It’s time for the news roundup! Vittana has appeared in some great articles in the past few weeks. Let’s take a look:

Faces of Vittana
Huffington Post wrote a wonderful article about Vittana and featuring some of our students. They said: “Through Vittana, people from around the world pledge money to students — often in small increments — and help them to achieve their dreams.“

Microloans Help Students
Associated Content posted this piece informing about Vittana and how you can be involved. They encouraged others to be a part of Vittana by saying, “think about being a miracle to someone! Help a person get an education and you will be a hero.“

The Imperative Need for America…
Arianna Huffington herself wrote this post about the future of America, and mentioned Vittana highly in it. She wrote: “A great illustration of this is the work being done by Vittana, a micro-lending site for higher education… It’s a shining example of how innovative non-profits can lead the way — especially now that so many governments are struggling and cannot be depended on to meet every need.“

Microfinance Program
The Seattle Times published an article on a Microfinance Program in which they mention Vittana. They said: “Vittana helps fill a niche that for all its success, microcredit had not addressed. Micro loans typically go to people operating small businesses, but loans for college had no such source of funding. Some students have already landed jobs and started to repay the loans, said CEO Kushal Chakrabarti.“

We have also received a lot of mentions from blogs. Thanks to the ones listed below!

Dowser

Rising Pyramid

Urban Research

Seattle Seattle

Cool Great Stuff

Know of a post or article we missed? Leave it in the comments!

March is shaping up to be a busy month for Vittana! Check out what’s been going on:

March Madness
Our March Microfinance Madness competition is going strong, but there  are only 12 days left! We have fully funded 52 students, and there are plenty more to go. Take a look at our March Madness page and join an existing group or start one of your own!

Currently in the lead:
1. Atheists with 11 members and $757 total

2. Brigham Young University with 28 members and $488 total

Stay updated on your group’s progress on the website or on our twitter.

Recent Press:

Vittana: Forget $40K, Send Someone to College for $10
Kushal, our CEO and fearless leader, posted a guest blog on Huffington Post earlier this week. He wrote, “In just 10 months, Vittana has built some of the first college micro-loan programs in six countries around the world including Nicaragua, Peru, and Vietnam.”

Vittana Applies the Kiva Model
Tech Crunch released this popular article about Vittana on the 15th of March, and it proceeded to be tweeted out hundreds of times that day. They say “TechCrunch is participating in the initiative and will be facing The Huffington Post, Redfin and others to raise funds. Join our group and make your donation today!”

Vittana March Microfinance Madness
Next Billion lets you know why you should join their team in our March Microfinance Madness challenge!

Thank you for all of your press and kind words, and good luck to your March Microfinance Madness group! Stay tuned for a recap post at the beginning of April.

In case you missed it, here is your reading guide to Vittana in the news for the last month:

Huffington Post: “HuffPo Game Changers: Your picks for the Ultimate 10”

After 1.7 million votes, our CEO Kushal Chakrabarti was named the Ultimate Game Changer in Philanthropy by Huffington Post readers.

NextBillion: “Vittana: Student Loans and a New Generation of Microfinance”

NextBillion states that there is a “lack of attention paid to possible synergies between microfinance products and education”, and explains how Vittana addresses this market failure.

Check out our video and hear directly from our students!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myz8llpbpDU[/youtube]

Seattle Times: “More on crowdsourcing: ideas for philanthropy and development”

Kristi Heim shares that our CEO made the Huffington Post “Ultimate Game Changer” list and that voting is open. She also wrote about us here back in July.

Social Earth: “Vittana Applies Microfinance Model to Education”

Social Earth supporter Naiomi believes “that everyone should have an equal opportunity to pursue a world class education”. Her article outlines what we are doing at Vittana to work toward that goal.

TBD: “Vittana // Simply Genius”

I think the title says it all for this post.