It’s a new year, which means it’s time to look back and reflect on all that we have been able to accomplish together in the year that’s passed. It has been an extremely busy year of learning and growth, a year of many exciting firsts, meaningful milestones and inspiring numbers! Here are just some of the great things that we hope everyone will remember, and celebrate, about 2011...
Kiva 2011 Staff Photo
Exciting Firsts...
We introduced Social Performance badges, an innovative new way to highlight Field Partners that have demonstrated a commitment to social performance goals.
We established our first non-traditional partnerships with non-MFI organizations such as One Acre Fund in order to address market gaps.
We launched the Kiva Zip pilot program, a program designed to explore new approaches to person to person lending including electronic and mobile payment technology.
We introduced a new Star-Ratings system (now with half-stars), improving Kiva users’ ability to make informed loan-making choices.
We partnered with four new countries - Burkina Faso, Turkey, Yemen and Zimbabwe.
We joined forces with 26 new Field Partners across the globe including organizations in Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Kenya and Iraq.
We began offering Student Loans in Vietnam, Tajikistan and Sierra Leone.
We started posting Green Loans to support initiatives such as bio-digesters in Indonesia, solar lights and energy efficient cookstoves in the Philippines, green housing in Mongolia and sanitation projects in Kenya.
With our partners we launched Kiva City, providing Kiva loan capital to small business owners in Detroit and New Orleans.
With our partners we launched Kiva City, providing Kiva loan capital to small business owners in Detroit and New Orleans.
Kiva CEO and Co-Founder, Matt Flannery, received The Economist’s Innovation Award.
Kiva’s South America Team hosted our very first board trip. Kiva board members spent 3 days in Lima, Peru, getting an on-the-ground perspective on Kiva operations.
Meaningful Milestones...
The site reached 1 million registered users.
The Kiva Fellows blog "Stories from the Field" surpassed its millionth hit.
As of the end of 2011, fifteen amazing Lending Teams had made more than 1 million dollars worth of loans!
Our best holiday season on record - through a combination of strong loan supply, huge support from existing lenders, lots of new users, free trials, and Kiva Cards, Kiva facilitated over $10.5 million of lending in December. This is the first month above $10m in Kiva history.
Kiva Headquarters moved to a new downtown San Francisco location to accommodate our ever-expanding team. We filled 42 positions in 2011 which brings us to a grand total of 85 staff members!
Ten inspiring Lending Teams hosted fabulous events in ten different cities around the world in honor of Kiva's 6th birthday. A total of 751 guests attended the events and raised more than $120,000 for Kiva!
Inspiring Numbers...
A loan is now made every 4 seconds on average - that is more than twice the rate of a year ago!
$90 million of loans generated on Kiva during the year, which is a 26% increase on the 2010 total.
81 Kiva Fellows spent 41,080 hours working with Kiva Field Partners around the world. Since the inception of the Kiva Fellows Program in 2007, Kiva Fellows have now spent a combined total of 5,441 weeks working with Kiva Field Partners - that’s over 100 years!
Partner Operations enjoyed the support of volunteer hours equivalent to 53 full-time staff members through the Kiva Fellows Program and Review & Translation Program.
Kiva Staff visited 52 different countries around the world.
The Customer Service team responded to 50,277 emails and phone calls from lenders.
Over 109 thousand Kiva Cards sold.
Kiva was assisted in all areas of operations by over 450 amazing volunteers - (Approximately 81 Fellows, 87 Interns and 285 Review and Translation Volunteers.)
There were 45 participants from over 20 countries at our annual Latin American and Caribbean Field Partner Summit, which was held in Costa Rica.
What a year it was, and we can’t wait to see what 2012 has in store. Thank you for being a part of our community and helping us to reach new heights each and every year!
