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Featured Non-Profit: Kiva

Good Causes >

As you probably know, Brown Paper Tickets is a ticketing company. We sell tickets all over the world to events and have an unbelievable list (in my opinion) of free services and tools for event producers to put their events together. What you may not be fully aware of is this whole other branch of the company that is very involved in giving back to our communities. This is the realm I am fortunate enough to be immersed in.

One of the most recent additions to our company’s giving came from the Marketing and Communications team. The VP of Marketing and Communications, Kelsye Nelson, was given a budget of $25 a month to take her staff out to lunches or coffee, so instead, in the spirit of Brown Paper Tickets, she and her team decided to vote on one person a month who they feel has been rocking their job and exhibits the essence of Brown Paper Tickets. This month I was honoured with their votes. As the winner of  the grand prize, I get to choose who the money goes to this month at Kiva. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWgAEJE1FuM]

Kiva is a non-profit, founded in 2005, who receives donations from people like you and me to help people in poverty receive a micro-loan to set-up their small business. Their mission statement is: “To connect people through lending to alleviate poverty.” Learn more about how it works here!

Kiva works with 61 different countries and have received donations from over 686,442 lenders, which has amounted to over $282 million in loans! One of the best parts is that 100% of every dollar lent on Kiva goes directly towards funding loans; Kiva does not take a cut, nor do they charge interest to their Field Partners, who administer the loans.

Karla Vanessa Mendoza Beteta

I chose a woman named Karla Vanessa Mendoza Beteta who is a hospital assistant and a single mother of one child in the fifth grade. They live in Nicaragua and a loan of $225 helps Karla buy construction materials–stones, sand, cement, metal, and a door–to build a bathroom, so she and her child can have more privacy and better hygiene. It is such an easy way to give, but I know it will help Karla a lot!

Do you want to make a difference, too? Lend!