I was just taking a look at Wokai as a result of a post on Facebook (linking to this post about moving Wokai to the cloud) — and noticed a feature I absolutely LOVE when I signed in. Contribution Plans!

Uploaded with Skitch!

The feature allows a registered member of Wokai to set up a recurring contribution (to entrepreneurs in China) and/or donation (to Wokai overhead) that will be billed either monthly or quarterly to a credit card. For instance, I just set up a donation of $25 every three months with a $10 donation to Wokai. It’s not much, but every little bit counts. I’ve long been a supporter of the organization and would have donated more often had this feature been in existence since the beginning. But now, I can no longer use the excuse that “I forgot” when it comes to donating — but unfortunately I’ll have to use that one for my lack of donations over the past couple years

This is an unbelievably smart feature on Wokai’s part, and one that not even Kiva has implemented yet (if I’m wrong on that, let me know). It’s a fact that donors around the globe are being bombarded from all angles with pitches to help NGO A, NGO B, and NGO C — but now, if Wokai can win their attention once (no small task), they have the ability to sign up recurring donors rather than relying on email marketing to bring donors back to make additional transactions. I have no idea the actual numbers, but I’m betting a recurring donor is at least 10x as valuable to Wokai (since you have to factor in donor acquisition costs) than a one time donor.

To access and set up a Wokai contribution plan for yourself, just login and click the “Contribution Plan” option within your “My Wokai“.

I’m willing to bet that more peer to peer lending platforms, and other non profits for that matter, will start implementing this feature in the near future.

Happy [continual] contributing!!

This was posted on the Wokai Blog earlier this week.

The Global Policy Institute at the London Metropolitan University has recently published the first of a series of reports on microfinance in China. In this paper they offer their view of what is preventing microcredit from developing in China and offer recommendations for Chinese policy makers that wish to promote this sector.

According to their analysis, the slow growth of microcredit in China is attributed to a set up regulations that need to be amended, lack of access to domestic and international capital markets as source of funding, and tight economic viability of microcredit companies. The conclusion is that while some non profit NGOs operating in China are laudable, true impact on the millions of people at the bottom of the pyramid can only happen with the implementation of a double-bottom-line approach of helping the poor as well as establishing financially viable lending entities.

The proposal is to create a newer, more flexible organization regulated by an independent body that will allow customer deposits, will not have strict minimum capital requirements, is tax-exempt, and can accept investment domestically and internationally.

The report introduces key relevant facts in Part 1, highlights current problems in Part 2, and offers policy recommendations in Part 3. Conclusions are the results of field visits to Association of Rural Development of Yilong County (ARDY- Wokai’s Sichuan Field Partner) as well as meetings with organizations like UNDP, PlanetFinance, Chinese Academy of Social Science and Grameen.

This 20 page report is well written and definitely worth a read. Download here.

For those of you who will be in China in early August (or wanting to do a bit of traveling), check out Frexh Shanghai 2010 — a two day art/food/fashion/music event in Shanghai August 6th and 7th! Part of the proceeds will benefit Wokai, which as most of you likely know, is China’s first microfinance lending platform.

Here’s a video the Frexh team put together highlighting Wokai. I don’t have a ton of experience with video, but I do know making high quality videos is not easy and I’m impressed with the quality of this one by the Frexh team.

You can get further info about the event here.

[via Jenny Gao at the Wokai blog]

Wokai is looking for an intern at it’s headquarters in Beijing who will work with the Marketing Director to help Wokai raise $1 million in loan capital over the next year:

You are the right person if you are:
1. Passionate about social media as it applies to social enterprises.  You love it, breathe it and would swim through piranha-infested waters to spend all day learning about Social Media around the world and in China.

• You must be an active blogger, Twitterer and have accounts on more than one social network.
• You must demonstrate superior writing and editing skills, with writing/blog samples to support.

Bonus points for:

• Blog with high Google rank
• Connections to more than 100 people on any single social network
• More than 150 Twitter followers
• A view on which short URL service is best and why
• A YouTube channel or similar vlogging account
• 2x bonus points for reading/writing Chinese
• 3x if you are an active user of Chinese SNS ie. Sina Weibo, Douban, Kaixin, or RenRen.

2. Passionate about China. If you do not speak Chinese, you must have traveled through the country and read extensively about its culture.

About the job
Researching:

• You are responsible for conducting research across any given topic.

