KIVA

[twylyght]

So I recently got a bonus and find myself able to finally do what I've been eyeing for a while now. I've had a sponsored kid and he's now grown and doing well. A friend told me about this site that allows one to do micro-loans for thousands of people in impoverished areas around the world. You can review their profiles and contribute as little as $25 to a collective effort to fill out these loans.

I am now helping two farmers in Georgia and a small store owner in Kenya to help grow their businesses. I am eager to see how this pans out over the coming months. Hopefully, as I continue to do better in my life, I can help others with theirs. If there are like-minded people out there who've done something like this, I'd appreciate any pointers you've got to make this work better.

Much obliged in advance

[Zcustom]

I don't have any pointers but that's really good of you. Kudos

[Hawk]

I've sponsored kids in third world countries through different agencies before. I was always a little sceptical of them though to be honest. I always wondered if the kid/family ever got any of my money and if so, what % of it. Some are better than others.

today, I choose to give closer to home instead. There's never a shortage of great charities/organizations to give to.

[SCP]

One of my customers is named Kiva. They make some cool 'bots

http://www.kivasystems.com/

[pstall]

kiva is above board. heifer international is great as well.

more people should chip into things like this and make a bigger dif.

good luck

[Hotsauce]

Good stuff, the world needs more people like you

[twylyght]

I've sponsored kids in third world countries through different agencies before. I was always a little sceptical of them though to be honest. I always wondered if the kid/family ever got any of my money and if so, what % of it. Some are better than others.

today, I choose to give closer to home instead. There's never a shortage of great charities/organizations to give to.

I've worked with Salvation Army and United Way on some hometown projects. They had some ups and downs with them. I'm looking for my next local project to be with Habitat for Humanity

[twylyght]

kiva is above board. heifer international is great as well.

more people should chip into things like this and make a bigger dif.

good luck

I'll be sure to check out Heifer. My thanks mon ami

[twylyght]

And I appreciate the kudos and all, but I didn't mean for this to come off as an exercise in vanity. I don't usually see much in the way of charitable threads on here, and the recent thread by PD struck a chord in me. It reminded me of the good people we have on here. I figured some of them might have some good input/direction to offer for such endeavors like this.