Ever since I spent a year travelling South East Asia in 1999, I’ve wanted to do something to help people in poor countries. I’ve met so many individuals and small business owners that were just struggling to get by, many of them working 7 days a week for just a few dollars per day. I hope that at one point in my life I’ll be able to travel back to some of these places and do some volunteer work and/or help out a local community financially. I’ve donated to organizations like the Red Cross that do incredible work helping out people in need all over the world. But my latest excitement in the world of good-karma-organizations is Kiva.org. Kiva works with microfinance institutions in many developing countries to allow anyone to make an interest free loan to small business owners. These are not actually donations - as a Kiva user you lend money, in any amount that you’re comfortable with. The borrower will typically use the money to buy additional inventory, make certain repairs or otherwise expand his/her business. The vast majority of loans are paid back over time though, which allows lenders to help out even more people. Bill Clinton has been speaking about this organization and all the recent press about Kiva has resulted in the fact that there are actually more lenders than borrowers at the moment. This is great for Kiva of course… I hope they can set up relationships with more microfinance institutions so we can all help more people in more places. So I am now partially financing the business of a pig farmer in Cambodia, and a door to door sales woman in Peru. Please do go check it out: www.kiva.org.