2011 Year-End Goal

After some thought I'm setting our year-end goal to raise our total amount loaned to $6 million. We are currently at almost $3.4 million. To raise $2.6 million in 2011 is a big goal for us. We raised almost $1.8 million in 2010. Considering we are a global community we have a vast pool of people to draw from, 1.1 billion by some estimates. So, if we all tell a friend, online or offline, or maybe send an email to a secular blogger we like then we can increase our already tremendous efforts and meet our goal.

We are doing good and having fun at the same time :)

Cheers,
Pete
Team Captain

New Years 2011 Loan-A-Thon

Last year at this time I set a goal for us to lend a total of $3 million loans by the end of 2010. At that time we had $1.4 million in loans. We are at the end of December and we have almost $3.2 million in loans meaning we've raised nearly $1.8 million in loans in 2010 alone!! Great job teammates. It's really a huge accomplishment for the global Atheist/Skeptic/Reason Movement to be able to publicly quantify this great collective effort.

This years New Years 2011 Loan-A-Thon will take place during the 48 hour period of December 31 to January 1st Pacific Time (although we are flexible since everyone is in different time zones). To participate in the Loan-A-Thon all you have to do is make a loan (preferably with new money you've added to Kiva specifically for the Loan-A-Thon) during the specified time frame and, if you like, post to the team message board to let everyone know you've participated.

This time we are also going to try something new... Swarm Lending. I'll pick a loan, post it on the team message board and anyone interested joins in on lending to that specific borrower. With the goal of trying to raise a huge percentage (if not 100% of the loan amount).

As always, some team members make pledges in advance for how much new money they will be lending during the Loan-A-Thon to encourage others to follow their lead. Personally, I pledge $200 in new money towards this loan-a-thon.

Cheers,
Pete
Team Captain

100,000 Loans

Yesterday our team of Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious passed 100,000 loans!!!

Congratulations to everyone!

Cheers,
Pete
Team Captain

Kiva Atheists first to reach $3 million

On December 2nd 2010 at 7:13am Pacific Time our team of Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious reached three million dollars (USD) in Kiva loans!



It's been about 6 and a half months since we hit our interim milestone of $2 million in loans. We are pacing to loan about $1 million every 7 months, which is spectacular. We are still hovering at about 2% of the total Kiva volume in loans; since Kiva has raised $150 million so far.

Our team has grown 12,500 members and our team message board is as interesting and entertaining as ever. We are 900 loans away from 100,000 loans!!!

Neda, from Kiva.org, stopped by our team message board to post congratulations from Kiva.

CONGRATULATIONS to the members and team captain of Kiva Lending Team Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious. We are thrilled to announce that for the first time in Kiva-history, a lending team has reached $3 million in loans! Earlier this year Pete the team captain had set the goal of $3 million in loans by the end of 2010, great execution on reaching this milestone before the end of this year!

The Lending Team consists of 12,498 lenders, who have made over 98,715 loans! THANK YOU to all of the team members for their dedication and support of Kiva entrepreneurs!


Neda Amidi
Community Engagement
Kiva.org

We are doing a fantastic job as a community and are leading by almost a 2-to-1 margin in terms of dollars lent and members on the team. I want to say a big thank you to all our members new and old. And to those special members that keep up the good quality of the conversation on the board and to those who go out of their way to build things the community needs and uses!!

I hope to see everyone on the message board for our upcoming New Years Loan-A-Thon. After that next get together we can come up with our 2011 year end goal and maybe even an official interim goal.

Never forget the message we send to the world: Our common humanity is what inspires us to make the world a better place. Human intervention and teamwork is what can bring about human flourishing in the world.

Cheers,
Pete
Team Captain

3rd Annual Halloween Loan-A-Thon

It's that magical time of year again when the forces of good gather to make a difference in the world... and maybe spook a few people into becoming skeptics LOL :)

The Loan-A-Thon will take place during the 48 hour period from October 31st to November 1st 2010 (Pacific Time... of course you're always welcome to celebrate in your own time zone). To participate in the Loan-A-Thon all you have to do is make a loan (preferably with new money you've added to Kiva specifically for the Loan-A-Thon... but recycled money is always welcome) during the specified time frame and, if you like, post to the team message board to let everyone know you've participated.

Some team members make pledges in advance for how much new money they will be lending during the Loan-A-Thon to encourage others to follow their lead. Personally, I pledge $200 in new money towards this loan-a-thon.

Cheers,
Pete

July 1st 2010 - Loan-A-Thon - Praise Muhammad

Praise Muhammad... Muhammad Yunus, of course, Nobel Peace Prize winner and the grandfather of micro-finance. This years July 1st 2010 Loan-A-Thon is in celebration of Yunus' birthday (June 28th). Yunus created the micro-finance industry decades ago by founding the Grameen Bank and the social business philosophies developed there are sweeping the global.
The Loan-A-Thon will take place during the 48 hour period from July 1st to July 2nd 2010 (Pacific Time... of course you're always welcome to celebrate in your own time zone). To participate in the Loan-A-Thon all you have to do is make a loan (preferably with new money you've added to Kiva specifically for the Loan-A-Thon... but recycled money is always welcome) during the specified time frame and, if you like, post to the team message board to let everyone know you've participated.

Some team members make pledges in advance for how much new money they will be lending during the Loan-A-Thon to encourage others to follow their lead. Personally, I pledge $100 in new money towards this loan-a-thon.

We have raised $1.5 million dollars since last year at this time. Our current total is $2,158,675.00. We are rapidly approaching 10,000 team members.

Joe from our team gives a good explanation of the other reason we celebrate on July 1st:

In honor of those throughout history who have thrown off the yoke of oppressive governments in July, we will lend capital to our fellow Humans who need it so that they can throw off the oppressive yoke of poverty!

Cheers,
Pete

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