so... what is the kiva of which you speak?

Kiva.org is a group that helps micro businesses get funding, $25 at a time, by crowd-sourced loans that must be repaid.

I have been part of Kiva for over a decade.

I belong to the Nerdfighters group, ever since July of 2012. It is thanks to them that I know about Kiva.

I had been doubtful of how it worked, but I took a chance, as it would not cost me anything to try it out. An angel in the Nerdfighters was offering the opportunity to bring awareness of Kiva to others.

Seeing how easy it was, I volunteered twenty-five dollars of my own money in support of a loan to another stranger working to better their lives and their community. Just $25. That's no more than most raffle tickets.

By September of 2013, that $25 I had lent was fully repaid to me. I had the option of withdrawing that money from Kiva and calling it quits... or helping someone else better their lives and community by investing that money in another loan. I chose to help another.

By November of 2015, I had relent that same twenty-five dollars seven times. Every time the loan I made was repaid to my Kiva account, I turned it around to help someone else. No further investment was made by me, just that initial $25, and I'd leveraged that money into helping make seven more dreams of a better life come true.

August of 2020 marked the 9th anniversary of me being a Nerdfighter. I had made a total of 26 loans, to 19 countries, to help people better their lives and the lives of their families and communities. All I had invested by that time was $175 of my own money. That would only have covered seven of those loans; the remaining 19 loans that I've made have been using funds repaid by those who had borrowed. That means I was helping them help others.

Since that time, my total loan count has ratcheted up to 51 loans. For those who understand how compounding works, this is a sterling example. The more money I've lent to others, the more that has been repaid to that 12-year-old Kiva account of mine, and the more money I can lend out again. 

It really brings solace to my soul, just as donating blood once did. That avenue of helping others is closed now, as I have atrial fibrillation, but not before I reached a total of fourteen gallons donated. As each pint helps up to 3 people, and there are 8 pints in a gallon, then I was able to help support the lives of 336 folks in need... just by rolling up my sleeve.

See how easy it is to help make the world a better place?