For Christmas this year, I received a most unusual gift from my children. It was a single sheet of paper with a link to a microfinance site, Kiva.com. This site lends funds to individuals in developing countries and within the United States. My children had set up an account in my name to loan money to entrepreneurs throughout the world.
What fun. What responsibility…
Kiva provides loans to low-income entrepreneurs.
Being in online marketing, I am well versed in cause marketing and donate to a variety of charities and follow them online. I often read the stories of sick children, of families that have been able to afford animals or of individuals’ efforts to preserve the planet. I view my money at work through these national and international organizations. I’ve also spent some time on other microfinance lending sites, but always as an observer, never has an investor.
Perhaps that is why this experience has been so different for me. The call to action to invest has deepened my interest and shifted my perspective. I need to read each applicant’s story and determine if I’m going to invest in that individual, realizing that if I choose correctly and I’m repaid, I will be able to recycle the funds to invest in others. If I choose poorly, then I’ve reduced my ability to spread opportunity to others.
I have read and reread stories, examined photos and created lists of individuals who I think have the business savvy to produce profit. Do I prioritize the section of Africa where we have “adopted” two orphans, or a section of Asia that was hit with environmental disasters, or a village that is struggling to survive in South America?
A number of options can be used to narrow choices.
In reading the stories, the one intangible I always find myself “calculating” is whether the individuals have the heart for capitalism as well as the quest for improving their own station in life and passing it on to others. Do they have the staying power to leverage the money not as a “gift” but truly as a “loan” to springboard themselves and their community forward?
Hours I have spent on this site, separating desperate stories from those with potential to bring about change. I struggle with trying to justify supporting the arts over contributing to someone who is trying to increase food supply for a tiny village.
Choosing based upon need can be daunting.
So beyond the fascinating content of the site lies the framework of the user experience. Does it support my needs to be a viable contributor?
As a marketer, I soon found myself craving tools that would simplify my decision-making. The charm of “search and explore” led to the inconvenience of “decide and invest.” So what advice can help cause marketers better relate to their audiences? How is it possible to increase engagement and satisfaction in the microfinance arena?
1) Allow me to reliably find individuals again that are profiled. That means being able to save searches as well as save individuals’ profiles that interest me.
2) Give me tools to prioritize my list of possible entrepreneurs and allow me to comment on each so I don’t need to rethink the reasons I was attracted to a story (when I manage to find it again).
3) Provide comparison tools. Let me further group my choices by continent or save and sort by type of investment opportunity.
4) Let me see the investors with the top rates of return so I can learn from them by analyzing their choices.
5) Promote new investment by allowing me to create a profile of what I want to invest in and create alerts for opportunities that match my profile.
6) Give me more than a picture. You are sending individuals out to gather information for the featured stories. Show me video of the environment that expresses the need. Help me understand in more depth and give me the emotional back story for context.
As a novice investor, I found that it was as useful to learn about other investors as much as those they invest in. I analyzed the funds certain investors chose to determine how they built their “people portfolios.” I looked to see if these individuals accepted email contact so I could ask a question.
I really missed though not being able to identify other small investors in my local community so I could contact them and learn from them. Maybe if we knew each other, we could even pool our money together for greater resource funding.
Give me ways to connect to and learn from others.
In this stressful economic time, it’s comforting to be able to reach out and help others. I think if cause marketing sites had more tools that allowed sorting and comparing, it would make it easier for consumers to interact. And, if sites not only allowed me to give, but to gain knowledge for myself as an investor and create a social community I could become part of, the organization would make me into dedicated, life-long donor.
