Kiva Feels Good

I can't believe people are already gearing up for the holidays.

It really does seem like Christmas just happened not so long ago. And now it's about to happen all over again? Yikes!

It occurred to me that I had an unused gift certificate lingering still from Christmas '07. One of my girlfriends gave me a credit through Kiva, a nonprofit organization that sponsors micro-finance projects all over the world.

People from developing countries apply for loans to help them start up their business projects. Through the Kiva web site you can contribute part of the requested money (or all of the requested money) to help get these people started.

After spending half an hour online reading through several loan requests in various countries, I decided to use my Kiva gift certificate to help fund a small group of women in Vietnam looking to start a livestock business.

The process was easy, paperless and feel-good.

If you're already starting to think about holiday gifts, consider Kiva, especially if you're shopping for a hard-to-please traveler.

As I sorted through the all the loan requests on the Kiva site, I found myself narrowing the list by searching for countries where I have personally seen the need.