my mom told me about kiva several years ago. i think she had seen it on the news and knew it was something i might be interested in. since then it has been called the "hottest non-profit on the planet" by FORTUNE magazine and a Top 50 Website by TIME. Kiva (www.kiva.org) is the world's first person-to-person lending marketplace for the poor. "In just 5 years, Kiva has raised close to $200 million for nearly 500,000+ entrepreneurs in 60+ countries. Kiva combines the culture and approach of an internet start-up with an intense focus on alleviating global poverty. Kiva is poised to take its initial success to a whole new level - targeting $1 billion in loans by 2015 and expansion into new areas (e.g. student loans, climate change, etc). Headquartered in San Francisco, Kiva's team has 75 employees and 500+ volunteers."
basically im obsessed with this organization. and the concept of microloans to releave poverty. many of times ill go to the site to reloan a donation and i get distracted and click on the "jobs" button. how cool would it be if your job was to go around and interview people for loans, taking pictures and doing follow ups in say...southeast asia. and as i looked today they are accepting applications and i am sooo very interested in being the portfolio manager for southeast asia and pacific region. "The Portfolio Manager will be responsible for ensuring healthy, impactful growth of Kiva's portfolio in the region by driving and coordinating partnership selection and development as well as performing desk and on site due diligence and monitoring of current and potential partners," sounds great...AND you get to spend %30 of your work time in the region. the only problem is financing is not my greatest strength, nor do i have a MS in economics. maybe, when it comes to working with microloans, "wanting to help people and travel" isnt enough :)
well, maybe ill work on that degree and in the mean time - you can give as little as a $25 dollar loan that will go back into your kiva account for you to reloan to someone else. its literally the gift that keeps on giving. and you are changing lives. how great is that?
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