On mornings when I don’t feel like getting out of bed, I try to think: “How can I make the world a better place today?” It gives me energy and a sense of purpose. As you know, there are so many different ways to help. And so much help is needed!
I’m a big fan of organizations that work to pull people out of poverty by giving them means to be self-sufficient. Heifer International with their donations of livestock and Grameen Bank (pioneers of microlending) come to mind.
Kiva is another great initiative to help spread the wealth and get people in impoverished parts of the world on their feet and into successful enterprises. This is a microlending concept as well, but also has some neat social networking aspects. The basic process is to sign up, select one or more entrepreneurs to help, and add funds. Once your loan is paid back, you can choose to withdraw the funds or reinvest in another loan. Kiva has great payback rates and has facilitated over $100 million in loans in only a few years. It’s an awesome way to contribute with as little as $25 and really impact somebody’s life.
I would love it if you would join the Simply Enough team on Kiva.org! Our goal is to have 100 members by the end of 2010 and raise $10,000. See you there!
[…] in March, I wrote a post about Kiva and encouraged folks to join the Simply Enough team to raise $10,000 by the end of the year. Well, […]