Crowdfunded microloans connecting global lenders with underserved entrepreneurs worldwide.
Kiva is an international nonprofit that operates as a crowdfunded microlending platform, allowing people to make loans as small as $25 to underserved individuals and communities worldwide. The platform connects lenders with borrowers who need capital to expand their businesses, support their families, or invest in essential needs like education and clean water.
Kiva's mission is to expand financial access to help underserved communities thrive by tackling the inequality faced by over a billion unbanked people globally who lack access to basic financial services. The organization puts the power of financial inclusion in everyone's hands by connecting people through crowdfunded loans, creating a more equitable world one loan at a time.
Since launching in 2005 with the first loan to Elizabeth in Uganda who used $500 to expand her fish-mongering business, Kiva has demonstrated tremendous impact with 5 million people using Kiva loans to change their lives. The platform particularly focuses on supporting women, refugees, climate-threatened populations, and marginalized U.S. entrepreneurs, with two-thirds of all Kiva loans historically going to women borrowers.
Kiva creates impact through its crowdfunded microlending model that connects individual lenders with underserved borrowers worldwide, with 100% of contributions going directly to supporting real people. The platform works with lending partners to ensure borrowers receive loans that help them build businesses, access essential services, and create economic opportunities in their communities.
The organization measures impact through both scale and depth, tracking global reach while focusing on real-world outcomes for borrowers such as business growth, job creation, and improved livelihoods. Kiva works with partners to set outcomes and targets for impact populations, using monitoring and evaluations to ensure borrowers' lives are genuinely changing for the better.
$2.4 billion in life-changing loans disbursed, 6 million people impacted, 2.9 million loans funded, 1 person supported every 90 seconds, 5 million people have used Kiva loans since founding, two-thirds of all Kiva loans have gone to women borrowers
Financial Inclusion
Kiva helps provide financial access to underserved populations.
Community Impact
Loans empower individuals and foster community growth.
Focus on Women and Refugees
Special emphasis on supporting women and those in crisis.
Sustainability and Climate Resilience
Loans help communities adapt to climate change.
