Make a loan, change a life

Kiva Shepherdstown is a Rotary Club of Shepherdstown international project established in 2021.  Our primary goal is to alleviate poverty worldwide by funding borrowers with micro-loans to improve financial stability.  

More than 1.7 billion people around the world are unbanked and cannot access the financial services they need. Kiva is an international nonprofit, founded in 2005 in San Francisco, with a mission to expand financial access to help underserved communities thrive. We do this by crowdfunding loans and unlocking capital for the underserved, improving the quality and cost of financial services, and addressing the underlying barriers to financial access around the world. Through Kiva’s work, students can pay for tuition, women can start businesses, farmers are able to invest in equipment, a family can have access to water, and families can afford needed emergency care.  The ways we can help coincides with Rotary International Causes. As of June 2023, we have invested in 144 people and/or groups, funding nearly $8,000 in loans across 59 countries around the world.