4 reasons to donate to Kiva this holiday season

We know you come to Kiva to lend — but we rely on optional donations from lenders like you to reach financially excluded people all over the world! Here’s why:

1. A loan is different from a donation

A loan is the money you send to our incredible borrowers around the world. These loans change lives for men, women, and children every day. From farmers to students to small business entrepreneurs — you lend because you know that everyone deserves an opportunity to build their own future.

A donation goes directly to supporting Kiva’s operations, not one specific borrower (but really, it helps all our borrowers in the long run, too!). Your donations support everyone involved: employees, fellows, interns, Lending Partners, and so many more hardworking individuals who couldn’t do their work without you.

More on where your donations go and why donate to Kiva.

2. Donations are what fuel our innovation and impact.

The money you lend on Kiva goes directly to the borrower you choose, so we rely on optional donations to cover transactional costs. Donations support all the things you love about Kiva, and more than two-thirds of our donations come from individual lenders like you.

Among other things, the money you donate goes toward high impact loans that serve the needs of borrowers and their families, exceptional due diligence and repayment logistics that contribute to our high repayment rates, and continually expanding access in new countries and communities.

3. Donating is optional, and every dollar’s impact is felt throughout our operations.

By crowdfunding a large majority of our operational revenue through our lender community’s generous donations, we’re able to keep our fundraising costs low and be less reliant on larger, one-off gifts to be sustainable. We also raise some funds through grants, corporate sponsors and foundations.

By the way — since Kiva is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, donations are considered tax-deductible charitable contributions in the United States. So you can write us off!

4. Donations support so many Kiva programs!

With your donations, we can:
- Send expert staff to over 80 countries to cultivate new partnerships, expand Kiva’s reach and perform due diligence and monitoring.
- Build and maintain the complex technical infrastructure that facilitates over $1 million in loans each week.
- Train and support several hundred volunteers who translate and edit every loan posted on the Kiva website.
- Support the needs of our valued lenders around the world, developing engagement programs and answering customer service inquiries.

Your donation has a ripple effect — can’t decide on which borrower to support? Just donate to Kiva and you’ll be supporting our entire movement for global financial inclusion.