Real world ways to make life better

Microlenders like Kiva.org help make life better by lending small amounts of capital to people in underdeveloped regions to start small businesses.

Microcredit == small loans for the poor. Average credit borrowers are women and the amount is around $500. That re-payment rate of 99.7% is generally consistent around microfinance organizations, not just Kiva.

Flannery is from Pittsburgh. A self-described "white, middle-class girl." She travelled around to villages and talked to goat-herders and farmers about the microloans they had received before she started Kiva. "If other people could have face-to-face experiences with the people I was meeting... If you take one person and connect with them and hear their story the world would be a different place." Her husband is a tech geek and wanted to move to Silicon Valley and do tech start-ups, while Flannery wanted to do microfinance in Africa. Kiva is the product of compromise.

Kiva allows their partner microfinance outlets to keep their interest and only re-collect the principal. Kiva is a non-profit, though they "could be a for-profit." They raised money from grants from foundations and individuals to bootstrap Kiva. They are now funded by additional donations given by individual loaners. They try to generate enough money to function within the old system without getting loans.

Statistics about poverty often made Flannery feel "paralyzed." Unlike some charities, where archetypes are presented—"Help someone like Jane"—Kiva tries to actually connect you with the recipient of the loan. "Help Jane."