The Gumball Challenge is our flagship program – an entrepreneurship competition held at college campuses nationwide. Student teams get $27 loans and have a week to generate maximum revenue. They have a blast and learn how their energy and creativity can make the world a better place.
The Gumball Fund is a revolving pool of funds generated by Gumball Challenge teams to support developing world entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurship, and microfinance. While these loans are distributed through various organizations, Kiva.org’s online lending platform is our primary conduit to entrepreneurs in the developing world. As the lenders build their businesses and return the money, it is lent out again to new entrepreneurs.
Gumball University is our newest program – an online portal for anyone interested in the social entrepreneurship issues we care so much about. It features a community blog, a 10-week course on social entrepreneurship, and tons of advice and ideas for budding social entrepreneurs
FAQ – Gumball Capital
Where does the money go?
100% of Gumball Challenge proceeds go to a permanent fund that makes microloans through Kiva. As loan installments are repaid, the capital is lent out again.
How do you choose who receives the loan when donating to Kiva?
We try to mirror the overall composition of Kiva’s borrowers. See the
Gumball Fund.
What do you do when loans are repaid?
As loan installments are repaid, we lend the capital to another entrepreneur through Kiva.
Do you disclose who you have loaned money to?
Yes! Check out our Kiva lender profile.
How many gumballs do you have?
Gumball Capital has in its possession 25,000 gumballs.
What’s Kiva?
Kiva is a highly engaging non-profit that allows everyday individuals to make microloans to developing-world entrepreneurs online.
How are you related to Kiva?
We admire the innovative philanthropic model Kiva enables, microfinance, and want to contribute to Kiva’s success. We have no other connection to Kiva.
I want to contribute outside the Challenge–should I lend through Kiva myself or donate the money to the Gumball Fund?
We encourage everyone to lend through Kiva themselves–we provide an easy way to donate money that will repeatedly fund loans, but individual lending creates a more personal level of engagement that’s great as well.
Are you competing with Kiva for donations?
No. Kiva enables people to loan money to specific developing-world entrepreneurs and collect repayment 12-18 months later. Gumball Capital collects funds which we lend to entrepreneurs through Kiva; as loans are repaid, we lend the capital to new entrepreneurs.
