Late last year I had the opportunity to speak in Salt Spring Island. I returned to Salt Spring last month for a visit and Tangachee Goebl, the talented owner of Dancing Light Cottage had saved an article for me “Socially Responsible Micro Loans Possible with Kiva” by Jim Standen. It read as follows:

“This letter is written as a follow-up to my January 3 Driftwood View Point piece entitled Investment Choices and Quality of Life.

In that article I suggested that there could be signficant value to local resident investors directing their investments toward the local Salt Spring community. The article was inspired by the visit to Salt Spring last fall by Catherine Austin Fitts and her creation of the concept of the Solari Circles.

Today I would like to describe a new and innovative internet-based business solution I have recently discovered. In my belief it is a good example of a very efficient and socially beneficial loan mechanism.

The organization is called “Kiva” (Swahili word meaning “agreement” or “unity”) and can be located on the Internet at www.kiva.org. The purpose of the organization is to provide support for the loaning of very small loans ($25 US and up) from individuals in the first world to less fortunate individuals throughout the world.”

Intrigued despite my fears of getting anyone deeper in debt, peer-to-peer lending is a huge improvement on lending by large financial institutions. Since the way to learn about something is to try it, I signed up and find myself in a loan syndicate of seven Americans (including a baby) and 2 teams, a couple and a dad and child, from the Netherlands financing Francisco Betancourt, an entreprenuer in Equador:

Francisco Betancourt

My loan commitment did not include any money for Kiva. They asked for a donation on top, which I gave. I thought it was a very transparent and lovely way to handle funding for their overhead.

I am looking forward to learning more. If you would like to as well, here is the home page:

Kiva
http://www.kiva.org