This Lending Policy Statement provides a brief synopsis of:

• The IMPACT FUND’s mission, purpose, and vision
• How the IMPACT FUND works
• The IMPACT FUND’s specific, yet flexible, lending criteria

The IMPACT FUND’s Mission, Purpose, and Vision

Foundation Beyond Belief has joined forces with the Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists, and the Non-Religious (A+) lending team at Kiva to create a micro lending fund that makes Kiva loans and attributes those loans to the A+ Team.

Our mission is to advance the fundamental principle of doing good without relying on a god and to empower people around the world in attaining the capital and tools they need to meet their own goals.

Our purpose is to motivate concerned citizens of the world to support the fund, to distribute and accumulate microloans to people living in poverty, and to achieve maximum impact for the donor’s dollar.

Our vision is to advance entrepreneurship and to alleviate global poverty and suffering.

How the A+ IMPACT FUND at Foundation Beyond Belief Works

Step 1: Donations are made to the IMPACT Fund. Foundation Beyond Belief is a 501(c)(3) organization, making these donations tax deductible to eligible U.S. residents.

Step 2: The IMPACT FUND uses your donations to support Kiva borrowers around the world.

Step 3: The borrowers repay their loans. (Kiva boasts a 98 percent borrower repayment rate.)

Step 4: Repayments received to the IMPACT FUND are quickly reinvested in other microloans. Your donations harbor the potential to support numerous borrowers over many years to come.

To make a tax-deductible donation, click the Donate button on the left side of this page.

IMPACT FUND Lending Criteria

To maximize the value of the donor dollar, the IMPACT FUND will focus on supporting microloans that meet the following criteria:

Secular

• The borrower must be affiliated with a secular microfinance institution. The IMPACT FUND shall not support any loans with faith-based purposes (e.g., building a church).

Safe

• The IMPACT FUND will strive to support field partners with a 2 percent default rate or less.
• We will prioritize field partners that have been active on Kiva for at least 1 year and have posted at least 1,000 loans.​
• The IMPACT FUND aims to diversity the portfolio in terms of countries and field partners supported.
• IMPACT FUND loans to a single borrower or a group loan shall not exceed $100.
• ​​The IMPACT FUND aims to diversity the portfolio in terms of countries and field partners supported.

Short-Term

• Most loan repayment terms should be 14 months or less.
• At least 50 percent of the borrower’s loan should be scheduled for repayment prior to the final month of repayment.    

​As with any policy, exceptions exist. Many good reasons for supporting some loans that fall outside of these lending criteria exist. Special Circumstances include:

• Contributing to innovative projects that leverage green technology.
• Empowering women, education, people with disabilities, LGBT communities, refugees, widowed individuals, and other loans that may not meet all selection criteria.
• Supporting the A+ Team’s Monday Mob Loan.
• Advancing other objectives agreed upon by Foundation Beyond Belief staff and A+ team captains and volunteers.

At no point shall the purpose of collecting funds for the IMPACT FUND be to beat or disparage other lending teams. The A+ Team Impact Fund of Foundation Beyond Belief does not discriminate against ethnicity, religion, disability, gender, or sexual orientation.

Funds raised through the A+ Team IMPACT FUND at Foundation Beyond Belief will be distributed quarterly to a Foundation Beyond Belief controlled and supported “locked” Kiva Account.