A professor at Fulton-Montegomery Community College turned me on to Kiva last March, an organization that is pretty excellent.
About Kiva:
Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can “sponsor a business” and help the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you’ve sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back.
Or for you visual people out there (I know you’re out there):
So go check it out already! If you’re not interested in helping Suleyman sell animals in Azerbaijian or Nelson’s barber shop in Nakuru or Edey’s Grocery Store in Peru then what do you want exactly? They provide for even the most discriminating (in the real sense of the word, not the negative kind!) philanthropists.
This is definitely the most impressive service for micro-lending that I have seen. It’s only going to get bigger too with the incredible interconnectivity between cultures and continents.
