Friday, April 28, 2006

Kiva and GA Top 10: Two Ideas for the Weekend

Here are a couple of interesting ideas for you to ponder over the weekend.

Michael Kruse, of Kruse Khronicle, wrote about his two most recent investments. He didn't invest in stocks and bonds, but through an organization called Kiva, invested in small businesses in developing countries. He posts the pictures and discriptions of the two people he made loans to. You can make these loans directly to the borrower through the website with your credit card and PayPal account. What a great way to really make a difference a donation of as little as $25. What if a group in your church got together to do this? Talk about your mission dollar at work!

Pastor Lance, of FullCourtPresby, invites all you Presbyterian types out there to help him compile a Top Ten Issues for the June General Assembly, in response to the Top 10 published by the denomination's Stated Clerk recently which he found less than inspiring. What would you add to Pastor Lance's Top 10 list?

2 comments:

spookyrach said...

Never heard of Kiva, but I love Opportunity International which does exactly the same thing. Its fun to see what kind of incredible things people can do with our contributions.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your post, Quotidian, we really appreciate the support.

The difference between Opportunity International (an incredible organization) and Kiva is that to support microfinance through OI you need to make a donation, whereas with Kiva you can make a loan. In short, you can support microfinance through Kiva *and* get your money back. Aside from this being nice from a personal finances point of view, it allows your money to go further, as it can be reloaned again and again and again.

Hope you don't mind my little clarification :-)

Fiona Ramsey
Community Relations and Operations Manager
Kiva.org
fiona@kiva.org