SUPPORT US
After receiving several offers of help and financial assistance, we decided to pay it forward by partnering with the micro-lending organization Kiva.
KIVA is the world’s first person-to-person micro lending website, that empowers individuals such as you and me to lend money directly to entrepreneurs throughout the developing world. It is not that these entrepreneurs lack the know-how, resolve, or determination needed to change their lives and the lives around them. They lack the access to capital.
Since it’s conception in 2005 Kiva has distributed over $63 million dollars in loans to individuals all over the world, making it one of the largest and fastest growing organizations in the microcredit field. What makes Kiva and other microcredit organizations unique is that donations are not one-off like traditional contributions, they are instead repaid in the form of a loan, giving your money the ability to go further, and positively affect more people.
Kiva’s system also gives you the lender, complete control over your funds. You pick which entrepreneur(s) to allocate funds to, and when it is repaid decide whether to reissue loans or to withdraw your funds. With a repayment rate of 98%, the issuing of micro loans through Kiva truly is a sustainable means of poverty alleviation that rewards those striving to make a difference for themselves and their communities.
You can see the cycle in action here!
HOW TO GET INVOLVED :
SPREAD THE WORD
Even though Kiva is a fairly large organization at this point, we speak with people on a daily basis that have never heard of them, or even microcredit for that matter. Kiva still needs all of the awareness they can get. Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your pets.
GIVE
Hands On:
Lend to a 3rd world entrepreneur and manage loans yourself while still showing your support for us by joining our KIVA Lending Team. It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s fun. You can get started with only $25! Select the entrepreneur(s) of your choice, give out loans, and watch individual’s dreams become reality. Add or withdraw funds as you see fit. As a member of our Kiva Lending Team you lend as an individual, while the loans you make count towards the overall impact of our team.
Or
Hands Off:
If you prefer a more hands off donation approach we are happy to accommodate that as well. 100% of donations will be pooled into a bank account and then deposited into our Kiva account. The donations will continue to be redistributed to entrepreneurs indefinitely, which will be continually updated on our website.
- We can accept credit card donations through paypal.
- Or you can write a check to the following address, where our trusty accountant Roxanne Mason will see that it makes it to our Kiva account :
Ride The Lightning
1335 South Black Locust Place
Springfield, Missouri 65809
Thanks,
The Lightning Riders
