Microfinance and Funding Art
Words Matt Paddock
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010 at 7:55 am
If the term “microfinance” is new to you, here’s a working definition:
Microfinance is about giving disadvantaged people the chance to use money more productively.
Things most of us consider fundamental, like credit cards and bank accounts, are pure fiction in places where per capita income is less than $1 per day. Microfinance isn’t charity, but it is about lending charitably.
If the scope of worldwide poverty is greater than charitable efforts can address, a crowdsourced lending model becomes like that old adage about teaching people to fish. If charity is about giving with no expectation other than doing good, microfinance is more like philanthropic investing. Imagine offering a homeless person a dollar, under the condition that he repay you in six months. This concept has become a huge movement of ordinary people leveraging small loans to help those with no access to traditional financial services.
If you’re curious about how you can turn $25 into a business venture, check out Kiva. Kiva is a non-profit organization, incorporated in November 2005, that now matches aspiring micro-lenders with entrepreneurs in 197 countries. I made my first Kiva loan to Svetlana Ghetivu in Cahul, Moldova, about a year after the site opened for business. Svetlana was trying to raise $1,875 in a country where the average annual income is only about $2,300. I was one of 52 lenders that funded her loan, which she paid back in 15 months. I’ve since funded a small grocery store in Samoa, a soft-drink business in Peru, and a food shop in Nigeria.
The dollar amounts seem tiny, but small loans add up and make a huge difference to people in need. Plus, it’s all relative. Imagine someone giving you the equivalent of six months’ salary. Businesses have been started on less in this country. Other institutions like Kiva include MicroPlace and Prosper, so do your own research on which best suits your agenda and investment style. Since Kiva was the first of its kind and my favorite, I’ve created a lending “team” on that site I encourage you to join; here’s to leveraging the readers of AltDaily and the good people of Hampton Roads for Team AltDaily.
The rise of microfinance has fueled another movement closer to home, aimed at supporting artists. Public Radio affiliate KWMU in St. Louis recently profiled a version of arts funding called Sloup. The concept is simple enough: People attend a simple meal of soup and bread at a modest price and listen to artists discuss current projects. Paying attendees vote at the end of the event on which of the profiled artists they want to sponsor, and the artist with the most votes receives all the money paid for that day’s meal. Similar projects are happening in Chicago (Sunday Soup), New York (Feast, Sweet Tooth of the Tiger), and San Francisco (Co-op Bar).
As I was writing this article, I spoke with Jennifer Breckner, a Soup Coordinator for the Sunday Soup project in Chicago, affiliated with arts’ research group InCUBATE. She described the evolution of Sunday Soup from a weekly subscription service to a monthly meal and event attended by groups ranging from 10 to 40 or more people. The Chicago events often featured guest chefs (including Jen herself), and favored organic, local food when it was possible. At a cost of $10 per meal – the donation toward an artist’s grant – Sunday Soup and projects like it are all about building capacity in the community for artists, giving anyone a chance to fund the arts.
Thanks to Art | Everywhere, we have more awareness of some tremendous artistic talent in this area, and we witnessed the kinds of projects these artists are capable of creating. Any exhibitor at Art | Everywhere, or other similar shows, will attest to the significant investment of time and money required to make their project happen. Patronage is still available for artists through organizations like National Endowment for the Arts, but there are a disproportionate number of artists in need, compared to the funds available at a national level. Events like Sunday Soup offer a community alternative, funding artists at their exact point of need.
If you like the idea of an artistic watering hole, we need you to get involved. We’ll be posting details soon of a premiere event in Norfolk, and we hope you’ll come out to break bread with local artists and contribute to the future of arts in Hampton Roads.
It’s this kind of microfinance that makes a real difference in our community.
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ABOUT THE WRITER
Matt was born in the Ozarks, but tells people he's from Vermont. After graduating from Oberlin, he worked as a cruise ship musician, recorded and toured with various Jazz and Salsa bands, and eventually found gainful employment in Hampton Roads. He now does techie things at work during the day, and makes time at night to hang with his family, read good literature, and play games. He is a permanent fixture at GameVortex.com, where he has been writing media reviews for over a decade under a pseudonym inspired by one of his personal heroes, Fridtjof Nansen.
Other posts by Matt Paddock.
Other posts by Matt Paddock.
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Soup? I like soup. I support all ventures that feature soup.
(This actually sounds sweet, generally. I’d like to see where it goes.)
As we move closer to making this happen, any suggestions for the name? Examples from other areas are Sunday Soup or FEAST, but what should it sound like here?