Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world

Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can “sponsor a business” and help the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you’ve sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back.

Kiva partners with existing microfinance institutions. In doing so, we gain access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished communities world-wide. Our partners are experts in choosing qualified borrowers. That said, they are usually short on funds. Through Kiva.org, our partners upload their borrower profiles directly to the site so you can lend to them.

Kiva is using the power of the internet to facilitate one-to-one connections that were previously prohibitively expensive. Child sponsorship has always been a high overhead business. Kiva creates a similar interpersonal connection at much lower costs due to the instant, inexpensive nature of internet delivery. The individuals featured on our website are real people who need a loan and waiting for socially-minded individuals like you to lend them money.

Prosper enables people to lend money to other people

Prosper is a marketplace for credit that enables people to lend money to other people in a safe, efficient manner. Prosper is a leap back to a time when people formed credit communities to help themselves live better lives and earn a fair return on their money. Prosper's founding principle is that people from close communities act more responsibly towards each other. Prosper leverages this powerful concept of group responsibility and applies it to person-to-person lending—resulting in better interest rates for people that borrow and lend.

Prosper enables people to create groups, which borrowers join to request loans up to $25,000 by posting listings indicating the maximum interest rate they wish to pay. Lenders search for and select these listings based on the borrower's credit, debt profile, and group affiliation. Lenders bid on listings by indicating a minimum rate they are willing to accept. When a loan is matched between borrower and lender, Prosper handles all of the tasks needed for payment and collection of the loan.