Previously, I asked if there was anything better than Kiva.org.
Kiva allows lenders to organize themselves into groups, or “lending teams.” When I saw the Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious lending team, I was sold. (There are other groups organized on a full range of interests/issues.)
I am so surprised that it took our species so long to figure out that lending money was better than giving it away when it comes to alleviating poverty.
From the point of view of the borrower, the gains in dignity, responsibility and sense of empowerment are obvious. For the lender, the gains are clarity, personalization, ease and very low risk.
In the past, when I’d hear about a new charity that I liked, I often did not follow through with giving to it for a few reasons. For one thing, it was often up to me to find out how to give them money at all. An even bigger barrier was the feeling a feeling that the little bit I could give would just disappear into the ether. There was no sense of satisfaction for me. You just have to trust that the charity does a good job.
The net result was that I just hardly ever gave anything at all.
But Kiva changes all that. How much could I part with without feeling it? $25 every 2 weeks? Sure. That’s $650/year. After 3 years, almost 2 grand. Can you imagine managing a two thousand dollar investment in the poorest people of the world? Imagine all of us doing it.
That brings me to the best part of this to me… It’s extremely scalable. First of all, I think estimates that we can solve half of world poverty in a very short time are conservative. I think it could be even better. Second, after the poorest entrepreneurs have rolled through our excess dinero, the huge resulting capital pool could be used to fund even larger projects.
Wait a second, is this socialist?!
heh heh
