$25, the Gift That Keeps on Giving
Christmas is the time for giving, and I want to tell you about a very special gift that everyone could give, and it only costs you $25.
Kiva is a non-profit organisation that give loans to those who need it from 80 countries around the world. These needing it can request loans for education, for food, for housing, for health, for sanitation as well as livestock and chickens amongst other things. Things that we all tend to take for granted.
Note I said LOAN. This is not a donation, as you will get your money back. You simply look through the list of people requesting and you can choose by country or choose by category (health, housing, agriculture, men, women etc), and once chosen you can then click on the person, read the bio, and click on the “Lend $25” button, then go through the checkout. Your loan, together with others who choose to support this person will help change someone’s life. Once enough people support this person to reach their requested loan value, your loan gets paid back slowly, a little each month. And then you can choose to have the funds returned to you, or you can use the credit to relend to someone else.
Kiva themselves say “Lenders crowdfund the loan in increments of $25 or more.” So you see how it works? $25 really is the gift and keeps on giving.
In September 2011 Australian genealogist Judy Webster, continued her father’s tradition of lending money to hard-working people who want support but not handouts, and to do so created the “Genealogists for Families” group on Kiva. I am proud to be a part of this group, and have helped many with loans over the past 5 years.
Since then 329 other genealogists,
from all around the world have joined the group,
lending over $206,000 for 7847 loans
the stats for the Genealogists for Families group on Kiva, as at 18 December 2016
Anyone can loan through Kiva, you don’t have to be a genealogist or family historian. But if you are, feel free to join the Genealogists for Families group, we’d love to have you join.
Further information …
Kiva website – http://www.kiva.org
Genealogists for Families group on Kiva – http://www.kiva.org/team/genealogists
Genealogists for Families blog – http://genfamilies.blogspot.com/
So while you’re out and about Christmas shopping, and wondering what ornaments to buy for the Christmas table, or how many drinks you’ll need for Christmas Day, take a moment to think about those who need basic supplies to live, and see if you can spare $25 for them as well.
2 Responses to “$25, the Gift That Keeps on Giving”
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Thanks for this excellent post, Alona. Because most of us re-lend the repaid money over and over again – and because most repayments go into our Kiva accounts on about the 18th-19th of the month – the total amount loaned by members of our team has already risen to $208,325 in the short time since you wrote this. That has made such a difference to hard-working families all around the world.
Every little bit helps, and it all adds up, as this proves!