Category Archives: Kiva

New Winner of Kiva $25 Gift Card

$25, Gift Card, Kiva, Milepoint, Winner
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The winners of my Kiva $25 Gift Card Contest were selected a little over a week ago. One of the GCs was claimed immediately and put to great use. Due to the other winner not claiming his card, I have selected a new winner.
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The new winner is Commet #3: Maxi Leyerer who wrote “brilliant idea!!!”
(Please comment on this post with your e-mail address to claim the gift card)

I hope that Maxi will put the Kiva card to great use and have fun deciding who to give his loan to!

If you would like to sign up for Kiva Click Here

Winners of the Kiva $25 Gift Card Contest

Contest, Kiva, Loan, Milepoint
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I want to thank everyone for entering my Milepoint Kiva Gift Card Contest.
(Read about it here)

To learn more about the Milepoint Kiva Lending Team click here.

So on to the fun part.
The contest had 23 entries. Two winners were selected using random.org.
I am giving away one $25 gift card & Milepoint was kind enough to match the offer.

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 Here are the winners:

  1. Comment #10: Tim who wrote “This is awesome!, Thanks just joined the MP team.”
  2. Comment #14: Carwag25 who wrote “Love the post and thanks for the mention of the Milepoint Kiva team!

I responded to your comments in the post. Please respond back with your e-mail so you can receive your prizes.

If you are intersted in joining Kiva, click here.

Choosing Who To Lend To On Kiva & Win A Kiva Gift Card

Choice, Colombia, Kiva, Loan, Win
a man standing in front of a food stand
Jose Octavio Henao

I wrote a bit about joining the Milepoint Kiva Lending Team last week. In the post I talk a little about Milepoint and Kiva. You can read my post here.

After signing up for Kiva I had to figure out who to loan to… Do I just choose someone that others on the Milepoint team are picking? Do I pick someone close to their borrowing goal? I really wasn’t sure how to come to this decision with so many people on Kiva having legitimate needs for the loan.

I decided to set some criteria for who I would choose and decided it would be based on three things:

  1. They need to live in a country that I’ve been to (not so hard- I’ve been to around 50 countries)
  2. They should be about half way to their borrowing goal
  3. I had to feel that the Kiva loan would really change things for them. (I wasn’t looking for a successful person looking to expand their business)

I narrowed down my search to people living in Colombia, Kenya and Uganda. I started reading lots of similar stories which made it hard for me to choose who to pick until I came across Jose Octavio Henao.

Jose lives in Colombia and is looking for a loan of $550. At the time of my loan he was around half way to his goal. From his Kiva profile, he seems like someone that just needs things to turn for the better in some way or the other. His wife left him a while back and he is taking care of two children on his own. His business, a small food cart was robbed of it’s goods and his money leaving him close to bankruptcy. He needs this loan to buy products to sell on his cart so he can start earning an income again.

I hope that my small loan will help Jose get back on his feet and revive his business. If you would like to see Jose Octavio Henao’s Kiva profile, click here.

***Reminder***
Enter my contest by 2/17/12 for a chance to win a Kiva $25 Gift Card Here.

Contest: Win A Kiva $25 Gift Card

Contest, Gift Cards, Kiva, Milepoint, Random
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I posted a bit about the Milepoint Kiva Lending Team the other day.
You can read the post here.

I think Kiva is a really interesting and great non-profit. Their efforts are helping people all over the world become successful due to the generosity of it’s members.
Once you make a loan, you will see progress updates from Kiva through your 
e-mail. As the borrower repays the loan, the money becomes available in your account. You can then fund another loan, donate it to Kiva or withdraw it for something else. There is a 98.87 repayment rate for ended loans.

I joined the Milepoint Kiva Lending Team recently. Milepoint has been deeply involved in Kiva and has made a huge impact with it’s efforts.

Here are some stats about the impact of Milepoint:

  • Number of Team Members: 584
  • Number of Loans: 32,016
  • Number of Loans Per Member: 54.8
  • Total Amount Loaned: $1,510,875
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If you are thinking of joining Kiva, why not join the Milepoint team?
To join Click Here

To show my support for Kiva, I am running a contest and the rules are very simple:

Leave a comment at the end of this post (don’t sign it anonymous) and you will be entered for a chance to win a $25 Kiva Gift Card.

I have TWO Kiva gift cards to give away- I will be giving one $25 Kiva gift card and Milepoint matched my offer and will be giving me another for this contest.

Contest ends on 2/17/12
The winners will be selected using Random.org.

**Update**
Kiva Gift Cards are also being given out on Mommy Points and Frequent Miler

Milepoint Kiva Lending Team

Anniversary, Kiva, Lending, Milepoint

To commemorate my one year anniversary (2/8/12) as a member of Milepoint, I decided to join the Milepoint Kiva Lending Team this morning. I heard about Kiva a few years back and always thought it seemed like a great idea but never got around to joining.

Some of you might ask what Milepoint and Kiva are…
Here is a little about them:

  • Milepoint is an online frequent flier forum. It’s a place to talk about just about anything related to travel, flying and airline miles. The content is created by members and the conversations and forums can be very friendly and helpful. You can check it out here.
  • Kiva is a non-profit organziation that allows individuals to make loans as small as $25 to help create opportunity around the world. You can choose who you loan to- it can be a farmer in Tajikstan or a housing loan for someone in Bolivia. You can check out Kiva and join the Milepoint lending team here.
I haven’t decided who I will give my loan to as of yet. I plan to narrow it down to three loans and then make a decision which I will post to my blog.
If anyone wants to help me out and make a suggestion, please leave a comment to this post!