Kiva - Lend for Good

Kiva Microfunds

About this app

Dreams are universal - opportunity is not. You can unlock opportunity for people without access to a bank - whether they’re an entrepreneur, a student, a farmer, a single mom or a refugee. Lend as little as $25 to a microfinance loan on Kiva and make an exponential impact by re-lending your money over and over again. Join our community of 1.9 million people who have crowdfunded $1.4 billion in loans to 3.4 million borrowers in over 90 countries.

How Kiva works:

1. Choose a borrower – Browse by category and find an entrepreneur to support.

2. Make a loan – Help fund a loan with as little as $25.

3. Get repaid – Kiva borrowers have a 96% repayment rate historically.

4. Repeat – Relend your money or withdraw your funds.

We envision a financially inclusive world where all people hold the power to improve their lives.

More than 1.7 billion people around the world are unbanked and can’t access the financial services they need. Kiva is an international nonprofit, founded in 2005 in San Francisco, with a mission to expand financial access to help underserved communities thrive.

We do this by crowdfunding loans and unlocking capital for the underserved, improving the quality and cost of financial services, and addressing the underlying barriers to financial access around the world. Through Kiva's work, students can pay for tuition, women can start businesses, farmers are able to invest in equipment and families can afford needed emergency care.

By lending as little as $25 on Kiva, you can be part of the solution and make a real difference in someone’s life. 100% of every dollar you lend on Kiva goes to funding loans.

IT'S A LOAN, NOT A DONATION

We believe lending alongside thousands of others is one of the most powerful and sustainable ways to create economic and social good. Lending on Kiva creates a partnership of mutual dignity and makes it easy to touch more lives with the same dollar. Fund a loan, get repaid, fund another.

YOU CHOOSE WHERE TO MAKE AN IMPACT

Whether you lend to friends in your community, or people halfway around the world (and for many, it’s both), Kiva creates the opportunity to play a special part in someone else's story. At Kiva, loans aren’t just about money—they’re a way to create connection and relationships.

PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF A LOAN

Kiva started as a pioneer in crowdfunding in 2005, and is constantly innovating to meet people’s diverse lending needs. Whether it’s reinventing microfinance with more flexible terms, supporting community-wide projects or lowering costs to borrowers, we are always testing and learning.

LIFTING ONE, TO LIFT MANY

When a Kiva loan enables someone to grow a business and create opportunity for themselves, it creates opportunities for others as well. That ripple effect can shape the future for a family or an entire community.
Learn more about how Kiva works here: https://www.kiva.org/about/how

Disclaimer: The Kiva app does not provide personal loans to users. For more information about Kiva loans, please visit https://www.kiva.org/help

Ratings and reviews

Original review below. New version (6.7.0) corrects the issues identified below. 5 stars now! I love the Kiva service but the app is terrible. Every time I open, it tells me "Oh no! The network connection failed." Clearing data works, but honestly, what's the use if I have to sign back in every time I use the app. Desktop site only, I guess.

I use the website more than the app because let's face it, the app just doesn't give you as good of an experience. And even though I think kiva does a lot of good to help the unbanked get access to loans, I do have one complaint. Why is it that we can deposit (credit) money in seconds but it takes like 3 weeks to get our money out if we decide to withdraw? That doesn't seem like it should be the case. And it's annoying for lenders.

Kiva is one of the greatest ideas for a charitable service, and so great for the world. I love how your money can go so far to help so many, and it can be contributed directly to things you believe in. The app itself, however, is very weird. It looks polished and clean, but the user interface is awkward to use and it's very hard to find specific details that you are looking for. You need to be able to see your own profile details better and the general and borrowers info could be separated out

What's new

Made improvements to the app to improve reliability.