November 13, 2008 10:00 AM Eastern Time 

Small Businesses Want to Give Back Despite Economy – Advanta Re-launches KivaB4B Project to Help Small Businesses Maintain and Grow Charitable Giving

SPRING HOUSE, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--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.