Thanks to all of those who came to brunch. It was lots of fun to tell everyone about how excited I am to be embarking soon. For those of you who missed it, while eating latkes and bagels, we had an hour presentation/discussion. I was really happy with the engaging questions that everyone had. I have already raised almost 1/3 of my goal of $2,000! Thanks for all of the support so far, and I hope to get to the goal soon with your help. The ways to donate are outlined below, or you can donate by clicking on the button the sidebar or giving me a Kiva gift certificate.
A view of the presentation
There were many interesting points brought up from the brunch, and while I was able to answer a lot of questions that people had, there were some points that were left unsettled. Here are the three that were most prominent to me. Those who attended, I’d love to see your comments on the blog, or in a personal email to me of what else came to your mind about the brunch.
-Kiva loans are disbursed before the lender is fully funded on Kiva. That seemed to make everyone feel a little bit uneasy, and understandably so: If the loans are disbursed before I fund them, then where is my money really going? To this I have a couple of responses. 1) In order to get the people who need loans money when they need it and to make things more efficient, this truly is the best way to distribute the loans. 2) Without Kiva, these loans would not be happening. So while it may not be your exact dollar that goes to the exact person, without you, this person likely would not be getting the funding. 3) Along the same lines, when you lend 25 dollars to an entrepreneur, you are in essence buying the loan from the microfinance institution, and you are dependent on the individual to pay you back. The loan becomes your loan, even if it is not the exact money. I know it’s not a perfect system, ideally we would directly give people money when lenders chose to send loans, but the technology for that, especially in developing nations is not there.
-There is a ‘Green’ sector under industries that you can lend to. Unfortunately, there are no loans under this ‘Green’ sector. That is because this sector was just started October 1st. It has yet to be fully implemented. I imagine as we start seeing entrepreneurs working in the ‘Green’ sector, we will be able to loan to them, but as of now, this is not fully functional.
-Contributions directly to me are not tax deductible. Previous fellows have also run into this similar issues with supporters. For that reason, through the International Humanities Center a previous fellow started the Local Universe Fellows Fund, with a 501c3 status. Therefore, if checks are made out to IHCenter/LUFF, I can still receive the money, and the contribution is tax deductible. I am currently in the process of finding out more information on this, but at this point. I think this will provide a way to make your contributions tax deductible. I will know more in few days, and I will keep you posted.
Again, I would love to see any thoughts you have posted in the comments section.
You stay classy Jeremy-Kiva supporters.
