Nonprofit to offer Lincoln businesses no-interest loans [Video]

Lincoln will become a hub for a national nonprofit that offers no-interest, crowdfunded microloans to women and minorities — a way to help underserved communities that often don’t have access to the capital needed to get a business off the ground.

The Capital City will be the first Kiva Hub in the state, Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird said in announcing the partnership with the nonprofit founded in 2005 as the world’s first personal micro-lending website, which began its U.S. program in 2011.

By becoming a hub, the city establishes a formal relationship with Kiva and manages the loans locally. Community Development Resources, a nonprofit financial institution formed in the 1980s to help traditionally underserved small-business owners, will administer the program. It will launch this summer.

Entrepreneurs apply directly to KivaUS and are connected to millions of Kiva lenders to crowdfund their loans up to $15,000 for 36 months, with no …