power of a dollar

And i can't find the article right now, but microcredit is so abusive in, i think it's india, that people are killing themselves to save their family the shame of the loan default

I have found out more about this organization here it is.

This post is so long it needs an executive summary.

Kiva is the path-breaking, fast-growing person-to-person microlending site. It works this way: Kiva posts pictures and stories of people needing loans. You give your money to Kiva. Kiva sends it to a microlender. The lender makes the loan to a person you choose. He or she ordinarily repays. You get your money back with no interest. It's like eBay for microcredit.

You knew that, right? Well guess what: you're wrong, and so is Kiva's diagram. Less that 5% of Kiva loans are disbursed after they are listed and funded on Kiva's site. Just today, for example, Kiva listed a loan fepor Phong Mut in Cambodia and at this writing only $25 of the needed $800 has been raised. But you needn't worry about whether Phong Mut will get the loan because it was disbursed last month. And if she defaults, you might not hear about it: the intermediating microlender MAXIMA might cover for her in order to keep its Kiva-listed repayment rate high.

In short, the person-to-person donor-to-borrower connections created by Kiva are partly fictional. I suspect that most Kiva users do not realize this. Yet Kiva prides itself on transparency.

I hasten to temper this criticism. What Kiva does behind the scenes is what it should do. Imagine if Kiva actually worked the way people think it does. Phong Mut approaches a MAXIMA loan officer and clears all the approval hurdles, making the case that she has a good plan for the loan, has good references, etc. The MAXIMA officer says, "I think you deserve a loan, and MAXIMA has the capital to make it. But instead of giving you one, I'm going to take your picture, write down your story, get it translated and posted on an American web site, and then we'll see over the next month whether the Americans think you should get a loan. Check back with me from time to time." That would be inefficient, which is to say, immorally wasteful of charitable dollars. And it would be demeaning for Phong Mut. So instead MAXIMA took her picture and story, gave her the loan, and then uploaded the information to Kiva. MAXIMA will lend the money it gets from Kiva to someone else, who may never appear on kiva.org.

Kiva Is Not Quite What It Seems

Program Expenses
(Percent of the charity's total expenses spent on the programs
and services it delivers) 78.3%
Administrative Expenses 13.9%
Fundraising Expenses 7.6%
Fundraising Efficiency $0.07
Working Capital Ratio (years) 1.64
Program Expenses Growth 4.7%
Liabilities to Assets 31.7%


Financial Performance Metrics

I says to myself I says, This seems too good to be true. Then I says, Naw, Huey, yous just being cynical is all. There's good stuff in the world, good people really trying. OK, I says back, I guess so. +Good

But wouldn't you know it, this world just keeps kicking you in the pants.

I think this was the article I was thinking of.

Hundreds Of Suicides In India Linked To Microfinance Organizations

Sadly, Pierre Omidyar, the major money behind SKS is also a major investor in The Intercept. They're still a great place for journalism, but it should be known where some of their money is coming from.

The Omidyar Network and the (Neoliberal) Future of Education