Tractorama.us -- Join Team Tractorama at Kiva.org!

Join Team Tractorama at Kiva.org!

Tractorama would like to invite you to join our lending team on Kiva.org, a non-profit website that allows you to lend as little as $25 to a specific low-income entrepreneur in the developing world. You choose who to lend to - whether a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, or a restaurateur in Cambodia - and as they repay the loan, you get your money back.

If you join our lending team, we can work together to help farmers around the world, and to alleviate poverty. Once you're a part of the team, you can choose to have a future loan on Kiva "count" towards our team's impact. The loan is still yours, and repayments still come to you - but you can also choose to have the loan show up in our team's collective portfolio, so our team's overall impact will grow!

Want to know more about Kiva? Check out these news stories:

Forbes.com, June 3, 2008
When Small Loans Make A Big Difference
“Kiva mixes the entrepreneurial daring of Google with the do-gooder ethos of Bono, lead singer of the rock band U2.”

Inc.com, June 2, 2008
Small Loans, Big Results
“On the day that Phal An is interviewed about her business, her modest home in the village of Damnak Sankae, Cambodia, is crowded with excited family members. Phal An is a rice winemaker in her late 50s -- and one of thousands of entrepreneurs listed on Kiva.org, a website that facilitates microloans to entrepreneurs in developing nations all over the world..”

Glamour, June 2008
How $25 can change a woman's life
“By donating as little as $25 to a microfinance organization, you can help women like Grace--seamstresses, shoemakers, potters--all over the world.”

Women's Health, June 2008
100 most useful sites on the web
“Log on and lend as little or as much money as you like to entrepreneurs in developing countries. You could help a 38-year-old mother in Senegal stock her retail store with lemons, palm oil, and brooms or a 29-year-old man in Lebanon open an auto repair shop..”

TIME.com, June 2008
50 Best Websites 2008
“A unique peer-to-peer lending site that focuses on microloans, Kiva lets lenders pledge funds from $25 and up to entrepreneurs in developing countries.”

Town & Country, June 2008
Doing Good at a Distance
“Individual loans, which start at $25, help fund everyone from a grocer in South Lebanon to a farmer in Tajikistan - and as each small business succeeds, the entrepreneur pays back the loan, with interest.”

CNN, April 3, 2008
Your $25 can start a business, change a life
“ This is microfinancing. It allows everyday people to invest as little as $25 to help people in developing countries climb out of poverty. The concept of microfinancing is nothing new. At its essence, it's making small loans to the working poor. The loans are used to establish or expand small businesses to help families earn more money.”

The Wall Street Journal, March 20, 2008
Microlending for Microbankers
“The Web site run by KIVA (www.kiva.org) has attracted a lot of attention to microfinance in the past two years. Individuals could select a recipient and contribute $25 or more online. The money is typically repaid and could be lent again or taken out of the account.”

FOX News, March 17, 2008
On The Record with Greta Van Susteren

“PRESIDENT CLINTON: For as little as $25, you can actually go on this website, pick a, let's say, guy running a garage in Afghanistan, and contribute money, and you see the effect of your money. Then they pay your money back, and when you get paid back, you can either turn around and loan it to someone else, or take it back.

The Boston Globe, March 10, 2008
Tale of microloans urges kids to generosity
“With $10, for example, a child could download some iTunes or - through an online lending service like Kiva - potentially change a person's life...”

Fortune, March 3, 2008
The only nonprofit that matters
“The toast of Oprah, the Today show, and Bill Clinton's latest tome, Giving, Kiva is a way for First World lenders to link with developing-world entrepreneurs, be they Peruvian farmers, Afghan basket weavers, or even Ugandan liquor store owners. And if someone like Mukasa seems unlike the typical charity case, well, this is not the typical charity.”

Cosmopolitan, March 2008
The Giving Chronicles: Pay Pals
“While doing nonprofit work in East Africa, Jessica Jackley Flannery saw what a huge difference a small amount of money can make for poor entrepreneurs. That inspired her to cofound kiva.org, the first person-to-person microflending Website.”

USA Today, February 11, 2008
Valentine's Day gifts must be politically correct these days
“Also popular are gift certificates from Kiva (kiva.org), which lets consumers lend small sums to workers in developing countries. Elaine DiRico, a retired chef from Austin, bought a $50 card for her husband: "It's a way to create a caring community.”

CNET, February 8, 2008
Kiva humanizes microlending to third-world entrepreneurs
“Kiva, a peer-to-peer online microlending nonprofit organization, is changing the dynamics of microfinance by linking people who have money to loan up with entrepreneurs in developing countries who need some capital, all over the Internet. What is considered pocket change for many people in the United States can go a long way toward helping a struggling businessman get started in another part of the world.”

