FAQ
The Gumball Challenge
What's the Gumball Challenge again?
A one-week microfinance benefit competition, where participants create value with a $27 loan and 27 gumballs.
Who can compete in the challenge?
The Challenge is open to everyone. We are currently focusing on promoting to undergraduate college students.
When is the Gumball Challenge happening?
The Gumball Challenge is running at various times in November 2007. At Stanford, it runs from November 6th-13th; at St. Olaf, it runs from November 6th-10th; at UC Berkeley, Sewanee, and Yale, it runs during the last week of November.
What is microfinance?
Microfinance is is the practice of providing financial services to poor people. It may include services such as loans, savings, and insurance.
So what would I actually be doing?
After you and your friends register as a team, we give you a Starter Kit containing 27 gumballs, a $27 loan and a guide booklet. Your team has 7 days to do something creative and entrepreneurial. At the end of the week you return the loan and any revenue is given to a microfinance-related cause.
What can you really do in just one week?
- print post-its with pledges for microfinance and raise 3k in 3 days (Gumball Capital did that)
- lemonade stand/bake sale
- send handwritten notes to people in other dorms - with candy or songs or soda (Crushgrams)
- Sell pizza/burgers/ice cream in the dorms
- hand in homework/borrow DVDs, return books for lazy people
- rent out xbox 360 or ps3 time on a nice TV
- Gumball Olympics - bubble-blowing, gumball throwing, homerun, juggling contests etc, - pay to enter
- clean people's rooms
- photography contest - sell the best prints.
Where does the money come from and where does it go?
The $27 loan is provided by Gumball Capital, which has been donated these funds from individuals and corporations. The revenue you generate will be donated into the Gumball Fund, which provides loans to the working poor in developing nations.
What do you provide to partner schools?
We provide each
Organizing Committee a
Starter Kit, gumballs, and a $27 "microloan" for each of their Competitor Teams. The
Starter Kit contains promotional materials, checklists for organizing the Challenge, fundraising ideas, and templates for recruiting judges, sponsors, members, and teams.
I want to compete... but can I donate to my own cause?
Yes!
The Gumball Challenge is about inspiring entrepreneurs to realize their OWN dreams and ambitions. If you want to compete in
The Challenge to raise awareness and/or funds for your own social cause, by all means! We just hope you understand the value and power of
microfinance at the same time. :)
Does an Organizing Committee have to support The Gumball Fund?
No. If you decide to channel the funds raised by competitors through your own
microfinance channels, and not The Gumball Fund, that's perfectly fine!
The Gumball Fund is available for those OCs that don't already have a microfinance network established.
Does an Organizing Committee have to support microfinance?
Given
The Challenge is designed to educate students about microfinance, to some degree all
Organizing Comittees will inherently support microfinance. The degree to which an
OC actually promotes microfinance on its campus, is up to them. OCs cannot, however, promote or raise funds for a cause other than microfinance. Those that wish to should have their members participate as competitors during The Challenge.
Can I both organize and compete in The Challenge?
Yes!
Organizing Committee members are free to organize
The Challenge, and compete as well. However, we do request that an
OC not initiate its "competitor" activities until the week of
The Challenge. Also, we ask that the OC Captain and Loan Officer not compete, due to time and conflict of interest issues.
Who are you guys?
The Gumball Challenge is presented by Gumball Capital, a nonprofit started by Stanford students in February of 2007.
Why gumballs?
It's the idea of a gumball machine: you put in a small amount of money (say, a quarter) and a gumball rolls out (of poverty, perhaps). And in the process, the other gumballs move closer to the exit chute. In the same way, microfinance empowers individuals to lift themselves out of poverty, and can help those around them as well through employment opportunities or new services.
Why 27?
We're glad you asked! (Everybody does; that's the point.) In 1976, Muhammad Yunus lent $27 to 42 poor working women in Bangladesh. He later started the Grameen Bank, which has now loaned billions to over 5 million poor women. Yunus and the Grameen Bank were jointly awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for their "efforts to create economic & social development from below".
Why are you doing this?
Our ultimate goal is to inspire entrepreneurship for social change. With the Gumball Challenge, we're trying to raise awareness of microfinance among students. We hope you learn a little about microfinance during the Challenge, and take the excitement of being entrepreneurial to any future activities you pursue!
Kiva
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.
Gumball Trivia
Why post-its?
Entrepreneurship Week at Standford challenged us to create as much value as possible in "A PAD OF 100 3"x3" POST-ITS".
How many gumballs do you have?
Gumball Capital has in its possession 25,000 gumballs.
The Gumball Fund
Where does the money go?
100% of Gumball Challenge proceeds go to microfinance-related causes. Competitor teams choose a microfinance cause to support, and we provide the Gumball Fund as one channel that their proceeds can go to!
How do you choose who receives the loan when donating through 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?
Quick Terms & Definitions
Microfinance is the practice of providing financial services to poor people. It may include services such as loans, savings, and insurance.
Microcredit, or microlending, is the practice of providing small loans of money (microloans) to poor individuals who would not otherwise be served by a traditional bank because of their unprofitability.
MFI (microfinance institution): An organization that provides microfinance services. They usually charge higher rates than traditional banks, but far less than the alternatives available to the poor, e.g. loan sharks. More than 7000 now exist worldwide.
Important Nuances to Remember
* Microfinance is not a "solution" to poverty. It's one very effective tool among many.
* Muhammad Yunus, as much as we love him, did not "invent" or "start" microfinance.
* When writing about Kiva, people use the terms "developing-world entrepreneurs," "the working poor," and "small business owners" interchangeably when referring to Kiva's target population. Don't get confused, they're all about the same group of people.
* To be accurate, Kiva directly engages people with microcredit, not microfinance. (See "Terms & Definitions.")
* In our copy we sometimes use the terms "microfinance" to refer to "microcredit" for simplicity's sake. Please see "Terms & Definitions" for an accurate explanation of both.
* There are valid criticisms of microfinance. We don't claim to be experts, but we believe the upsides have far outweighed the downsides. But don't take our word for it...
* Go out and read about microfinance for yourself.