Minutes: Kiva Bigshots Meeting
I'm not sure if we had a quorum or not, but a bunch of KIGsters showed up and we threw around some ideas and it was a good thing. Here's what we said:
Everybody present agreed it would be cool to fund Kiva borrowers as a group in addition to our private investments. Two ideas came out about how to do it.
1. We agree on one entrepreneur (at a time) and then, as Paula put it, we all "just madly fund that person." Simple, clean and we retain our independent investor status.
2. We establish a KIG Paypal account. Everybody puts what they want in the account and we fund our people as the Kiva Investment Group. We could completely fund one loan or diversify and loan as a group to many borrowers just as we do now. I found a group that is already working this way - there are probably others too.
If we go with Idea 2, Ari suggested when a loan is repaid we donate the money directly to Kiva. Makes sense to me: good to do, a substantial donation to a great organization, and it would vastly simplify our bookkeeping.
Other Ideas:
Ramon wants us to invest with our minds as well as our hearts. He thinks we should pick businesses that have a chance of succeeding, and presented some simple principles to help us do that. Leo pointed out it might be hard to apply principles that make sense in the developed world to a country as culturally different as Togo.
Pig suggested we focus on people who are having trouble raising loans - and, if a business that's not getting any bites looks sound, take it on as a group. We could use our combined muscle to help the losers not be losers. He doesn't think this needs to violate Ramon's business principles. Greg and Julia agreed. (Notetaker Pig adds: We would be doing something as a group that's different from how we invest individually, and using our group power to fund viable businesses that can't get funding. We'd be like a mini-Kiva inside Kiva.)
I think that's it. Any additions or corrections? New ideas?
Everybody present agreed it would be cool to fund Kiva borrowers as a group in addition to our private investments. Two ideas came out about how to do it.
1. We agree on one entrepreneur (at a time) and then, as Paula put it, we all "just madly fund that person." Simple, clean and we retain our independent investor status.
2. We establish a KIG Paypal account. Everybody puts what they want in the account and we fund our people as the Kiva Investment Group. We could completely fund one loan or diversify and loan as a group to many borrowers just as we do now. I found a group that is already working this way - there are probably others too.
If we go with Idea 2, Ari suggested when a loan is repaid we donate the money directly to Kiva. Makes sense to me: good to do, a substantial donation to a great organization, and it would vastly simplify our bookkeeping.
Other Ideas:
Ramon wants us to invest with our minds as well as our hearts. He thinks we should pick businesses that have a chance of succeeding, and presented some simple principles to help us do that. Leo pointed out it might be hard to apply principles that make sense in the developed world to a country as culturally different as Togo.
Pig suggested we focus on people who are having trouble raising loans - and, if a business that's not getting any bites looks sound, take it on as a group. We could use our combined muscle to help the losers not be losers. He doesn't think this needs to violate Ramon's business principles. Greg and Julia agreed. (Notetaker Pig adds: We would be doing something as a group that's different from how we invest individually, and using our group power to fund viable businesses that can't get funding. We'd be like a mini-Kiva inside Kiva.)
I think that's it. Any additions or corrections? New ideas?
Labels: Kiva Investment Group
posted by Christopher Newton at 1:24 PM
13 Comments:
I think you covered everything fairly well. I move that the minutes be accepted as presented.
I second that! And welcome Andreaa, your photographs are beautiful :)
Do I hear any discussion?
I'm following rules of meeting ettiquette, if you haven't noticed.
I'm too much of an anarchist to go for all this organization stuff. I wish ya well everyone, but I'm takin' my pie and high tailing it out of here. I'll keep investing, and keep encouraging others to do the same. But Roberts rules give me a headache.
I DO see the merit is joining forces. I also appreciate the value of order. I just don't want to do mine this way.
Besides - I've made a recent commitment to make monthly contributions to another very good cause I believe in, possibly even more than Kiva.
I will be supporting an important education fund that will lift people out of poverty in developing nations by loaning them the funds for schooling. There's no admin fee coming out of my dollars so every bit goes directly to helping men and women become educated providers of their families and leaders in their communities. That works for me at a deeper level.
