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joinFITE launched by Kiva and Dermalogica

wiseclerk

Announcement by Kiva on joinFITE a new microlending platform to fund woman entrepreneurs:

In partnership with Dermalogica and strategic partners, today Kiva.org is launching joinFITE.org to provide microloans to women entrepreneurs in low-income regions of the United States and 56 other countries.
A novel aspect of the campaign is its engagement of retail consumers as microlenders. Dermalogica, for example, will contribute $1 every time a consumer goes to the joinFITE.org Web site and enters a code printed on FITE-themed packaging that the company is using for five of its best-selling products. The resulting micro loan is made available to a designated entrepreneur within hours.
“We know the collective impact of consumer action and socially responsible business practices can create sustainable and far-reaching change,” said strategic partner actress Geena Davis. “Together, we can maximize our effort to empower women and girls around the world.”
So what does that mean for p2p microfinance? Kiva has found a way to combine microlending with product placement. A positive viewpoint on this will be that the codes on the products will invite new people to try the concept of microlending. A negative viewpoint might be that the positive image of p2p microlending is used for branding and advertising purposes.
Anyway: this approach could be copied by Kiva (and other p2p microfinance sites) with more partners/products. As long as the selection of partners is very responsible the p2p microfinance site avoids tainting its image.
Related article with some more background at Fastcompany.

In Bed with the Enemy? Kiva and the Chevron Grant

wiseclerk 1 Comment

100% of the money Kiva lenders loan goes to the borrowers via the MFIs. Kiva funds it’s operations by donations and grants. The list of corporate partners supporting Kiva is long and growing.

When Kiva announced that they received a 0.5 million US$ one-year grant from Chevron to assist with operational needs across the organization on the one hand that means that Kiva can continue to grow and pursue it’s vision.

On the other hand it did raise concerns with some lenders given the reputation of Chevron. The company is criticized of negligence of environmental risks on multiple accounts (example, example2 or see links in Wikipedia article). Many of the incidents occurred in countries where Kiva is now trying to help.

It’ easy to see why Chevron chose to assist the Kiva cause – it could improve their tarnished reputation and Kiva has a high visibility.

The issue is more on the Kiva side. Why did Kiva accept this grant from a very controversial sponsor? As hard as it must be to keep an organisation running solely on grants and donations – does the end always justify the means?

I am a fan of Kiva but I do have large doubts whether it was the right decision to accept this grant.

One lender in this discussion thread put it this way:

An organization that has human rights issues, donating to a group trying to empower humans.  Isn’t there something wrong with this picture?  What, is Chevron trying not to have nightmares when they put their head on their pillow at night, and Kiva is supposed to make them feel better maybe?  A good name for this partnership might be ‘sleeping with the enemy’ . . .