Monday, December 10, 2018

Website Spotlight: Kiva

It’s no secret that many kids do not learn the fundamentals of money from a young age. Even less discussed with children? The impact financing solutions can have on those in need.

Kiva wants to encourage parents to use the season of giving and new beginnings as a way to teach kids about money and directly give back to someone in need with a Kiva Card!

Kiva is a microlending platform that enables families and kids to make small loans – as little as $25 – to people all over the world. Visitors to the site browse through individual profiles and stories and choose the entrepreneurial projects they want to lend to – and that money can do anything from helping a young refugee woman start her own business, to providing tuition for a marginalized student, to allowing someone around the world to realize their full potential! Gifting someone a Kiva card gives them credit to loan to anyone on the site. Once the borrower’s loan is repaid, that money can be lent to another project, then another, and then another. $25 goes a long way – and you can see where.

Kiva engages young children in ways that many nonprofits do not. Families, classrooms and after-school groups often make group loans. The transparent process of seeing where the loan goes and who the borrowers are facilitates a powerful lesson for kids about empowering people who live in poverty to make meaningful choices and about the responsibility of giving back to the global community. For example, kids using Kiva:
·         Understand the importance of money – and just how far a little can go!
·         Learn about other countries and cultures (borrowers are from all over the world) – and build empathy and understanding in the process
·         Develop critical thinking skills as they pick profiles of projects to lend to (here’s a great example!)

No comments:

Post a Comment