KIVA

I know I've written about Kiva on here before, but I honestly think it's one of THE coolest ideas I've ever heard of.  It's basically a micro lending sight, where anyone with $25 (or more) can lend to the world's working poor in increments of $25.  There are bios of thousands of people asking for loans for their businesses or business dreams with information about them and what they are wanting to do. 

Once you decide who to loan to, you receive updates on their business and their loan and then over the course of six months or so, they repay the loan and--here's one of the coolest parts--you can loan to someone else.  I love it.

Last Christmas my parents gave each of us kids a $50 gift certificate to Kiva and over this year we've loaned to four people--one woman, one group of woman, one man from the Congo, where Joel (one of our sponsored kids lives) and one man whose story just stuck with me because he was struggling to make it with a fishing business, but had taken in a orphan and was raising him with his family.
And then, when our last two loans get repaid, we'll choose two more people to loan to.  I love how such a simple idea and such a small amount of money, relatively, can connect people around the world and help people get the start they need.

If you haven't already, it's worth checking out www.kiva.org