Genealogists for Families: Progress Report

The Genealogists for Families team on Kiva now has more than 340 members from 16 counties (Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, USA, Vietnam and Wales).

I enjoy reading about the borrowers before I decide how to allocate my funds. This pie chart shows the wide range of activities that the team as a whole has supported in the six years since I started this project. Take a closer look at our team's graphs (including this one).

Most team members 'recycle' their investment by relending their money each time it's repaid. By doing so, we have, in effect, loaned a total of $241,575. That has made a huge difference in the lives of many hard-working families who just needed a loan (not a handout)!

Team members - please take a moment to check your Kiva account settings. Log in at https://www.kiva.org/login (it opens in a new window). Go to 'Settings' and work your way down that page, clicking 'Edit' for each section, and 'Save' when you finish each section. You can ignore 'Monthly subscription' if you wish, but it's important to fix your 'Repayment settings' and 'Inactivity settings' and 'Auto-lending settings'. Then, in the drop-down list under 'Settings', choose 'Email settings' and set those to suit your preferences.

If you have not yet joined our team, I hope you will do so as explained here. You must make a $25 loan before joining the team - then watch for a 'welcome' email (via Kiva) from Judy (the project coordinator and team captain).

Year 1: Genealogy Benefits and Team Achievements

Genealogists for Families is one year old today. When I started this project (to continue a family tradition of helping others) I did not realise that there would be so many genealogical and personal benefits for our team members!

The Genealogists for Families motto is 'We care about families (past, present and future)'. As family historians we know that our lives have been shaped by previous generations, and we care about the world that our children will inherit. Through Kiva, we can make that world a better place.

To combine genealogy with Kiva, some of us make commemorative loans on dates that have special significance for our family.

When I asked team members what they thought were the benefits of belonging to 'Genealogists for Families', most said that they wanted to make a positive contribution in the world, and that they liked the sense of community; but that could apply to any lending team on Kiva, so what are the specific benefits for members of a genealogy team?

• From the Meet the Team guest posts in this blog, plus team members' lender pages on Kiva, we get to know new people and learn about new genealogy resources. (For example, Fiona heard about Yvette's Dutch genealogy Web site, followed the advice there, and found an ancestor who had previously eluded her.)


• We swap tips for genealogy at team social events and on social networking sites. (Kerry said, "I love the networking - getting to know other genealogists so that you can ask their advice.")


• We increase our chances of contacting 'new' relatives. Contributors to the 'Meet the Team' series mention surnames that they are researching, and at least one team member has subsequently been contacted by a previously unknown relative.


• An Australian team member was given a personal tour of National Archives overseas by another team member who works there.


• When two team members made their first visit to State Archives, another member (a professional genealogist) offered to be their guide for the day.


• Australians helped a team member in Britain by contributing local data to her One Name Study.


• Links on our Kiva lender pages and in 'Meet the Team' posts provide free publicity for our Web sites and genealogy blogs. This may also attract new clients for team members who are genealogy professionals.

What have we achieved in one year?

In addition to winning an award for Best New Community Project...

• Our team has grown to 215 members (who live in Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, England, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Spain, USA and Wales).


• By re-lending money as it was repaid, we have loaned a total of $28,500. (Jan 2014 update: With continued re-lending, and over sixty new team members, the total sum loaned has now reached an amazing $88,000!)


• Many of our 1,082 loans (the number increases daily) were to large groups, so I estimate that we have helped over 3,500 families. 

These two colourful charts show the many activities for which our loans have been used, and the countries where the borrowers live.

Activities for which our loans have been used

Countries where our borrowers live

If the only thing stopping you from joining Kiva is the $25 needed to make a loan, you could raise the money by doing online surveys (from which I earn at least $25 each month) or passing around the hat at an informal social event. It will be worth the effort, because a small loan really does make a big difference. Please join us!

Progress Report and Team Tips

Progress Report:

The Genealogists for Families team now has over 200 members worldwide (Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, England, Netherlands, NZ, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Spain, USA and Wales). In less than nine months we have loaned a total of $19,000.

Team Tip No.1 - Choosing a Loan:

This week two new members of the 'Genealogists for Families' team asked for advice on selecting loans through Kiva.

1.  On www.kiva.org, click 'Sign in'. (I use an email address and password, not Facebook.)

2.  Click 'Lend'.

3.  To choose a borrower, use check boxes to filter the loans by any combination of criteria, including country, gender, groups or individuals, and sector (which often refers to the borrower's business - agriculture, arts, manufacturing, services etc).

4.  Click 'Advanced Options'. At 'Risk rating', 'Delinquency' and 'Default', drag the circles left or right to set your preferred ranges. For example, if you are a cautious lender you might set the Risk rating at 3-5, Delinquency rate at 0%-5% and Default rate at 0%-1%.

5.  Use the 'Sort by' drop-down menu to display the loans in various ways. 'Loan length' sorts them with short-term loans at the top. 'Ending soon' will show loans that are most urgently in need of funding.

6.  If you intend to search for similar loans in the future, set your filters and sort order, then create a bookmark in your browser.

Team Tip No.2 - Terminology:

Not sure what terms like 'delinquency' mean? If there is a dotted line under a word, hover the mouse pointer over it to see a pop-up explanation.

Team Tip No.3 - Expiring ('ending soon') Loans:

If a loan is not 100% funded within about 30 days, it will expire, and money that was received is refunded to the lender's Kiva account (and you can then choose another borrower).

Often this does no immediate harm to the borrower. Some Field Partners disburse loans before they are fully funded on Kiva - but if a loan expires, the Field Partner is seriously out of pocket. If that happens often, the Field Partner may eventually go out of business, which would have a negative impact on borrowers and their lenders.

If you have not yet joined our team ('Genealogists for Families'), you're welcome to do so as soon as you've made one $25 loan.

Genealogists for Families: a Milestone

The Genealogists for Families project is less than eight months old, but today we reached a significant milestone.

Through the non-profit organisation Kiva, the Genealogists for Families team has now loaned a total of $15,000 to low-income borrowers without access to traditional banks. We have helped over 1,000 individuals to expand their small businesses so they can support their families, educate their children or install windows, running water etc in their homes.

(Postscript, 18 May 2013:  It is only one year since I wrote this, but the total amount loaned by our team has now reached a staggering $57,000+. That's because we have over 260 members who keep re-lending the same $25 each time it is repaid.)

The graph above shows the wide variety of small businesses that our loans are currently supporting. It does not include loans that have already been fully repaid. (Repeatedly lending the same $25 does so much more good than a one-time donation to charity!)

Please join the Genealogists for Families team - we are really making a difference! For a limited time, new members can make a free trial loan. It costs you nothing because it is sponsored by an anonymous donor.

You may be also interested in a series of articles in which team members write about their family history research interests and how these are linked to their experiences with Kiva.

Progress Report and Free Publicity

• The Genealogists for Families team on Kiva is now one month old. Our 40 members in Australia, Canada, USA, England, Scotland, Wales, Netherlands and Czech Republic have loaned a total of $1,450 to 58 individuals or groups. One loan is already 6% repaid.


• If your name does not appear on our Team Members list but you want free publicity for your Web site, blog or business, do this:
  
  Log in to your Kiva account. Click 'Lender Page'. Click the radio button beside your name (not the one beside Anonymous). Edit other sections of that page as you wish, and include a Web address for your business, blog, online family tree or whatever. Click 'Save changes'.

Please invite your friends and workmates to take part in the Genealogists for Families project. Everyone is welcome - not just family historians. We are helping people and we are having fun!