In a move that could end up having a massive impact on US entrepreneurism, Kiva.org has introduced their peer-to-peer lending service to the US. Kiva was originally built to alleviate poverty by creating a new capital market for global social entrepreneurs — to the US.
In their report on today’s announcement, TechCrunch reports,
Good friend Rebecca Saltman turned me on to this piece in the Journal of Philanthropy (ironically, a paid subscription site). It looks at how Steve Case leveraged both Parade Magazine and Facebook to build a socially-focused initiative that funds smaller non-profits.
The competitions, financed by the foundation created by Steve Case, founder of AOL, and his wife, Jean, promised $50,000 grand prizes to nonprofit groups with the greatest number of donors to their cause, not the largest amount raised. In all, the Case Foundation handed out $750,000 in awards. Continue reading