Kiva is a wonderful organization that I stumbled across last year over Christmas break while I was at my in-laws. I was reading an article about young leaders in America. Matt Flannery, the co-founder, CEO and Director of Kiva, is only 31 years old, yet through his mircolending site Kiva.org, over 1.5 million dollars has been loaned this week alone! In fact, I am hoping that after you read this you will be one of over 10,000 new users of Kiva this week.
Here is how Kiva works:
- Field partners all over the globe submit loan request to Kiva.
- Users login into Kiva and donate in $25 increments to individuals who are in need.
- Based upon the amount of the loan the entrepueners begin to pay back the loan.
- As the money comes back into your account you can choose to withdraw it or donate it to another individual in need.
Last year after Christmas I decided to take the majority of my Visa gift card and help four individuals in need. Since that time, enough money has come back into my account that I have now added a fifth entrepueneur.
One thing that I love about the site is that you can search through a number of categories in order to find some one that you want to work with. As I was looking for people to help I wanted to have a truly global mixture. I am helping a fisherman in Cambodia, a food market in Sierra Leone, a college student in Lebanon, a mom who is running a childcare center in Bosnia and a rental shop owner in Nicaragua.
As a Christian, who feels strongly about mission work, it would take me a lifetime to travel to all of the places and have this kind of impact. It is truly amazing that the ways we can use technology to advance the cause of the kingdom. I know that there is a need for much more than money, which is why I send a personal note to those who I loan money to, letting them know what has compelled me to share what I have been blessed with, with them.
I hope that you will join me and thousands of others I believe that there is a way to make this world better, but it has to begin with us.
TOMS Project Holiday
If you have not checked out the Cause section of this blog yet, let me highly encourage you to do so. In particular I want to highlight the efforts of TOMS shoes this holiday season. TOMS is an organization that gives away one pair of shoes for every pair that is purchased. Shoes drops have taken place in Argentina, South Africa, and this holiday season: Ethiopia.
The goal is to donate 30,000 pairs of shoes to children in Ethiopia who do not have shoes. And really its not just a lack of shoes that is a problem. For these children in Ethiopia, a lack of shoes exposes them too pain and disease that is completely preventable.
Now, I know you wondering, what’s the price? Adult shoes range from $42 to $70. That’s pretty reasonable for 2 pair of shoes. Why don’t you head over there now and place your order?
Charity Water
Yesterday I posted about the show Secret Millionaire, which featured Todd Graves, the CEO of Raising Cane’s this week (a big deal for me since I live in Baton Rouge, where the compnay is based-they have the best chicken fingers of any place I have ever been!). Anyway…
At the end of the post I asked what you were doing to make a difference, what organizations are you are part of, how do you get your message out, are you using blogs and social media to your advantage. I have included just one of many videos I could have used as we continue this conversation.
That was the quote from Todd Graves, CEO of Raising Cane’s, from the Fox TV show Secret Millionaire. I would have missed except for the fact that our local paper ran a story about it yesterday. The premise is that a millionaire gives up their life for week and go work a minimum wage job. During that time they form relationships with the community and at the end of the experience, they must choose someone from the community who will receive $100,000.
Todd and his wife Gwen rose to the challenge. They served an area still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. The newspaper said that one day he and his wife worked at a restaurant, although the TV episode didn’t show it, as well as many other places (for those of you who don’t know, Raising Cane’s is a restaurant, a rather amazing one that I will miss when I move away from Baton Rouge!).
At the end of the show the Graves gave away close to $400,000 dollars in the community they worked in. If you are interested, you can go here to learn more or see the episode. You can even get in on the giving action here.
The Graves seemed pretty clueless at the start of the show. In one clip they go shopping, which seems to be difficult for people who have a personal shopper who does that for them. The total comes up to a whopping $98, leaving them with on $17 for the rest of the week, forcing them to have to put items back.
It was a reality check, maybe the most real one of any reality TV show. I admire the Graves, for their willingness to step out of their comfort zone. I think it will also be exciting to see what happens with the people who were on the receiving ends of those checks (you can track each of them here).
Must of us don’t have a TV show that can be used to get the word out about things like poverty, the HIV crisis, poor drinking conditions for 1.1 billion people in world, or a number of other issues. But we can do something. My question is, what are you doing?