Spirit, February 2008
The Knowledge: Jessica Flannery
“Giving a loan through Kiva makes a huge impact that can be difficult to quantify. Nearly all the entrepreneurs have been poor all their lives. But the loan communicates hope, and tells the entrepreneur that you, the lender, have faith in her.”

ABC 7, January 17, 2008
Nobel Prize winner inspires non-profit
“We live in the land of jumbo-mortgages and giant business loans. But in many places around the world, it doesn't take that kind of money to make a difference. A Bay Area non-profit is a case-in-point.” Watch the story here.

Reuters, January 7, 2008
Oprah effect brings microlending to Main Street
“The credit crisis may be fouling up billion-dollar takeover deals, but if you're a poor African seamstress who needs a loan for a new sewing machine, you could not ask for a better borrowing market to expand your business. Anyone with $25 to spare and an Internet connection can now become an international microfinancier through Kiva, an organization that matches individual lenders with impoverished entrepreneurs in the developing world.”

The Boston Globe, December 29, 2007
Change the world, one click at a time
“Kiva.org, founded in 2005, connects lenders with entrepreneurs in developing countries. Lenders are able to feel a personal connection with a project and can get progress updates from the borrowers, instead of feeling that they are giving money to a nameless institution.”

Marketplace Morning Report, December 25, 2007
Small Loans Appeal to Bootstrap Crowd
“Microloans have become a trend in international development circles... Typically, the giving is the domain of the U.N. But now, a growing number of websites are giving ordinary people the chance to get involved. Kiva.org was the first of these peer-to-peer microcredit websites to launch.”

Good Morning America, December 18, 2007
'Tis the Season for Giving
“Kiva.org is a groundbreaking Web site that allows one to lend money directly to aspiring entrepreneurs in developing countries... The system gives struggling entrepreneurs access to financial services that have not been available to them.”

Forbes, December 14, 2007
Give Like An Entrepreneur
“Kiva.org allows budding entrepreneurs in the developing world to solicit loans. They outline their needs, their plans to use the money and their ability to repay a loan.”

USA Today, December 11 2008
Green gifts: 'Oh, you shouldn't have - really!'
“Stephanie Preble, 37, a Seattle teacher, caterer and mother of three, says her family can live without Christmas wrapping paper. They also plan to donate to Kiva.org, the online loan-giving charity, but will still keep the traditional stocking-stuffers and gifts from Santa for the kids.”

Common Ground, December 2007
More Love, Less Stuff
“By "sponsoring" a small businesses or individual in the developing world through Kiva (kiva.org), you can help the world's working poor make real progress towards economic independence.”

Business Nation, December 5, 2007
Kiva
“A look at how a network of small lenders, brought together by a remarkable website, is making a big difference in developing nations, one micro loan at a time.” Watch here.

Forbes.com, November 14, 2007
Microfinance Movement
“Want to help start a small business in an emerging market from the comfort of your armchair? Well now you can, with Kiva.org.” Watch here.

San Francsico Chronicle, September 30, 2007
Microcredit movement tackling poverty one tiny loan at a time
“Kiva.org, praised by Clinton in his new book, is the first organization to take microcredit online and link lenders and borrowers. People who want to make loans - the minimum is $25 - choose recipients on the Web site and use their credit cards and PayPal.”

The Wall Street Journal Online, September 23, 2007
Help Impoverished Entrepreneurs With Loans
“While Americans gave record sums to charity last year, some are finding that loaning their money can be altruistic as well... The basic idea is to make small, short-term "microloans" to impoverished entrepreneurs who don't otherwise have access to capital -- helping improve their businesses and therefore their lives.”

The Oprah Winfrey Show, September 4, 2007
Make a Difference
“'A revolutionary idea has made it possible for anyone to help people in Third World countries via the Internet - and it can be addictive! Visitors to Kiva.org can read the story of someone who needs help starting a small business. For as little as $25, they can choose a loan to partially finance - and help lift someone out of poverty in the process.”

PC Magazine, August 27, 2007
Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites
“Want to sink your cash into something more rewarding than an Apple iPhone? Put that $600 to work helping those less fortunate with Kiva, the site that lets you easily make small loans to deserving entrepreneurs worldwide.”

The Wall Street Journal, August 21, 2007
A New Generation Reinvents Philanthropy
“' You can donate money to a charity, but it seems like it just goes into a pile and you never know what really goes on there,' says Mr. Alamo, the Kiva lender. 'With Kiva, you just pick someone out and lend to them directly and watch what they do and how they succeed. That was the main appeal.' Kiva, which started in the fall of 2005, has already drawn more than 89,600 lenders who have lent $10 million.”

