Let's micro Loan

KIVA doesn't pay returns to lenders for its loans. That isn't a criticism, just a statement of fact. It took me a while of reading to understand how their business compares with bonds. The advantage of Kiva is that you get to see who the borrowers are, and what they'll use the money for and that 'intimacy' can certainly provide emotional impact.I thought I'd have a look at other similar business models and see if anything else was going on in the microfinancing world. I found Micro Place. The first issue I had with it was that it is an eBay company - but I looked past that and investigated. Instead of giving money to the borrower via field agents, you give money to the micro-financing companies (via securities) who can then loan that money. Example:

Oikocredit:
​
Borrower repayment rate:  	100%  	Woman borrowers:  	100%
Total loan portfolio: 	$2,415,740 	First-time business owners: 	- -
Number of active borrowers: 	12,662 	Operational self-sufficiency: 	127%
Avg. loan balance / borrower: 	$259 	 

You get a small interest, in this case it is 1.5%It is an exercise for the reader as to which method they prefer, and I've no idea if one can be said to be 'better'.

Access to this page has been denied.

I followed your link and got the 990 with no problem. Don't know why you are having an issue with it but if there is any specific information you want from it, or if you want to arrange some kind of data transfer I'll be happy to help.

Unfortunately I don't see anything like that on here...

12 Total revenue (add lines 1d, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6c, 7, 8d, 9c, 10c, and 11) 12 161,545.
13 Program services (from line 44, column (B)) 13 100,880.
14 Management and general (from line 44, column (C)) 14 0
15 Fundraising (from line 44, column (D)) 15 0
16 Payments to affiliates (attach schedule)

Net assets or fund balances at end of year (combine lines 18, 19, and 20) 21 60,665.That doesn't seem particularly controversial. I do some work for a much smaller charity that has about 35k in assets.
Am I missing something?

I dunno if it is irrelevant. Some people might choose not to utilize a company that is engaging in unethical behaviour, even if utilizing them actually costs the company money.For example, if Kiva was using the charitable works as a convenient way of soliciting donations with which they would buy diamond mines in Africa staffed by slaves and violent overseers...then I might consider using a different company even though by not making any donations the company loses money through my usage.

From what I am aware, that is their first 990, and I think it is for 1 Nov 2005 - 30 Sep 2006 - so I imagine they haven't been an entity much longer than that.

Exactly, and we found this out by looking at their records. Hopefully, the fact that they aren't rolling in filthy amounts of cash might encourage one or two fence-sitters!