Over 40 percent of small businesses don’t
give as much to charity as they would like, and 60 percent of small
businesses blame the current economy for the stagnation or reduction in
their charitable giving, according to a survey commissioned by Advanta
in collaboration with the Chronicle of Philanthropy. In order to provide
an affordable and easy way for small businesses to effectively
participate in charitable giving, Advanta Corp. (NASDAQ: ADVNB; ADVNA)
announced today the re-launch of KivaB4B.org,
an online community for small business owners to develop their own
successful "corporate”
social responsibility programs.
The KivaB4B Project is a joint initiative between Advanta and Kiva, the
popular microfinance portal. KivaB4B helps small business owners share
best charitable practices, highlight their philanthropic models and
develop new ways to give back. The Project also helps small business
owners increase the impact of actual grants –
large and small – to entrepreneurs in
developing countries through Kiva.org. If a small business owner uses an
Advanta credit card to make a grant through Kiva to an entrepreneur,
Advanta matches the grant, Dollar for dollar (up to $200 per account,
per month).
"The KivaB4B Project unites small business
owners in their support for entrepreneurs in the developing world,”
said Ami Kassar, Chief Innovation Officer at Advanta. "We
hope that KivaB4B will empower small businesses to learn from each other
about how to promote their philanthropic efforts to their customers.”
KivaB4B.org provides participating small businesses with information and
resources to market their philanthropic activities to their community.
In addition, every week the site profiles a business owner who supports
entrepreneurs in the developing world through Kiva. Advanta, which
originally launched KivaB4B.org earlier this year, recently released a
new KivaB4B credit card for business professionals who don’t
own a business entity.
For more information, visit www.KivaB4B.org.
Certain terms, conditions and limitations apply to participate in the
KivaB4B Project. Please visit www.KivaB4B.org
for details.
About Advanta
Advanta was founded in 1951 by Jack Alter, a Philadelphia school
teacher, who wanted to help fellow teachers get access to
capital. Today, Advanta is one of the nation’s
largest credit card issuers (through Advanta Bank Corp.) in the small
business market. Advanta continues to find ways to connect with and
inspire the small business community through projects like KivaB4B.org,
ideablob.com and other initiatives that benefit the lives of
entrepreneurs. Learn more about Advanta at www.advanta.com.
About Kiva
Kiva.org (www.kiva.org)
is the world's first person-to-person microfinance website, empowering
individuals to provide funds directly for the benefit of an entrepreneur
in the developing world. Founded in 2005, Kiva.org's mission is to
connect people, through microfinance, to alleviate poverty. Kiva.org
currently connects givers in more than 100 countries with entrepreneurs
in 41 developing countries, through 88 microfinance partners. Kiva.org
is headquartered in San Francisco.