Kiva is a nonprofit that enables crowd-funded personal loans through individual lenders to borrowers around the world. In 2011, Kiva launched Kiva Zip to expand access to capital for US small businesses and entrepreneurs who may not qualify for traditional loans. To receive a Kiva Zip loan, borrowers must be endorsed by a trustee and invite lenders from their network to fund an initial portion of the loan, after which the loan is posted online for additional crowd-funding. The program aims to improve access to capital for job creators by using social underwriting rather than traditional financial metrics to evaluate borrowers.