As a high school drop out made good, I have a strong affinity for a program that provides technical training and academic programs geared to the needs of particular areas they serve.
We all do what we can, what feels right.
I'll still drop by from time to time to check on your progress. But I'm shifting in new directions and don't think I'll be keeping up in any regular fashion with the discussions. So I am hereby abdicating my vote.
It has been a pleasure pondering with you ....
Peace everybody.
I have to agree with belledonna- I don't like the group funding thing. I don't see the point in it as loans get funded regardless. And the loans that don't get funded quickly- ie most of the Azerbajian ones- I personally don't have a lot of interest in funding as the descriptions all say things like "this is an internally displaced person from the Armenian occupied territory of..." I find that to be prejudicial irrelevant information which I don't like to see in a loan request. I find it disturbing and don't want to fund a political point of view. (The Armenians don't see themselves as occupying the country, but rather that the Azerbajians took the land away from them and that they are just taking it back- it's a long ongoing war/dispute). My point is that we all have our own reasons for funding a loan or not funding a loan. I think that the KIG PIG is best left as an awareness thing.
Hey Belle,
Before you jump out of here, can I point out that we haven't decided anything yet? People are putting ideas on the table as to whether investing as a group would be a good idea. No decision have been made.
Second, I am sure that, for whatever reason, if we do go with the group investment idea, some of us are going to stay out. So what? Doesn't mean they can't hang out and encourage those who do.
Thirdly, I want to know about your educational fund. Why not blog about it and post a link here? I think cooperation between us bloggers is the way to go. We might want to get in on it!
I haven't been contributing comments - to busy baking the pies - but find all your ideas interesting. It's great to have a place where people can explore ways to be even more effective, share thoughts safely and encourage each other.
I like the idea of getting 100% funding for an entrepreneur quickly, but since most of us seem to have our own ways of deciding whom to lend to, I'd prefer to be alerted when one of the KIG members notices a particular prospect and then as many members who want to can act immediately. Being alerted might speed things up for the borrower. And since KIG is simply a group of supportive like-minded folks, we can participate in such a mass effort only if we want to!
Now Patrushka's idea I like- however, if such a thing were to be done, Pig would need to find a different page to use for it- this Pondering Pig blog has been getting a little bit Kiva heavy as of late (no offense Pig).
Another goal could be to have at the very least one KIG member in every country Kiva lends to. Assuming our map is correct, we don't have anyone in Samoa, Togo, or Tajikistan. Vidadi Aliyev in Azerbaijan has been on kiva for a while now and still needs $475. Seems like he's paid back five loans in the past 6 years... seems like microloans are working for him? should we all fund him like mad?
I take it all back! we're already in Togo and Tajikistan (just didn't see them on the map, they're so small!) But I don't see any green where Samoa is on the world, so maybe we aren't lending there?
@Belladonnah / Hannah: Sorry to hear that you're going in a different direction. As far as political, I think an internally displaced person is an internally displaced person if (s)he considers him/herself to be one. This may have to do with politics, and it's up to you to refuse or accept investment opportunities if you choose so.
@Patrushka / Pondering P:
I like the idea of warning eachother if an interesting loan opportunity comes up. How to do this, except for posting a comment in an non-related blog entry on this site? I think we should establish a mailing list that allows us to communicate in an easier way... (Do I hear pp-kig@yahoogroups.com?)
As for the pooled investment group: Although I don't dislike the idea of the joint Paypal account, and I can even somewhat agree with the idea of making a donation to Kiva once a loan gets paid off (see next comment), I think I like the informal way through announcing interesting investments more than a formalized structure. That will ensure individual investment freedom while still allowing to pool out money.
In the hypothetical case of "what to do with the money after a joint investment through a joint Paypal account has been paid off", I'd actually rather see it invested in a new loan opportunity when it's paid back.
Also, in this same hypothetical case, we should try to find out how to gather an extra 10% in order to give this as a donation to Kiva.
However, as I indicated in my previous comment, I prefer a less strict investment scheme...
You guys are way ahead. I just funded 3 businesses last night and just started a group to create awareness about Kiva in Singapore.
In case you are wondering....No there are no pirates in Singapore.
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