Lend your money to charity

I just finished reading Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof, and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn. Just in case you haven't read it yet, the book is a compliation of their first hand experiences from their world travels. The book opens the window for you to truly take a look at women who are living in the poorest parts of the world and how their lives are affected as a result of their environment. I won't get into it too much, just in case you plan on reading it, but the book closes with a few simple things that you can you can do to help. Kristof lists organizations where you can make a real difference, which is what lead me to get involved with kiva.org.

I will be the first to admit that I usually don't give a lot to charity. It's not that I don't want to give, I'm just sick of reading story after story on how terribly mismanaged many Non-Profit Organizations are. If I give $100 to a charity, I wonder, how much of my money actually gets to the people that need it?

With Kiva, you know exactly where your money is being spent. You even get to decide who receives your loan, yes LOAN. It's called microfinancing. The banner to the right basically describes the process, but feel free to get a more detailed explanation of how this all works by going to their website. You can lend as little as $25. Once your loan is repaid, you can get your money back or lend it out again and help to change another life at no additional expense.

What I love most about Kiva is viewing the lenders from all over the world banning together to help a specific person or small group.

Here's my Kiva lender page. I hope you'll consider joining.