Give Them a Fish...

Micro-lending is built on the concept of "give a man a fish, he eats for a day; but TEACH him to fish, and he eats for a lifetime."

The idea is to provide small loans to people in developing countries so that they can start their own business (or expand one they already have) and improve their quality of life.

Great idea - but difficult to know who needs what, and which requests are legitimate and viable.

I found a great site that coordinates with local 'partners' (in other countries) to list requests. You can choose a category or type of recipient. You can choose the amount to give (it lumps other donors together to meet the requested need). Most the loan requests I've seen are modest by US standards (under $4000). The site even provides updates and repayment! (I plan to put the repayment right back into helping another.)

What a great way to use the power of the Internet... check it out at www.kiva.org