Yahoo! News, August 21, 2007
The $10 Million Giveaway?
“In their office in San Francisco's Mission District, Matt and Jessica Flannery and Premal Shah work with the fervor and techno savvy of an Internet startup aiming for an IPO. But they aren't chasing the cash for themselves. They're doing it for Esther Egbulu in Nigeria, a mother of six who wants an $800 loan to stock her shop with frozen chickens and turkey...”

MSN Money, July 25, 2007
7 ways to buy happiness
“Kiva then pools these microloans so that specific individuals -- you can read their profiles on the Kiva Web site -- can accomplish their goals..”

The Seattle Times, June 22, 2007
Banking on Bulgaria's Gypsy businesses
“Through Kiva, we made interest-free loans of $25 each to Diana and to Silvia and Todor whose pictures, bios and business plans were posted on the nonprofit's Web site. Then on a recent trip to Bulgaria, we veered off the tourist route to visit our new partners and see how business was going.”

Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders, June 19, 2007
Kiva - Life Changing Loans
“Direct and straightforward lending to individuals in developing countries is here... You don't have to be a Bill Gates to drastically change people's lives anymore.” Listen here.

Marketplace Money, June 8, 2007
Give to Global Entrepreneurship
“Normally, microfinancing happens on a larger scale. Banks and other financial outfits lend small amounts of money to people who are too poor to get a traditional loan. Usually, in the developing world. But several organizations - like Kiva.org - now allow you to become a microlender... New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof recently wrote about some loans that he's made. So we invited him to talk about the experience.” Listen here.

ABC World News Tonight, June 5, 2007
Peace Through PayPal?
“In Kirkuk, a city in northern Iraq that wavers between war and unsteady peace, a woman named Khadeja runs a beauty shop in the poorest section of town. She needs $1,200 to keep her business going -- a business that supports her parents and disabled brother. In Los Gatos, Calif., a real estate broker named Debby Bright is giving her a loan. Separated by roughly 7,000 miles, Bright and Khadeja connected through Kiva, an online lending network which recently added Iraqis to its list of entrepreneurs in poor countries who are looking to build up a business.” Watch the program here

CNN, May 24, 2007
CNN Heroes: Community Crusaders
“Kiva -- which means "unity" in Swahili -- allows individuals to make loans as small as $25 to entrepreneurs in developing countries. Since Kiva.org was launched more than two years ago, it has brokered more than $6.5 million in collateral-free loans to more than 9,000 businesses.” Watch here.

BBC Click, May 4, 2007
Social lending gains net interest
“The social lending site Kiva allows lenders to give to a specific entrepreneur in a poor or developing world country... This sort of scheme is generally called Microfinance. It is not new, but the web's ability to allow anyone to become a banker to the world's poor certainly is.” Watch the program here

World Vision Report, April 15, 2007
Direct Loans to Fight Poverty
“It's now possible for someone in the United States to make a small mini-loan directly to a person in need overseas. Just go to www.kiva.org, select a recipient, and make the loan. Virginia builder Tom Hutchinson did that. Host Peggy Wehmeyer hooked up Hutchison and the woman in Uganda who received his $50 loan for a meeting on the phone.”Listen here

Houston Chronicle, April 14, 2007
Anyone can lend a hand via Web
“More than 3,000 institutions around the world offer small, collateral-free "microcredit" loans to more than 113 million poor people. But Kiva, which boasts more than 54,000 lenders, is different in that it allows individuals in wealthy countries to lend directly — in amounts as little as $25 — to individuals in poorer ones.”

TIME, April 05, 2007
Lending a hand
“When Melecio Penafiel wanted to expand his tailoring shop in Guayaquil, Ecuador, last May, he didn't go to the bank or ask his relatives for help. His seed money arrived via the Internet. Using the website Kiva.org a Bay Area software engineer named Nathan Folkert lent Penafiel the $500 he needed to buy two new sewing machines, fabrics and thread for higher-quality suits. Folkert has never met Penafiel but says making the loan "felt like I was giving him a shot at the American Dream.”

Newsweek, February 19, 2007
Microlending Do It Online
“Kiva.org is perhaps the leader in the field of microcredit online.”

Current TV, January 7, 2007
EBay for Do-Gooders
“Leveraging the Internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions (MFIs), Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help fund small businesses run by low-income entrepreneurs around the world.”

ABC News, July 27, 2006.
Giving from the U.S. to Uganda
"A woman in East Africa is looking for a loan to try and buy some livestock - keep in mind that these steer are her family's livelihood and they could mean the difference between survival and severe poverty - but thanks to the internet and (Kiva) people from as far away as Europe, Asia and even the United States can all give toward her success in Kenya."