Members of Trinity Episcopal Church recently spent an evening sharing potluck suppers and learning about — and making loans to — business owners in Third World countries through Kiva.org. The evening was part of the Newtown church’s dedication to Millennium Development Goals being worked toward by Episcopalians around the world.
Trinity Episcopal Church parishioners gathered in four homes one evening last month and shared more than a potluck dinner. Those members may have changed the world for people in the developing world.
The money that the parishioners would have spent for a dinner out was loaned to people in the Third World through a new concept called "microloans." That night those Trinity parishioners loaned more than $4,000 to 148 people in 34 countries through the nonprofit organization Kiva.org, a website that allows visitors (who in many cases return to become lenders) to choose the individual they would like to lend to. Visitors can see photographs of individuals, read a description about their business, and find out about business loan needs.
Microloans, sometimes as small as $25, may be all that is needed as the critical first step to start a small business and escape the cycle of poverty. Loans are scrupulously tracked and repaid. Seed money can be repaid to the original lender or reloaned to others. Kiva, a nonprofit organization, tracks progress and gives feedback.
Parishioners who could not attend this dinner have since pledged loans.
This is a small part of Trinity Church's dedication to the Millennium Development Goals, embraced by Episcopalians throughout the world.
Kiva.org is the world's first person-to-person microlending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to an entrepreneur in the developing world. It was founded in 2005 by Matt and Jessica Flannery with a mission to connect people, through lending, to alleviate poverty.
Kiva.org, which is headquartered in San Francisco, currently connects lenders in more than 50 countries with entrepreneurs in 39 developing countries, through 62 microfinance partners. Trinity's contribution joins more than $11 million that has been loaned by 1000,000 Kiva lenders to 16,000 entrepreneurs in 36 countries through the website since its inception.