I would like to introduce you to www.kiva.org.

Kiva is a website that connects you to people who do not have access to banks for loans. It helps lift people out of a poor economic situation by investing in them. It is a direct way to help lift people out of poverty. You send a minimum loan of 25$ to Kiva, who transfers it to a microfinancier on location, which then makes its way to the borrower.

There are good reasons for anyone to loan small amounts of money to those in need : This is probably one of the ways a single person can have the most impact in helping to create a healthier standard of living everywhere on earth. You can be satisfied in knowing that you having a direct impact on the quality of another person’s life and surrounding area. I just do it because the money goes a lot further for them than for me. Once you get paid back, you can either withdraw the funds or re-loan it to someone.

At first I found that there were some downsides : The microfinanciers charge a 11% interest rate to the borrowers, which was properly addressed on Kiva’s about page. Second, was that there were almost too few choices of people who needed money. As I browsed the list of borrowers, I was looking more for people needing help to pay for tuition, or for their livestock. Instead I found many people looking to borrow to open clothing stores. It turns out that it’s just the sheer amount of lenders already on the site that keep it so trim. However, every fifteen minutes or so, a new flock of borrowers show up on the site.

As I look now, I see a Mongolian looking to start a taxi business, a 55-year old widow for her farm, a 62-year old from Palestine seeking new plumber’s tools. Yesterday, I lent $25 towards a pool of $625 to a man in Togo who wanted to start a computer shop/internet café.

It’s easy and not very risky at all. So far, only 2.1% of borrowers have defaulted. Plus there a whole social networking aspect to it. You get to team up with other lenders and contact each other. You get regular updates on the status of your borrower. You feel good—because you made a difference.

Here’s Bill Clinton talking about Kiva with Keith Olbermann: