image from RamonkolB
Rob Walker reports on Kiva.org, where they face an:
extremely unusual challenge: maintaining adequate supply (people who need help) to meet demand (people who want to give it). “We don’t want people coming to the Web site who want to make a loan and there’s no one to loan to,” Ramsey says.
Matt and Jessica Flannery came up with the idea for Kiva, which means “unity” in Swahili, after spending time in East Africa. After I used it this past December, I came away impressed with the simplicity of this micro-finance site that connects local entrepreneurs in need of capital with people who might want to help support their efforts.
A sure sign of the success of this venture:
The chat boards on a kind of fan site called KivaFriends.org indicate the mixed feelings about the high demand for loan recipients. “I was trying to leave the field open for the newcomers,” one enthusiast there confessed recently, shortly after adding to a personal portfolio of 62 loans — even as the number of hopeful borrowers was dwindling quickly. “Makes me feel guilty.” That’s an odd thing for such a generous person to say, but it’s one indicator of what an unusual dynamic Kiva’s popularity has created. Even philanthropists don’t want to look greedy.
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