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Kiva update
Feb. 18th, 2009 12:28 pmShort form: If you are investing in microloans at http://www.kiva.org, diversify as much as you can among partner organizations, and do not rely on the fact that an organization has 4 or 5 stars. Kiva's statistics on their own ratings system are inaccurate and need to be tracked better.
Belated Edit: The tracking is not as poor as first implied. I got a later response clarifying this, which hpet has pasted in a comment at the bottom. Check it out. They still have said in other places that their star ratings are not very precise, though.
( Long form including statistics geekery and my eloquent correspondence with customer service. )
I still think they're doing a great thing, and I'm still very glad to be investing in their programs. The overall statistics are still the same (over time, if the past is like the future, you'll lose an average of 2.3% to defaults). I'm just making sure the details are all transparent. If you know anyone who's looking into Kiva, feel free to link to me or otherwise pass it along.
Belated Edit: The tracking is not as poor as first implied. I got a later response clarifying this, which hpet has pasted in a comment at the bottom. Check it out. They still have said in other places that their star ratings are not very precise, though.
( Long form including statistics geekery and my eloquent correspondence with customer service. )
I still think they're doing a great thing, and I'm still very glad to be investing in their programs. The overall statistics are still the same (over time, if the past is like the future, you'll lose an average of 2.3% to defaults). I'm just making sure the details are all transparent. If you know anyone who's looking into Kiva, feel free to link to me or otherwise pass it along.
