
Today, Karl Fisch posted a message on his blog inviting members of his PLN (Personal Learning Network) to join Team Shift Happens and contribute however much possible to Kiva. Kiva is different than other charities in that it is a micro-lending website. People, like you and I, can loan money ($25 and up) directly to individual entrepeneurs in the developing world.
Kiva allows individuals to contribute a small amount of money that is then loaned to entrepreneurs in impoverished communities. When that loan is repaid (currently almost 97% are repaid), then the individual that originally made the loan can choose to loan the money out to another entrepreneur, donate it to kiva to help with their operating expenses, or actually get the money back.Read Karl's entire post.
Poor people in impoverished communities often don’t have access to financial institutions and capital, and microfinancing addresses this problem. It is especially helpful to women, who often are the key to raising families – and communities – out of poverty.
Join The Team
On Karl's suggestion, I've donated $25 to an entrepeneur and I also purchased two $25 gift certificates that I have emailed to two members of my PLN. I'm asking them to do the same as I did:
- Log in to Kiva.
- Join Team Shift Happens (click on Community and search keyword, "shift")
- Choose the entrepreneur to whom they will loan the value of the gift certificate.
- Then consider doing the same thing I did - purchase two $25 gift certificates and email them to two members of their PLN with the same request to "pay it forward."
- Make a $25 loan yourself, or
- Do what I did; make a $25 loan, then purchase two $25 gift certificates and email them to folks you know and ask them to do the same, and/or
- If you’re a blogger, also consider blogging about this and making the same request to your readers.
"We loan because Shift Happens, and we want to be the change we want to see." ~Karl
2 comments:
Thanks Lee - for participating yourself, sending the certificates to encourage others, and promoting it.
I also love how you took my very wordy post and pulled out the essentials under the "What can you do?" heading - very nice, and probably much easier for the reader.
You rock.
Hi Lee,
This warms my heart in such a huge way. I will definitely join and pass the word. YOU are so thoughtful!
I feel warm all over!
Hugs,
Diana Kenney
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