Code, Camera, Action

Mike Everett-Lane, former Executive Director of one of the Donors Choose regions, on Kiva's transparency issues:

I don’t believe that microphilanthropy (or microfinance, peer-to-peer giving, etc.) is a good solution for most problems. DonorsChoose.org has an advantage, in that they are funding discrete classroom projects within public schools, but do not have to fund the infrastructure of the schools themselves. Most problems just couldn’t be solved in this way. (”I’d like to fund only the violas in the orchestra, please.”) But if you’re going to advertise yourself as giving choice to the donor, you’d better do it.

via tacticalphilanthropy.com

The whole comment on Tactical Philanthropy is well worth reading. Sean's (@tactphil) coverage of the entire conversation around Kiva's fundraising stories vs operations has been fabulous.

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Matt Flannery, Kiva CEO and Co-Founder, replies to David Roodman's post (which we covered here http://elstudio.us/kiva-is-not-quite-what-it-seems ).

One of the contributions that Kiva has made is to demonstrate that empathy increases generosity. The pictures and stories on the Kiva site increase understanding between various parties that would otherwise operate in completely different universes. When understanding increases, so does empathy. When empathy increases, so does generosity. People are inherently more generous towards people and causes they understand.

via cgdev.org

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David Roodman's long post is a great explanation of how Kiva works. It's also critical of the way Kiva markets.

Here's the issue. Let's say you make a $25 loan on kiva.org. You pick an entrepreneur, you make a loan. The web site makes it look like you have funded that particular entrepreneur. But that isn't really how the microfinance organization works. For practical reasons, that entrepreneur has already been funded by one of Kiva's partners on the ground. On one level, Kiva is open about this, providing dates of loans and so forth -- though its marketing simplifies these details. The post is well worth reading if, like me, you're a fan of Kiva or of microfinance generally.

There's a bigger issue here between the stories that motivate donors and poverty in the developing world. Do donor stories help fight poverty -- or do they put drag on the efficiency of the fight? 

Kiva brings microcredit and microchips to child sponsorship. Like sponsorship charities, it is all about stories: it was inspired by them and it succeeds by telling them. As a result, it operates in a pincers between the giver’s desire for personal connection and the costs and constraints that imposes on business of serving poor people. In fact Kiva can be seen as an ingenious finessing of this old tension. Technology has brought down the cost of transmitting stories and images.

via cgdev.org

Though the cost of bringing these stories and photos back to sponsors has come down, it is still significant. Can we afford the photos and stories of entrepreneurs? How can we not afford them?

Hat tip to @tactphil for sharing the post.

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Matt Flannery, co-founder of Kiva, looks forward from the organization's fourth birthday --

What we will see, in the years to come, is that we are just at a beginning of a larger trend towards more connected experiences. Kiva is just one organization that will be part of a much larger shift. It is a shift towards personalization and partnership relationships of mutual dignity. Looking back, the $100M will seem like a small drop. The potential for big change from the aggregate tiny actions of many is now more enormous than ever.

via kiva.org

"A larger trend towards more connected experiences" -- here's to the dignity that affords all of us.

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