This year, as we feel the pinch of difficult economic times, we should remember that there are those who still have much, much less. That’s why you should join Karl Fisch’s Team Shift Happens on Kiva.

Kiva is a micro-lending bank with a mission of helping to end global poverty. From the website:

Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.

And in Karl’s words:

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 When that loan is repaid (currently almost 97% are repaid), then the individual that originally made the loan can choose to loan the money out to another entrepreneur, donate it to kiva to help with their operating expenses, or actually get the money back.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. It’s also my opinion that this is one of the best ways to help achieve peace in the world.

I contributed my $25 for myself, but then I also bought $25 gift certificates for everyone in my family, and I look forward to dinner table conversations about who we’ve lent our money to over the next few years.

This could be an amazing school project, a wonderful addition to any "Secret Santa" office holiday spirit, or just a wonderful way to remind ourselves that we are connected to everyone on the planet, no matter where we live.

Thanks, Karl, for inspiring me to do more this holiday season.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: kiva, karl_fisch