Kiva is the world’s first and largest crowdfunding platform for social good. We run an online marketplace (www.kiva.org) for crowdfunded microloans that serves the financially excluded. Our organization combines the culture and technological passion of an internet start-up with the compassion and empathy of a non-profit to expand financial access at global scale. We aim to drive social impact and enable opportunity while providing a borrower-to-lender connection: “Loans that change lives.”
Our mission is to expand financial access to help underserved communities thrive. In just 13 years, we have raised more than $1.1 billion in loan capital for 2.7+ million borrowers in over 80 countries. Our lenders fund over $10 million in loans every month. Headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in Portland, New York City, Nairobi, and Bangkok, Kiva’s team has 100+ employees and 500+ volunteers worldwide.
Internship Program
Since its founding, volunteerism has been an integral part of Kiva’s foundation and success. As a Kiva Intern, you will contribute your passion, drive, ideas and expertise to expanding our reach and impact while taking on immediate and significant responsibilities within your team. In addition to learning on the job, you’ll partake in a variety of educational, social, and professional development workshops and events that will accelerate your professional growth while learning about Kiva and the non-profit, technology, and microfinance sectors.
Through this volunteer internship, we’re hoping to provide a high caliber learning experience. With the completion of our internship program, you will take away many in-demand job skills. Additionally, all Kiva interns will gain exposure to foundational microfinance concepts and ongoing professional development tailored to your career goals. This position will also put you in contact with a wide array of employees around the world, giving you a jump start on networking opportunities.
Kiva Internships are 6-month, part-time (24 to 32 hours per week), volunteer positions. This position is located in our Portland, OR office, with the option to work remotely.
Placement Process
Kiva places interns within most departments of the organization. During recruitment, we evaluate your application and interests to match you to a specific team that will leverage your talents while providing you with an opportunity to develop and grow.
Although Kiva Interns range in age and experience, a common theme among our participants is a “can do” attitude as well as a desire and willingness to dive in and get their hands dirty.
Kiva is currently hiring for our January through July 2020 Internship Class.
Our team
Kiva’s Strategic Initiatives (SI) seeks an intern to help manage Kiva’s growing portfolio of Direct to Social Enterprise (DSE) borrowers. As a SI intern you will work with a small team to identify and assess a wide range of organizations, from nonprofits to social enterprises, that operate in areas of impact (such as health, water and sanitation, renewable energy, and higher education) and which could benefit from partnering with Kiva. You will also be responsible for assisting Strategic Initiatives to preparing reports and presentations for Kiva’s staff and management on opportunities in these fields. This is an ideal position for someone with a background in business, accounting, or finance who is looking to gain experience in impact investing/lending.
Primary Responsibilities
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- Direct to Social Enterprise (DSE) Investments
Review and vet investment application requests from social enterprises under the DSE program. Research companies, analyze their financials, prepare follow-up questions, carry out reference calls, propose the appropriate credit structure and determine the quality of the investment opportunity. Draft Kiva’s Investment Memos for DSE borrowers, including write-ups on business model, social impact, loan use, market context, product analysis, business plans review, financial analysis, management assessment, board capacity, etc.
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- DSE Borrower Operations
Interact directly with past DSE borrowers to gather feedback and discover platform and/or loan product innovations. Streamline DSE operations to plan out how to manage the program at scale. Focus on communications surrounding repayment notifications, collections, restructuring and defaults. Improve tracking tools and develop analysis on existing borrower portfolio and their performance. This includes a social impact survey on the performance of the borrowers and the usefulness of the DSE program.
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- Provide general support to the Strategic Initiatives team
Strategic Initiatives is currently involved in Kiva’s wholesale fund, a new Kiva retail product that behaves like a savings account, Kiva protocol blockchain, and the crowd-vetting initiatives. Depending on your interests, your capacity, and the prioritization needs of the team, your involvement on all of these may shift.
Qualifications
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- Proactive and highly organized with an aptitude for working in a start-up environment. This means being able to take on multiple projects, work independently, manage your time to meet deadlines
- Degree in Business, Finance, International Development, Economics or Engineering
- 2+ years of work experience in related field (banking, microfinance, international development, or social enterprise)
- Research or field experience in one or more of our strategic sectors (agriculture, clean energy, water, sanitation, health, or education
- Strong analytical abilities to assess business models, loan products, and financial statements
- Excellent writing skills
- Value Kiva’s Mission and financial inclusion
- Language Skills: Spanish or French desirable
- Programs: Excel, Google Docs, PowerPoint, MS Office; SQL a big plus.
Benefits
- Professional development and skills workshops
- Casual, dog-friendly office
- Access to Kiva’s network of Kiva Fellowship and Internship Alumni
- Free snacks, drinks, and occasional baked goods
- Optional participation in Kiva social activities, including:
- Athletic club teams
- Movie and game nights
- Happy hours
- References gladly given for successful participants
The weekly time commitment for a Kiva Internship is 24 to 32 hours per week, from January 22nd, 2020 to July 31st, 2020. Please make sure you have the availability to commit for the entire internship period before submitting an application.
IF interested, please apply here.