• Other than just collecting information from the Internet and media, you will be required  to organize the information, analyze the data, and write up blog posts and enewsletters.

Strategy and Social Media Management:

• Assist the Marketing Director in developing, and carrying out Social Media Strategies and managing Wokai’s voice across multiple social network platforms.

Media Strategy and Outreach

• Assist the Marketing Director in developing long and short lead PR strategies, campaigns and outreach, preparing media releases as necessary, and generating ideas on how to mobilize Wokai’s Chapter network of volunteers around the world.

Copy Editing

• Iteratively optimizing website copy and all Wokai communication including auto-emails, post-contribution emails, borrower profiles, and Calls-To-Actions throughout website.

Visit Wokai to find out how to apply

Wokai is the first person-to-person internet platform that allows you to provide rural entrepreneurs in China with loan capital. You choose the borrower you want to support, make a tax-deductible contribution, and watch their repayments and progress over time.  Wokai has chapters all over Asia and the US, including: Beijing, Boston, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco – Bay Area, Seattle, Shanghai, Toronto, Vancouver.  Currently, the Seattle chapter is looking for a President.  The primary role of the open position is to lead the efforts of the Seattle Chapter to build capacity for Wokai. Other job functions include:

Responsibilities:

• Offer guidance and leadership to Vice Presidents in supporting their respective teams.
• Participate in monthly Chapter President conference calls, hosted by Headquarters.
• Act as a communication liaison between Headquarters and Chapters, ensuring local representatives are informed.
• Prepare for and run monthly executive team meetings.
• Oversee annual Chapter strategy and operations, through direction from Headquarters.
• Serve as a resource to Headquarters in prospecting and cultivating individual donors and corporate relationships for Wokai.
• Be available to network on behalf of Wokai at community events.
• Responsible for ensuring all key positions are staffed for the Chapter.

Skills

• An articulate communicator, who is comfortable with public speaking.
• Fundraising experience, in particular a willingness to ask for financial support.
• Strong organizational skills.
• An ability to work virtually, and lead a team without a physical office.
• Excellent relationship skills, someone who is attentive to others.
• Must be able to lead a team, by offering clear direction and then empowering others to pursue agreed outcomes.
• Resourceful and strategic in efforts, with an ability to prioritize.
• Demonstrates self-initiative, taking responsibility to complete tasks to a high standard of quality.
• Personally enthusiastic about Wokai’s mission and microfinance as an innovative solution to poverty, so much so that others are inspired to take action.
• Nonprofit leadership experience preferred.

The time committment on this is about 5-10 hours a week for a minimum of 12 months.  This is a Volunteer/Unpaid position.
For more info, visit the Wokai Website.

Source: our friends over at SeaMO

Wokai, the microfinance lending platform in China, is hosting a dinner with renowned panelist who will be speaking on poverty in China and the challenges that the solution faces next week in Seattle.

When: Thursday, June 10, 2010. 6:00pm – 8:00pm

Where: Four Seas Restaurant
714 South King Street
Seattle, WA 98104

Featured panelists:

Stevan Harrell, Professor of Anthropology, University of Washington
“Education as a means of poverty alleviation in China.”
Based on his interest in environmental sustainability and community development through education, Stevan founded Yangjuan Primary School in Sichuan Province in 2000.  Stevan now heads the UW Worldwide Program, exchanging undergraduates with Sichuan University and involving many of them in ecological fieldwork and community service at Yangjuan School. In 2005, he founded the Cool Mountain Education Fund, a small NGO that gives scholarships to graduates of Yangjuan School.

Kam Wing Chan, Professor of Geography, University of Washington
“The plight of rural immigrants and solutions to better integration into society.” Kam’s areas of focus are urban and economic geography, migration, labor markets and urban finance in China.  Kam has been widely published, including The World Bank & PRC State Development Planning Commission.  His current research projects include Internal Migration and the Hukou Reforms and Urbanization and Land Conversion.

Heng-Pin (Ping) Kiang, Board Member, Rural Development Institute
”The role of secure land rights in alleviating poverty in rural China.”
An attorney and entrepreneur, Ping has been a board member of the Rural Development Institute for more than ten years and is a member of RDI’s executive committee and Chair of its Resource Committee.  RDI is an international nonprofit organization working with governments of developing countries and other partners to secure land rights for the world’s poorest people. RDI has been a principal foreign advisor to China ‘s central government on rural land issues since 1987.

