246. The Kiva.org Story + Leveraging the Power of Crowdfunding - Chris Tsakalakis
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Overview
Meet Chris. This CEO and son of a journeyman is taking what he learned in for-profit finance to nonprofit's most progressive microfinancing loan organization - Kiva - and the story is truly fascinating. Hear Kiva's mission story and understand this brilliant business model of this nonprofit that's powering its movement through crowdfunds loans benefitting underserved people in more than 70 countries.
💡Learn:
Going beyond charity to rethink giving through crowdfunded microloans
The future of philanthropy in tech (👈 don't miss this!🎧)
Mission Story of Kiva
How Kiva remains future-focused & is reaching the next generation of givers
Today’s Guest
Chris Tsakalakis, CEO of Kiva
“There are 1.7 billion people around the world who are unbanked or underserved financially. Kiva exists to provide access to financial services, capital, and money to the people who ordinarily wouldn’t be able to.”
Episode Transcript
Download Full Episode Transcript Here
Episode highlights
Chris’s story and journey to where he is today (2:30)
An overview of Kiva (4:30)
What these loans unlock for people around the world (7:00)
Chris’s past experiences in the tech space and his approach to philanthropy and leadership (9:00)
The future of philanthropy and embracing technology for deeper impact (13:00)
Engaging + activating Gen Z (18:00)
1. Putting your money where your mouth is.
2. Younger generations are interested in specific causes.
3. Make it easy.
Monthly Good: Kiva’s subscription model (19:20)
Leveraging storytelling at Kiva (23:00)
Chris’s lessons learned in the first year of leading Kiva after leaving the for profit sector (25:00)
A powerful moment of philanthropy in Chris’s life (28:00)
Chris’s One Good Thing: Secure your mask before helping others. (30:00)
powerful quotes
“I grew up in suburban Chicago, my parents both emigrated to the United States, from Greece, just before I was born. So I grew up in a household where we spoke a lot of Greek. We ate a lot of food. And I saw my parents live out the American dream.” -Chris
“Part of my dad's story was access to capital, that when he wanted to build a business, when he wanted to start investing in real estate, he had a local bank Bridgeview bank, that would give him money, give him loans, and it ended up being a very good relationship on both sides.” -Chris
“Kiva was one of the first platforms to do crowdfunding, the idea of taking in money from lots of individuals to fund a loan.” -Chris
“Since our start, starting in 2005, the Kiva platform has helped to fund $1.7 billion worth of loans to over 4.2 million borrowers in 76 countries.” -Chris
“There are 1.7 billion people around the world who are unbanked or underserved financially. And Kiva really exists to provide access to financial services to capital to money to the people who ordinarily wouldn't be able to.” -Chris
“Part of the reason we're a nonprofit, is we fill in the gaps in the financial system, the entry level in the financial system, where people can't get a hand on the rung of the ladder, they can't even jump up to it. We’re trying to give them a hand up so that they can start with a loan from Kiva.” -Chris
“The idea behind it is let's use technology to really accelerate the impact that we have to maximize the impact that we have.” -Chris
“Fundamentally, Kiva.org is a marketplace. It's a place where we connect one side that has money and one side that needs money.” -Chris
“How do we make sure that we have a product experience and a marketing experience that brings in as many new lenders and as many as much new money as possible.” -Chris
“Ultimately, I think innovation doesn't have to be just about technology. It's really about doing things differently. And to do things differently, you really need to understand your customer and what you're trying to solve for.” -Chris
“The idea behind monthly subscription was just to make it easier for you to do good.” -Chris
“This is a woman in Tajikistan who wants to improve her pigsty, because she's raising pigs. It is a woman in Zimbabwe who wants to start a bakery, and she wants to take her love of making food and actually make it into a business. It's a 16 year old in the United States who wants to start a cupcake business as a way to give back to her community, there are stories like that.” -Chris
“The great thing about Kiva is, we have what asked employees, what, what are the top three things they like about Kiva, every single person I talked to says, one of three things, it's the mission is the people, it's a culture.” -Chris
“The borrowers that we have, those entrepreneurs, all they want to do is make a better life for themselves and their families. I see them in the same way I saw my parents, they have the same ideal.” -Chris
“When you're in the right mindset, when you when you're physically and mentally well, and you're not worrying about your family, then you can excel as a leader.” -Chris
connect with chris
Connect with kiva
Website / Twitter / Instagram / Monthly Good
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Episode Sponsored by
Studio Selfie
Julie Confer, Jonathan McCoy, Becky Endicott & Chris Tsakalakis
