Kiva.org

Micro-lending has been in the news a lot lately, since Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Prize for his pioneering work in the field and wrote a book about it, called Banker to the Poor: Micro-lending and the Battle Against World Poverty. I’m no expert, but the idea seems simple: people below poverty lines don’t just need more food rations dropped from helicopters; they need a way to produce and buy food for themselves. Micro-loans are small amounts of money given to burgeoning entrepreneurs in developing countries to help them start or expand successful businesses. A successful business — in theory at least — being the end of that individual’s poverty and the start of a viable economy in his or her area. It’s a way to circumvent the often bureaucratic and ineffective foreign aid packages that most developed nations favor and to help poor people directly.

Now here’s where Kiva.org comes in. Kiva takes the micro-lending idea and combines it with the democratizing power of the internet to allow you (or me, or the guy reading this over your shoulder) to connect with entrepreneurs in the third world and give them a loan. You can search Kiva’s website to find a businessman or woman that you want to support, and, as time goes by, you can see the impact that your loan has made on your business partner’s life. Your $25 might do more than buy food for a week. It could supply someone with a lifelong profession. Learn more about Kiva in the New York Times, Newsweek (last item) and NPR.

–Dan Steckenberg