Do the Kiva Do

If you’re like me, you not only love acquiring points and miles for free travel, but you love talking about it too. That’s what’s so cool about frequent flyer “dos”: you get to meet with, talk to, and learn from lots of like-minded individuals. A group on Milepoint has gone a step further. The Milepoint Kiva Lending Team is for all of us who love the mile and point game, but also love giving back and doing something good for others. Participating in the online group is, in itself, lots of fun. People in the group are constantly coming up with new fun challenges, openly welcoming newcomers, and generally making the Milepoint group a fun place to hang-out online.

So, what is Kiva? Kiva is a nonprofit organization that provides micro-loans to enterprising individuals around the world so that they may earn their own way out of poverty.  By making loans through the Kiva website, you can be part of the solution to poverty AND earn points and miles. For more info, read my September post detailing How to maximize points and virtue through Kiva loans. And, if you’re struggling to meet minimum spend on some of your credit cards, don’t forget that Kiva loans are a great way to do so.

One of the interesting activities for the Milepoint Kiva Lending Team is to make pledges for what you’ll do once the team reaches a target of $1 Million dollars in loans. Most people have pledged to make a certain number of additional loans at that time, but one member known as “Miles and Smiles” has pledged to go outside and howl at the moon. Others have made pledges to help get us to the $1 Million mark. For example, I’ve pledged to make a new loan for each person who follows me on Twitter or likes me on Facebook. Others have pledged to make loans when we reach different targets (e.g. $500K, $600K, etc.). Best of all, thanks to Randy Peterson, Milepoint will give a Kiva Lending Team shirt to each person who makes such a pledge!

We’re closing in on the $1 Million dollar mark very quickly. The group is trying to meet that mark in time for the November 19^th birthday of member “Horseguy.” Horseguy and his wife have been a huge driving force in how far the team has gone, so the rest of us are eager to make his birthday a great one by meeting that milestone (and I have no doubt we will). For more about how far the team has gone, see for example, this post from View from the Wing.

Next up for the Milepoint Kiva Lending Team (besides new pledge targets to get us to $2 Million and beyond!) is the first ever Kiva Milepoint Do. It will be held in my favorite city in the world, San Francisco, March 9 – 11. This will be an opportunity to meet with like-minded mile/point/Kiva junkies, learn more about the good things that happen with our Kiva loans, and hopefully have a few moments to enjoy the city. If you’re interested in attending, please join the KIVA DO discussion on Milepoint. I hope to see you there!

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