Popular Nonprofit Web Site Faces Overwhelming Demand
January 28, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
Kiva, a nonprofit organization that lets users of its Web site make small interest-free loans to entrepreneurs in poor countries is struggling to maintain an adequate supply of loan-seeking entrepreneurs to keep up with the demand from potential donors, reports The New York Times.
Fiona Ramsey, public-relations director at Kiva, which has attracted more than $19.5-million worth of loans from more than 22,000 individuals, said would-be lenders are surprised to be greeted with messages that encourage them to check back soon for giving opportunities.
“We don’t want people coming to the Web site who want to make a loan and there’s no one to loan to,” she said.
Frustrated visitors have sometimes contacted the site demanding an explanation for the lack of needy people to help. The group, which has a 23-person staff, works with microfinance institutions in 39 countries to line up potential borrowers. “We could keep, for lack of a better word, a stockpile of entrepreneurs,” Ms. Ramsey said. “But these are real people. We’re not looking at them as inventory.”
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