My wife has been donating to this site for some time now and she and I are convinced that it is a great site for giving.  The site is http://www.kiva.org/

What is Kiva?  As their web site says “Kiva lets you lend to a specific entrepreneur in the developing world – empowering them to lift themselves out of poverty.”  Once you become a member you add money to the account, and then you can lend the money to businesses that you hand pick by browsing for people who are in need of the money for their business.  It really is a great idea.

The people you lend the money to then repay the loan as they start to make money with their business.  The minimum loan amount is $25.  The average loan ranges from $300 - $1200.  So far we have been repaid on all the loans that we have given out.  Once you are paid back you can take your money out, you can donate the money to Kiva to keep their operation going, or you can continue to re-loan that money to more people.  We have opted for the later. http://www.kiva.org/about/how/ describes the whole process.

In these harsh financial times we may tend to be less generous with our money, but in the grand scheme of things most of us are still doing well and probably still living in excess.  People around the world still need help and $25 can go a long way in most of the places where these loans are given.  Kiva gives us the opportunity to help these people in a more direct manner so we know the money gets to them to help them better their lives.