* Kiva is a Swahili word meaning “unity.”

* Kiva was founded in October 2005 to provide micro-loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries.

* The Founders were Matt and Jessica Flannery. They both still work for Kiva.

* As at October 2009 Kiva has distributed $95,136,910 in loans from 568,810 lenders.

* A total of 135,613 loans have been funded.

* The average loan size is $406.45.

* Current repayment rate is 98.04%.

* Average repayment time is 6-12 months.

* During 2008 Kiva released $37M to low-income entrepreneurs.

* Kiva is currently lending to about 5,000 entrepreneurs a week. See this article in the Guardian Newspaper.

* Kiva’s total running costs in 2008 totaled $4.7M (13%).

* Kiva distributes finance to entrepreneurs via Field Partners.

* Field Partners appear to charge borrowers high rates of interest. However the loans are small and costs of distribution are high. Also, Kiva loans tend to be much less expensive than loans from other sources in the countries where they work. Kiva also deals in small amounts that would be of little interest to banks.

* Kiva is a non-profit organisation based in San Francisco.

* Once a loan has been repaid, most Kiva lenders tend to lend the same money again to other entrepreneurs.

* Lenders make their loans through PayPal who do NOT charge for their services. Credit/Debit cards can be used to fund loans.

* About 25,000 lenders, people like you and me, are making loans every week.

* Kiva aims to raise $1 billion in microloans by 2015, benefiting an estimated one million people directly and 32 million indirectly, which seems like something that’s worth doing.

How YOU can become a Kiva lender – it only takes two minutes

Step #1 Register: Click this ZenAid link to go to our www.Kiva.org page, then click on

Step #2 Enter your name, e-mail address and a password and click the Sign Up button.

Step #3 Lend: Click on LEND in the navigation bar at the top of the page. Choose a group or person you would like to lend to. Under the description of what the loan is for, click on “Lend $25″ . Click: “Loan added! Checkout>>” (This line appears when you click on “Lend $25″)

Step #4 Boost your team: Ensure that ZenAid appears in the box under “Count towards team?” This is just to the right of “Change Totals” and the box with the amount you are lending.

Step #5 Pay: Click on ‘CONTINUE’ and you’ll be taken to the secure payment page.

Step #6 Enjoy lending a hand (and money) in order to alleviate poverty

P.S. “A kind heart makes the giving good.” Lao Tzu