loans so small

I just helped finance two small businesses in Uganda and Kenya. I say this not to brag, but rather to point out what an incredible idea Kiva is. The organization uses the Web to connect individuals who would like to put their spare cash to good use with business owners in developing nations who need "microloans" -- loans so small that most banks won't bother.

In reality, the system is connecting you to a microfinance institution that vets and works with the business owners. But by taking care of that behind the scenes and bringing the business owners themselves to the forefront, Kiva's rewriting the way microfinance works. After all, when you decide to put some money toward a good cause, wouldn't you rather know exacly who it's helping, as opposed to seeing it go into some large, nameless account somewhere?

Oh, and another great thing about Kiva: they encourage participants to tell others about their loans. (Forget the days of giving silently -- the more people who contribute, the better chance these businesses have of getting off the ground.)

And Kiva makes it stupid simple, too. When you make a loan, they give you a single snippet of HTML code that you can plug into your own blog or Web site. The result? The promo box you see at the beginning of this post.