Wokai Seattle Chapter, Panel Moderator
Wokai is a non-profit microfinance organization committed to alleviating poverty in China using a person to person web based platform.  Founded in 2008, Wokai to date has raised over $170,000 in microloan capital to help over 300 impoverished individuals in rural China lift themselves out of poverty.

Cost is $25 per person. Includes dinner and a $10 credit to a Wokai borrower of your choice.
Click here to register for this event
For questions regarding this event, please email Seattle@wokai.org

At some point, everyone has received an email or message, whether it be through facebook, gmail, MSN, etc, from an annonymous person saying that they would like to meet up.  I think most people know the trick by now, but every once and a while, it looks real.  Earlier this month, I received an email on Wokai that I got a message from a new user.  I didn’t recognize the name, but luckily I was busy and didn’t open it.  It was a spam email that was sent out to all users.  I don’t think the email would have done too much harm, but it was unexpected to see it within the microfinance community.  Wokai, had caught this the next day and had done a great job of sending out a formal apology and letting everybody know of the incident.  I’m not quite sure what all it entails on the backend to help stop this in the future, I’m sure Wokai has already solved it.  The spam wasn’t a big issue, but it sucks to see that it is in microfinance as well.  I’m sure it has already happened a bunch, but this was one case that didn’t get caught by any of my filters either, so it stood out.  I think with the close circle of people in the microfinance community, as well as the smart people building out platforms/MFIs, we can narrow down the spammers, but it just sucks knowing that first time lenders could get a spam email and get discouraged.  Props to Wokai for handling the situation so professionally.

Casey Wilson recently had a great email that she sent out about the recent articles about Kiva in the NY times that I thought was worth posting:

You might have read Stephanie Strom’s article “Confusion Where Money Lent via Kiva Goes” in the New York Times a few days ago.  This issue has been making the rounds since David Roodman’s post a month ago.  As a fellow “peer-to-peer” microfinance organization, we thought it was important for us to follow up with our own supporters on this issue.

To be clear, contributions on Wokai go to microfinance institutions (our “Field Partners”) in rural China, who are in charge of distributing the loans to the borrowers and collecting repayment.  A borrower can in fact receive a loan from a Field Partner prior the time the loan is “100% funded” on the Wokai website.  Below are two excerpts from Wokai’s FAQ that might shed more light on the issue.

Can a recipient’s loan start before it is 100% funded?

Yes. Once a Field Partner has posted a recipient’s profile online, Wokai Field Partners can use their own capital to issue that recipient’s loan. Wokai then reimburses this capital to the Field Partner once the recipient’s loan has been 100% funded. If the recipient’s loan is canceled for any reason, the recipient will no longer be designated as a “Wokai recipient” and that Field Partner will permanently fund the loan with its own capital reserves.

What happens if a recipient’s loan does not get 100% funded by the final fundraising day?

If a recipient’s loan is not 100% funded by the time it reaches zero “Days Left”, then Wokai will either extend the recipient’s fundraising period by one month or, if there is any specific reason why contributors are choosing not to fund the recipient, Wokai will cancel the recipient and allow contributors to select a new recipient to support.

Wokai is committed to being transparent in its processes.  To that end, we discuss our field partner relationships right on our “About” pages.  We even received credit from David Roodman in his original post for being very open about our relationships with field partners.

To read more about what Wokai does, visit their site at Wokai.org

For any of you out there looking for microfinance internships or jobs, Wokai, the microfinance lending platform focusing on China, is offering two unique marketing internships during spring 2009 at their Beijing Office.

Web Optimization Intern:

• Work with Marketing Director to continue managing feedback data from website users; turn this data into concrete changes that website developers can implement.
• Work on streamlining and creating content for the front end of Wokai.org.
• Work on Search Engine Optimization and growing Wokai’s web presence
• Optimize Wokai’s website content and increase Wokai’s “sharability” online.
• Help staff with writing and editing

Media Analyst Intern

• Work with Marketing Director to research and develop a list of publications Wokai should target for publicity
• Work on understanding what media (blogs, newspapers, magazines, etc.) report and write about Wokai and develop ways that Wokai can direct or optimize such media coverage.
• Create new press releases under the guidance of the Marketing Director.
• Create new content for Wokai.org and work on editing existing front-end content.
• Maintain database of newsletter sign-ups and contacts
• Help staff with writing and editing

For more information, check out their blog post