Charity was very important in my family growing up. Many of our weekends were taken up participating in fundraising activities. As a kid eager to have fun I found this pretty boring with the exception of the coconut shy and catch a rat stalls my father ran. My parents believed it was very important to help out people less fortunate than ourselves.
In my adolescent and early adult years, this charitable focus took a back seat against my drive to be successful and to get on in life. And as so often happens, increasing age returns us to the values we grew up with and my desire to help others in need, and in particular global inequality caught my attention.
Limitations of Charitable Giving
A couple of photography trips to Africa to photograph tribes people brought this home. These people had little to nothing and yet they were the most kind and generous people I had ever met. They would gladly give me the blanket off their back if I needed it. I came back eager to increase my charitable giving until I read a powerful book by Jacqueline Novagratz called ‘The Blue Sweater’. I won’t spoil the story (but you should read it) and her takeaway from several years working in Africa is charity doesn’t work. At least it doesn’t work in the long term.
Novagratz observed that charity perpetuates the poverty cycle and requires continued giving to maintain the status quo. In response, she set up a leading socially minded investment fund called ‘The Acumen Fund’. The idea is to invest in people to give them the capital and skills to grow out of the poverty cycle and create sustainable generational wealth.
The Power of Micro-loans
I don’t have the kind of wealth necessary to invest in the Acumen Fund but I did find an affordable alternative. Kiva facilitates micro-loans to people experiencing poverty across the globe. Participants invest as little as $25 and loan it to people in need to invest in their future. Their results are remarkable and the best thing is you get to invest your money over and over as initial loans get paid back. It isn’t charity, it is more powerful than that. You are investing in someone’s future and helping them grow out of the cycle of poverty. To date Kiva has helped 5.5 million people grow out of the cycle of poverty.
If you aren’t a supporter of Kiva and you would like to learn more about how to get started, please join me for a brief discussion about Kiva and how you can get involved. Register at this link.
Thank you and I look forward to sharing more with you about Kiva and the tremendous work it is doing!