"Earth Kiva":
Our Not-So-Quiet Little Corner
What can you do? There are three possibilities.
- You can become a funder, that is, a micro-investor or micro-lender. Whether we support a "bright green", "light green" or "dark green" future, there is one area where we could make a large impact, beyond what we are now doing: each of us becomes a funder and pools her / his money with that of others, so that, as a group, we help underwrite innovations and inventions to improve the quality of life.
- You can become an innovator or inventor. An innovation can be a marketing campaign which becomes viral among the public. An invention can be a small, affordable appliance which immediately cuts on energy consumption, generates clean energy or otherwise improves the quality of life, even if not related to the environment. There might be hundreds of possibilities ready for the public.
- Or you can become a bit of each.
A question which immediately comes to mind is, "Why should an innovator or inventor not go for a grant or venture capital?" The short answer is that neither of those can provide all the funding needed. The long answer is that
- foundation grants are few, slow in coming, and limited in scope;
- community-oriented venture capital is in short supply.
Through Earth Kiva, we provide the missing capital, striving to make a large impact with practically no risk. See below.
If you (a) have a question, (b) wish to become a founder of Earth Kiva on your campus or (c) are ready to participate as a funder, innovator or inventor; contact Tania Ornatskaya, MBA, UC Berkeley Haas 1997, and Van Ajemian, JD, UCLA law 1981, at earthkivalaunch@globalgreenlabs.org.
Have you heard of Kiva? Founded in 2005, Kiva has grown to become a major player in micro-financing, that is, in giving small loans to a large number of people, with the intent to reduce poverty around the world. Kiva has over six hundred thirty-one thousand (631,000) voluntary lenders and a very high success rate, that is, over 98% of loans are paid back. Kiva has surpassed $110,000,000 in loans made.
Has Kiva solved our challenge? No, not by itself. Kiva's focus is poverty alleviation, which, while very important, is but one aspect of improving the quality of life. Yet, while the respective missions of Kiva and Earth Kiva differ somewhat, Earth Kiva stands ready to incorporate features of Kiva's successful process.Can we truly make a difference? There are millions of students on college campuses. There are 1.2 million members of the Sierra Club, 1.2 million members of the Natural Resources Defense Council, half a million donors to the Environmental Defense Fund. Also, there are the members and supporters of the National Audubon Society, the World Wildlife Fund, and others. We can make a huge difference.
Is this risky? No, because our strength would lie in our numbers. Instead of ten people each putting $2,000 into an idea, we could have a thousand students, environmentalists and others each putting $20 into an idea. Also, we could reduce risk even more as explained under "Our Benefits" in the right margin.
While Kiva's staff is experienced and successful, we have learned that they are busy. It is up to us to come together as funders to improve the quality of life. We can use the successful Kiva model to set up and operate Earth Kiva in collaboration with nonprofit organizations. See the right margin for the possible benefits from participation in Earth Kiva.
While Kiva facilitates lending, we will have "funder-friendly" options which optimize the good to be done.
- Micro-investments. If each of us invests a small sum, with the understanding that we would not pressure an innovator or inventor to pursue profit without regard for employees, customers or a community, then we have demonstrated community-oriented investing. We will be doing investing which gives priority to community welfare and the environment. Also, we can stipulate that there be an investment share for the campus where we attend or the organization of which we are a member, without the campus or organization having to invest or incur any risk.
- Micro-donations. We can choose to make small donations through a public charity and be entitled to a tax deduction if we itemize deductions.
- Micro-loans. These can give us net income, under terms different than those for micro-investments.
- We can become more creative by mixing and matching in ways which motivate more students, environmentalists, and others to join us.
For Innovators and
Inventors
Our goal is to encourage students, faculty, and communities to come to us with many useful ideas for us to fund. The following is a framework to evaluate ideas for their appeal to Earth Kiva. If an idea does not meet all the criteria, but is believed by the innovator or inventor to be extraordinary, we invite a submission of the idea, nevertheless.
- The idea does not necessitate a large infusion of capital for development and startup.
- The idea will be financially self-sustaining in a relatively short time.
- The idea is environmentally sustainable or can become so in a relatively short time.
- The innovator or inventor may form his / her team or leave it to Earth Kiva to recruit a team, in which case the innovator or investor would receive a royalty from net income.
- The idea will measurably improve the quality of life for a large number of people, whether in the developed world, developing world or both.
News and Views
Legislative advocacy is important, but we must not think that government alone would get the job done right or on time. By creating a Kiva-like service, we the public in common cause might play a pivotal role in improving the quality of life, including the restoration of our planet.[09.07.2009] "The world's leading industrial nations tentatively agreed Wednesday to try to prevent global temperatures from rising above a fixed level, after a more far-reaching proposal to slash production of greenhouse gases fizzled, according to U.S. and European negotiators. ..." More.
[13.07.2009] "Global climate talks are progressing too slowly and too many countries are demanding action from others rather than acting by themselves, Sweden's Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said on Monday in Beijing. ..." More.
[4.11.2009] "The US has given up hope of reaching a global climate change treaty at Copenhagen and is working towards a deal late next year, the Obama administration said today. The decision ends hopes of a legally binding deal being sealed next month. ..." More.
Our Benefits
Here is a list of possible benefits for funders.
- Net income. You could micro-invest and / or micro-lend in order to receive a net income. You could pay your bills, put net income back into Earth Kiva or donate the income to your campus or organization. But realize that there always be risk, however small, and even if there were a return on investment, it would probably be small.
- Right of first refusal. For some innovations and inventions, you will be among the first to see them and decide on whether to help fund them.
- Reduced risk. We can invite an entity to match our money. Along with our vetting an innovation or invention, the entity will do the same. Having another group do vetting will give more students, environmentalists, and others the confidence to join with us.
- Reducing risk even more. While Kiva works with micro-financing institutions to monitor the use of loans to entrepreneurs, we will choose a committee of co-treasurers from among our ranks to monitor the use of our money by innovators and inventors.
The Other Half
of Our Equation
Not only will we work to fund ideas, but, also, we will encourage faculty, students, and the public to come forth with innovations and inventions. In the best situation, we would have many useful ideas to be quickly matched with sufficient funding to fulfill our goal of improving the quality of life.