Kiva.org Review

Several weeks ago I was watching TV and heard about a site called Kiva.org.  A news program was doing a story about ways to give back and make a difference in the world with limited resources.  The story featured a woman in a developing country who was in the business of selling dry cereal at an open air market.  She needed extra money to buy more supplies and have the ability to increase sales and make more money to support her family and hopefully someday lift them out of poverty.

She only needed about $100; not much money here but a fortune in her country.  So her business was featured on Kiva.org and investors, every day investors like you and me, sent the money to her via Kiva, a non-profit organization. 

Well I thought this sounded like a great opportunity to help others so I immediately went to the site, checked it out, and within a few minutes I had donated money to help a woman Nicaragua expand her beauty salon (I can never get away from all things beauty related can I?)

And it's kind of addicting!  I check the site every day to see who else I can help.  Kiva transfers the money to the organization in the other country and that organization gives it to the business person who pledges to repay the money within a certain amount of time.

It is a loan though.  There is a risk that the person may never pay the money back and I'll never see a penny of it back in my account, but it's an acceptable risk.  I donate with the intention that I will not get it back and I'm fine with that. 

Being part of Kiva and helping others really makes me feel like I'm making a difference in the world in any small way I can and that's a good feeling.