For KIVA, the international nonprofit providing no interest loans and other financial resources to underserved communities, the impact and reach of the coronavirus was quickly evident.
Already, demand for loans has spiked tenfold in just the U.S. As the effects of the pandemic reach the other 80 countries in which the nonprofit operates—places where there is less infrastructure to handle the fallout—management expects even more demand.
In the U.S,. KIVA provides loans of up to $15,000 to businesses that typically can’t access capital using traditional methods. Historically, that’s meant a lot of services businesses like restaurants, one of the sectors hit hardest by the coronavirus fallout. So far, the organization has been able to keep up with that demand, avoiding layoffs and with the lenders support rising to the demand.
Yet, with rising demand and a halt in hiring, KIVA knows it will need help as well.
“We’re right there with a lot of other nonprofits that are very much in need in a time of crisis,” Diane Pham, strategic partnerships manager for KIVA, told NetSuite’s Kendall Fisher in the following video interview.
Pham goes on to explain how the current environment has forced the organization to look more closely at its business processes, lean on its crisis planning and plan for a much different future for the organization as a whole and the nonprofit sector.
Watch a video to learn more about KIVA and its microlending programs.