How to Borrow
Kiva’s unique community-backed model helps business owners access loans with the help of their communities. (Nonprofits with earned income streams are eligible for Kiva loans, too.)
Kiva determines the loan amount based on many factors, including finances, social media presence, and quality of narrative. Kiva loans can be used for many different business expenses. It’s up to you, the business owner, to put the loan to its best use.
Minimum Requirements
- Business is based in the U.S.
- At least 18 years old
- Debt to income ratio is lower than 80%
- Not in current bankruptcy or foreclosure
- Not a registered sex offender or terrorist
- No violent or financial criminal convictions in the last five years
- Must have a PayPal account to receive funds
As Kiva’s local operating partner, Kiva Tucson works with borrowers throughout the application, fundraising, and repayment process to help them succeed.
Local contact: Carie Davis, Capital Access Manager, Kiva Tucson | 520-529-1766 ext. 216 | tucson@local.kiva.org | Carie will be notified when you apply.
How to Lend
Each lender on Kiva lends for their own reasons. Many believe that small, locally owned businesses benefit their communities and they want to see their communities thrive. For others, it’s even more personal: they want to support friends, neighbors and businesses they frequent. Also, because it’s a loan, lenders are repaid, enabling them re-lend and multiply their local impact.
Kiva’s unique community-backed model helps business owners access loans with the help of their communities. As a lender, you have the power to create opportunity and help others work toward their dreams—whether it’s a loan to a Tucson artist looking to fund their next exhibition, a sustainable farmer in Arivaca needing to purchase new equipment, or an entrepreneur with a creative idea for a new business.
Lenders are repaid the exact amount they loaned over a period of time (from 1-3 years). The minimum amount someone must lend on Kiva is $25.
Other Ways to Support Borrowers
Creating a Local Match Fund
Partner organizations can double their impact by creating a Local Match Fund (with tax deductible options). Through your Local Match Fund, you can direct support to the businesses you care about, which you can define by counties, sectors and/or causes. For example, your Local Match Fund can support entrepreneurs in Tucson, small business owners in Nogales, or startups in Sierra Vista. Minimum match fund account size is $25,000 with a minimum two-year term.
When other lenders support a borrower that meets your criteria, their loans will be matched 1:1 by your Local Match Fund as long as funds last.
If you’d like to maximize the impact you or your organization can have on the development of small businesses in our community, please contact Carie Davis, Capital Access Manager, Kiva Tucson | 520-529-1766 ext. 216 | tucson@local.kiva.org
Become A Trustee
Trustees are organizations that provide expertise and endorsement to help borrowers be successful in the Kiva process. This endorsement does tie the Trustee’s reputation to the repayment rate of the borrowers they endorse, but there is no financial liability, nor do Trustees handle loans, which Kiva disperses directly.
Trustees add credibility to a borrower by vouching for their character, business and social impact. Before endorsing a borrower, a Trustee should feel confident that the borrower has done the work to be successful and that they are committed to repaying the loan.
Additionally, a Trustee should be sure that the loan will increase business revenue, and that this growth will have a positive impact on the borrower’s business. Trustees are not legally or financially liable for any borrower they recommend to Kiva.
To learn more and apply, contact Carie Davis, Capital Access Manager, Kiva Tucson | 520-529-1766 ext. 216 | tucson@local.kiva.org
