hi

What a great idea! I have joined the 101 Cookbooks Group and made my first loan. I can’t wait to tell others about this.
HS: Thanks Deborah!