GoDaddy and San Francisco-based Kiva.org have created a philanthropic partnership.
GoDaddy is partnering with Kiva.org to increase interest in Kiva’s mission to fund low-income entrepreneurs.
The company plans to give each of its employees $25 to invest in the Kiva small business of his or her choice. The campaign is called “Get the Picture” and is aimed at encouraging GoDaddy employees and others to invest in small businesses.
Tyler Butler, GoDaddy Director of Community Outreach, says:
“GoDaddy’s mission is to radically shift the global economy towards small business and GoDaddy employees do this every day. GoDaddy’s partnership with Kiva allows employees to make a difference on a personal level because they are investing in the success of the small business.”
Premal Shah, President of Kiva, adds:
“GoDaddy and Kiva partnering together makes good sense. GoDaddy helps small businesses around the world create a digital presence, so it is now easy for GoDaddy employees to personally help small businesses with other unique needs for their business.”
GoDaddy is a domain registration and website hosting company with more than 59 million domain names. It also sells small business software and does email hosting with several companies it has acquired such as Mad Mimi, Canary and Elto.
Kiva.org is a nonprofit organization that specializes in putting small investors in touch with under-served or low income businesses through a crowd-funding platform. The organization lists those in need, telling their stories and posting a picture. Prospective lenders can then pick who they’d like to support and how much.
Dedicated to improving the access small businesses have to technology, GoDaddy provides tools to increase online presence, grow a business and attract customers. The company was founded by Bob Parsons, who had retired after selling ‘Parsons Technologies’ to Intuit. Coming out of retirement in 1997, Parsons founded Jomax Technologies which eventually became GoDaddy.com.
Kiva.org is a microfunding platform dedicated to easing poverty. By connecting potential lenders with individuals and small businesses that wouldn’t otherwise get loans, it helps to create jobs and thus improve struggling economies. Lenders can give as little as $25 to a business or person.
Founders Matt Flannery and Jessica Jackley were inspired to start Kiva in 2005 after they attended a lecture by Grameen Bank’s Muhammad Yunus at Stanford Business School on microfinance.
[“source-smallbiztrends”]
