One "Showing Up" opportunity that I've taken part in since 2007 is Kiva. Kiva is a non-profit that allows people from all over the world to help raise funds for loans to people all over the world. Usually the folks it helps struggle to get access to funds in a more standard way. In many areas of the world a loan of a few hundred to a thousand dollars is transformative for their business and their community. By accessing capital, these borrowers gain stability and are better able to leverage their hard work in a more efficient way.
These are loans, which means the borrower does their best to repay all the support from around the world. You don't get interest with your repayments and there is a chance of delinquency or default so you could think of it as a risky way to store your money at a negative interest rate, which doesn't sound great. For me though it has been really fulfilling to be able to reinvest in communities around the globe over and over again. It is also nice to be able to grow the fund by "topping off" a loan, which is what happens when I am left with less than $25 in my Kiva account and add more funds to round it out to a full loan segment. There have also been a handful of times in my life when I fell on hard times and withdrawing the funds from Kiva repayments has made the difference between being able to pay bills and not.
Loans are in $25 increments and you have a lot of search options to let you focus on the issues that matter most to you. This has varied for me a lot over the years and frequently shifts due to what is happening politically in the world. There have been times where I put my focus on loaning to Middle Eastern countries that are either under siege or take a lot of Syrian refugees such as Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan. There are times when I would focus on shorter loans in order to get repaid quickly and be able to loan out again to help more people faster. Group loans tend to be better for this. Sometimes I focus on single parents, or youth.
Currently I am focusing on Central and South American countries. While I can't do much to help stabilize countries in the region, more financial stability among the general population will help a bit and as an United States citizen concerned about the plight of refugees coming to our borders I want to do what I can not only for those who come to us but also those who are vulnerable and could be more stable with a bit of resource access for their business endeavors in their own countries. Refugees usually want to be in their home countries but there are circumstances that make doing so unfeasible.
Repayments start rolling in a little after the midpoint of the month. They don't all arrive on the same day so I usually wait until the 1st to add my own funds for "topping off." When you investigate loans you can find out a lot of information such as the riskiness of loans serviced by that partnering agency, what the cost is to the borrower, and what the repayment schedule is. Now that I have been doing this for a long time I usually care less about the repayment period but for new borrowers it can be nice to see the funds come back quicker for re-lending purposes.
This month I'm not waiting until the end of the month to add more funds and round off because I'd like to get this post out ahead of the last minute push to get all the pieces together for my monthly accounting post. I may end up with additional repayments to loan out later in the month but I think I'll wrap them all up into October instead.
This month I'm lending to these two from my repayments:
Endis Roxana from El Salvador for a freezer to help with her fish selling business.
Juan from Honduras for a solar powered freezer for preserving his milk for sale.
My "round-off" loan which is a combination of repayments and personal additions ($16.86):
The Margaritas De Chuatzam Group from Guatemala made up of a variety of entrepreneurs including tailors, nixtamal millers, spare part sellers, and folks raising animals and running small stores.
Like I said, I've been participating in Kiva since 2007. It has been quite the journey and I'm glad that I'm starting this "Showing Up" group to be able to share it with you. I look forward to sharing my loans and contributions here and celebrating milestones with you all. If you would like to join me in contributing to Kiva borrowers, consider signing up with my invite link. Nothing special will happen for either of us other than I will feel warm fuzzy feelings looking at the count of loans made by people I've invited.
Current Stats:
Total Lifetime Deposits: $1,944
Total Lent: $7295
Loans from People I've Invited: 6
I think I'd like to have some sort of celebration when my "Total Lent" stat reaches $10,000. Let me know of any ideas you have for how to celebrate in the comments. It is still a long way out but I'd like to start thinking about it early.
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