I have written about Kiva.org in the past and how it changes the lives of poor people around the world. It seems that a symbiotic relationship has developed between the poor that need the loans and the miles and points aficionados that loan this money on their credit cards, earning hundreds of thousands of miles and points. Seems like an amazing relationship, right? I’ve also written about my personal experience with Kiva and how to pick out the best loans.
Thanks to Randy Peterson, the founder of Milepoint (a community of frequent flyers), the impact of these frequent flyers on Kiva can be clearly seen. Once you join Kiva, you are given the option of joining a team, and one of those teams is the Milepoint team. Although I don’t really know Randy Peterson, I have only read that he is an exceptional entrepreneur and a generous philanthropist. It is clearly through his efforts that this movement in alleviating poverty is increasing exponentially.
Let’s take a look at some of the stats of the Milepoint team (as of 4/7/13)
And an impressive graph:
I think the graph speaks for itself. To me, this is just an incredible feat. In just two years, a community can contribute close to $5 million dollars to help a cause. And I am sure that this incredible contribution is on airline and hotel credit cards earning miles and points for the contributors…a win win situation. $4,911,550 divided by 1667 members is an average contribution of $2946 per person. I know that this is a fairly skewed statistic because there are certainly members of milepoint which contribute crazy amounts to Kiva such as Frequent Miler (who I have a learned a lot from).
It is clearly obvious that the $5 million goal is around the corner. In fact, Milepoint is having fun with the idea of 5 million and currently is promoting lending with matching contributions and a chance to win some prizes in the month of April. Here are the details on the milepoint forum:
Drive For Five | Week One
Learn how a simple loan to help others can help the Kiva Lending Team reach their overall $5,000,000 lending goal and help you earn possible rewards.
MILEPOINT – DRIVE FOR FIVE
[weekly draw during April: week one]April 1 – April 7
Team members making a loan during this week are eligible to win one of two free tickets to one of these sold-out events (your choice):
• Frequent Traveler University | #FTUDC (Apr 26-28 in Washington DC)or• Frequent Traveler University | #FTUTPA (Sept 27-29 in Tampa FL)or• The Freddie Awards 2013 (Apr 25 in Washington DC)or• Milepoint Premium Membership 2013 (when available)
Other Weekly Draws will be made for prizes rewarding your loans for weeks of April 14, 21, 28. Upcoming prizes include more of the same great prizes on a weekly basis.
Keep loaning each week during the month of April for more chances to win, including this exclusive bonus draw on Apr 30 for members making a loan on either April 29 or April 30th: A GRAND PRIZE of an exclusive guaranteed early booking for the upcoming Star Alliance MegaDO 5 or EuroDO!
OTHER EVENTS include:
1) Guess the Day We hit the Milepoint Drive for Five Million dollars
Post your guesses and the closest one will win a Kiva card worth $25!2) The Kiva Captains and Crew Match is back by popular demand! (Thanks to the MP KLT Captains, TheMilesProfessor and an anonymous teammate). We will match loans (up to $35,000) made by the team over the course of April!
To an awesome April and a great Drive for Five,
Team Captains: Randy Petersen, Nils, Iolaire, canucklehead, FrequentMiler and wijomas