Category Archives: microfinance

Is Kiva Misleading the Public?

October 13, 2009 – 9:13 am

Over the past two weeks, a debate has been simmering about the way in which Kiva (a microfinance organization) describes how they operate. It all started when David Roodman wrote a post on his Microfinance Open Book Blog titled “Kiva Is Not Quite What It Seems”. David is writing a book about microfinance and by […]

By Sean Stannard-Stockton | Also posted in Philanthropy | Comments (33)

UnitedProsperity.org

June 18, 2009 – 10:24 am

It sure does seem like new philanthropic/social ventures are popping up all the time. As BusinessWeek declared recently, there’s A Bull Market in Social Entrepreneurs. One of the recent entrants is UnitedProsperity.org. At first glance, it looks like a Kiva.org knock off. But there is a hugely important difference. Whereas Kiva.org helps people make loans […]

By Sean Stannard-Stockton | Also posted in Cross-Disciplinary Conversations, Grantmaking, New Philanthropy, Philanthropic Capital Markets, Philanthropy | Comments (3)

Mission Related Investing for Individuals

January 14, 2009 – 10:35 am

In my column on the future of wealth management and philanthropy that appeared in Wealth Manager magazine last November I wrote: Mission related investing (MRI) is the term used to describe investments made by philanthropic entities in the pursuit of both financial and social returns. Unlike traditional socially responsible investing that relies on “negative screening”—the […]

By Sean Stannard-Stockton | Also posted in Community Foundations, Foundations, Mission Related Investing, New Philanthropy, Philanthropic Capital Markets, Philanthropic Investment Strategy, Philanthropy | Comments Off on Mission Related Investing for Individuals

Online Giving: Call for Assistance

January 5, 2009 – 9:50 am

On February 28 I’m guest lecturing in a Stanford University workshop taught by Bill Somerville. My one hour slot is going to focus on “Online Giving”. The class is called Philanthropy is For Everyone and is part of Stanford’s extension program. Most of the students are Stanford alumni who are currently involved in philanthropy or […]

By Sean Stannard-Stockton | Also posted in New Philanthropy, nptech, Philanthropic Technology, Philanthropy, Social Media | Comments (2)

SoCap 2008: Securitizing Philanthropy

October 15, 2008 – 10:12 am

There is an irony in the fact that so much of the conversation at the SoCap conference is about moving philanthropy towards a financial markets approach that seems to be in the process of breaking down in the for-profit financial markets. However, we should not confuse financial innovation with excessive risk taking. I just read […]

By Sean Stannard-Stockton | Also posted in Cross-Disciplinary Conversations, Effective Giving, New Philanthropy, Philanthrocapitalism, Philanthropic Capital Markets, Philanthropy, SoCap2008 | Comments Off on SoCap 2008: Securitizing Philanthropy

Social Capital Markets Conference

August 25, 2008 – 7:40 am

From October 13-15, in San Francisco, the Social Capital Markets Conference (SoCap08), will bring together a rock star line up of the social capital movement. Speakers include: Matthew Bishop | THE ECONOMIST Jed Emerson | BLENDED VALUE Doug Bauer | ROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS Carla Javits | REDF Jim Fruchterman | BENETECH In addition, there will […]

By Sean Stannard-Stockton | Also posted in Cross-Disciplinary Conversations, Mission Related Investing, New Philanthropy, Philanthrocapitalism, Philanthropic Capital Markets, Philanthropic Investment Strategy | Comments Off on Social Capital Markets Conference

Fortune Magazine on Kiva

February 27, 2008 – 1:18 pm

If you read one article about philanthropy this month, make it “The only nonprofit that matters” in the new issue of Fortune. Click here to access. It is an excellent review of Kiva.org and other organizations of this type. I found a couple things interesting: Fortune refers to DonorsChoose as a “peer” of Kiva’s. When […]

By Sean Stannard-Stockton | Also posted in New Philanthropy, Philanthropic Capital Markets, Philanthropy, Transparency | Comments Off on Fortune Magazine on Kiva

Best of Stanford Social Innovation Review

February 16, 2008 – 10:58 pm

The Stanford Social Innovation Review is a must read if you care about philanthropy. They manage to straddle the line between offering academic journal type articles while at the same time offering up compelling, engaging writing. They even play host to a large group of philanthropy bloggers (including me). You have to subscribe to the […]

By Sean Stannard-Stockton | Also posted in Cross-Disciplinary Conversations, Impact Measurement, Media, Philanthropy, Social Entrepreneurship | Comments Off on Best of Stanford Social Innovation Review

A Kiva User Responds

February 11, 2008 – 6:46 pm

Danielle Hamilton, A Kiva user who has been commenting on their “sold out” status recently left the following comment: For the long term, I hope they expedite their research process, streamlining their review system, allowing more researchers to be available, thereby increasing the amount of borrowers. This seems to be the hold-up, so to speak. […]

By Sean Stannard-Stockton | Also posted in New Philanthropy, Philanthropic Capital Markets, Philanthropy | Comments Off on A Kiva User Responds

Kiva’s Supply & Demand “Problem”

February 8, 2008 – 9:45 am

Recently, Peter Panepento, a reporter for the Chronicle of Philanthropy wrote about my Kiva brainstorming on the Give & Take blog: The founder of Kiva, a charity that encourages donors to make loans to needy entrepreneurs, took questions about his organization’s supply-demand dilemma during Tuesday’s weekly Chronicle online discussion. And one of the most pointed […]

By Sean Stannard-Stockton | Also posted in New Philanthropy, Philanthropic Capital Markets, Philanthropy | Comments Off on Kiva’s Supply & Demand “Problem”