About Kiva

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. Our mission is to expand financial access to help underserved communities thrive. In just 17 years, we have raised more than $1.8 billion in loan capital for 4.9+ million borrowers in over 90 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.

This Kiva internship is a 6-month, part-time (32 hours per week), United States based,remote volunteer position. Please make sure you have the availability to commit for the entire internship period before submitting an application.

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.

Our team

Kiva US is an innovative direct-to-borrower lending program. Launched in 2011, Kiva US has experimented with different approaches to bring 0% capital to financially excluded entrepreneurs throughout the US. With the mission to help underserved communities thrive, the Kiva US program seeks to: 

• Expand access to capital to traditionally underserved entrepreneurs including women, minorities, and the underbanked
• Lower the cost of that capital (by offering 0% interest, no fee loans)
• Enable borrowers and local technical assistance providers to connect more directly so that borrowers receive application support and plug into local resources 

Your role

As a Kiva US Operations Intern, you will work closely with our Operations team. The US Operations team is responsible for all operations supporting the US program— from the borrower application to credit underwriting to fundraising support to loan disbursal to risk assessment and repayment. We maintain the tools used by the US team and our partners and strive to leverage them to meet our team’s needs as well as to better support both our borrowers and partners.

This intern will be responsible for driving forward the way we support entrepreneurs during the loan origination process (from the moment they start an application for a Kiva loan until they complete their fundraising campaign on kiva.org) and manage delinquency of our borrowers.

This role calls for the intern to gain a deep understanding of the entire borrower experience, take part in the review process of loan applications, and own process improvements to our system. The intern will also assist in analysis and project-based work to help us continue to develop the US program and drive greater impact for small business entrepreneurs in the US.

Key Responsibilities

• Approving loan applications after they have been screened by our review team
• Supporting borrowers via text, phone, or video conference throughout their fundraising campaign
• Managing delinquency of borrowers and establishing action plans to work with borrowers to get them back on track
• Piloting process and infrastructure improvements to our operations
• Taking on additional special cross-functional projects aimed at increasing the value entrepreneurs receive from Kiva

Qualifications

• At least 21 years of age or older by January 17th, 2023
• Must be authorized to work in the U.S
• Is able to commit to the full 6-months term
• Demonstrates strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills
• Enjoys carrying out processes thoroughly and efficiently while maintaining attention to detail
• Has excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Is highly organized, responsible and reliable
• Takes initiative and proactively makes process improvement suggestions
• Is able to work effectively both independently and in a team environment
• Grasps complex tasks and delivers quality outcomes
• Is comfortable with Web and Microsoft Office applications
• Preferred: Spanish fluency is a plus

Perks:

• Professional development and skills workshops
• Access to Kiva’s network of Kiva Fellowship and Internship Alumni
• Optional participation in Kiva’s Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and social activities such as happy hours and coffee chats  
• References gladly given for successful participants

Kiva’s Internship is a part-time volunteer position, however, to help offset some expenses, Kiva will provide a modest stipend of $800 a month (before taxes) to its volunteers. Please note that the stipend is considered taxable income and we expect interns to do their own research as to how this may affect their personal/tax implications.

The weekly time commitment for a Kiva Internship is 32 hours per week, from January 17, 2023 - July 31, 2023. Please make sure you have the availability to commit for the entire internship period before submitting an application.

A diverse and inclusive workplace where we learn from each other is an integral part of Kiva’s culture.  We actively welcome people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities and perspectives. We are an equal opportunity employer and a great place to work. Join us and help us achieve our mission!