Kiva Teams

Can anything new be said about Kiva?  Probably not, but not too many people seems to know or talk about Kiva Lending Teams, so let’s explore them.

The beta version for the Kiva lending teams came out in late August of this year, and now there are 5,553 teams.  The lending teams do not actually lend the money, individuals lend their own money, they can just said that this money goes towards the Australia lending team’s goals, or whatever team they choose.

Setting up teams seems a little peculiar at first, but after looking at the teams for about a minute, it made perfect sense.  Why would a team make sense when they do not make any decisions?  Well one reason is competition.

Many of the top groups are very politically charged groups, for example:  “Kiva Christians,” “Team Obama,” and “Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious.”  If you are a competitive person, like me, and you see that the Atheist group has lent more money than the Christian group, you are going to want to loan more money.

To join the Kiva Christian group and donate money was my first thought, but by the time I scrolled down to the bottom of the page I was laughing at myself.  If the Christian group loans more money than the Atheist group, does that prove anything?  No.  It’s foolish to think that for even a second.

I think that the Kiva teams encourage more loans and probably have some very functional uses, but I think that it is important to check you motives when you join one.