Team Shift Happens

Go Team!

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 When that loan is repaid (currently almost 97% are repaid), then the individual that originally made the loan can choose to loan the money out to another entrepreneur, donate it to kiva to help with their operating expenses, or actually get the money back.

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.

Read Karl's entire post.


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:

1. Log in to Kiva.
   
2. Join Team Shift Happens (click on Community and search keyword, "shift")
   
3. Choose the entrepreneur to whom they will loan the value of the gift certificate.
4. 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."

What can you do?

• 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.
  

Even if you can't contribute financially, if you can blog about this, send this info in an email or just tell your friends and get the word out, you are still contributing a great deal.

"We loan because Shift Happens, and we want to be the change we want to see." ~Karl