KIVA: Organization Awareness

In light of Blog Action Day, I wanted to take this opportunity to bring to your attention another esteemed non profit organization, KIVA.

What is KIVA?

Similar to NEST's mission, KIVA strives to connect people through lending with the goal of alleviating poverty. Simply put, KIVA lets you loan to the working poor. Founded in 2004 by Matt Flannery and his wife Jessica, KIVA has established itself as "the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website." Its efforts allow empowering individuals to lend directly to original entrepreneurs in the developing world. Examples of entrepreneurs may include: a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, or a tailor in Iraq.. among many others.

How does KIVA work?

By partnering with existing expert microfinance institutions, KIVA gains access to unique, qualified entrepreneurs from impoverished communities all over the world. The partners upload individual profiles on site, allowing lenders to connect to a specific entrepreneur of their own choice. Because of the nature of the internet, KIVA's lending platform affords lenders the opportunity to measure the impact that their lends are having on the entrepreneur's business throughout each step of the cycle. Over time, the entrepreneur repays the loan - updates are maintained on the KIVA site and also emailed to lenders opting to receive these notifications. Once the loan has been completely repaid, lenders may extend loans to other entrepreneurs, donate to KIVA, or withdraw funds.

KIVA Partners

Well connected within the social media realm, some of KIVA's partners include:

• Google.org: KIVA is a Google Grants recipient. Google created this program to give free advertising to selected non profits. The partnership has enabled KIVA to attract new members instantaneously upon relevant search queries, and has proven invaluable to KIVA's continuing growth and success.
  
• YouTube: A popular video sharing website, YouTube has donated 120 million free banner placements to KIVA. These banners help to increase exposure and awareness of KIVA, while also generating new lenders and donors.
  
• Intuit Inc.: A leading provider of business and financial management solutions for many non profit organizations, Intuit donates accounting & reporting software to KIVA to support its mission.
  

Sound like something that may be up your alley? Help KIVA do more.

Blog Action Day: B.A.D. or GOOD?

While I may technically be a day late on this post, shouldn't every day really be 'Blog Action Day'? After all, most bloggers understand the power that this medium possesses when it comes to content. For those that read blogs on a daily basis, but that may not fully comprehend how search engines work, the primary factor to be aware of is that search engine spiders [or bots] love frequent content. Especially content related to topics that are highly searched for on the web during a specified time period.

I don't want to drift too far off topic, so first: a quick background on B.A.D. Unfortunate acronym, but a very fortunate cause with a lot of potential. Essentially, thousands of bloggers unite to write about one pre-determined topic on a specific date.. which happened to be yesterday.. I never said that timing was my thing. Regardless, "poverty" was this year's selected topic.

In a time where those of us living in the United States have become all too familiar with the word 'crisis', this particular topic seemed to bring me back down to earth. Sure, our country is heading into a horrible recession, but do I personally suffer immeasurable consequences on a daily basis? No. I can still afford to buy gas, share cocktails with friends, pay my bills, live comfortably, and most importantly, purchase a surplus of food & bottled water (gasp!.. becoming environmentally-friendly is a goal of mine).. and then, if I feel like it, toss this food in the garbage. I actually just experienced a pang of disgust when I re-read that last phrase. Clearly, there are a lot of us in today's society that take the bare necessities for granted.. and why shouldn't we? We've never really been pushed into a compromising situation that would force us to address our ignorance. After all, ignorance is bliss, isn't it?

There are a plethora of causes to champion and non profit organizations to support these days. Because of this, I think it's often difficult for people to continually commit to assisting various missions. Factors that may dissuade people from assisting in ameliorating our world for the greater good include:

• Monetary donations: where is the money actually going?
  
• Personal issues: I need to look out for #1 before helping others.
  
• Consistency: Is once enough? I don't have the time, money, or resources to consistently contribute.
  

Fine, I can identify with these concerns. But, the fact of the matter is, excuses are like.. well, you know how the saying goes. Perhaps the harshest reality is the fact that innocent children are typically the people most affected by poverty. I'm not going to get all Sally Struthers on you here, but compassion and follow-through can go a long way.

How is blogging going to combat poverty?

Some would say that B.A.D. serves as a dishonest method to acquire links, traffic, and exposure for purely selfish reasons. Those acknowledging this theory must be the people that use blogging from a pure, business perspective. They, fortunately, are not the only members within the blogging community. For a variety of opinions on this topic, visit this article. It raises some extremely interesting points, most of which are worth digesting or at least pondering.

Now I would say that, as mentioned in the beginning of this post, I believe that the power of blogging can significantly impact levels of awareness. It can reach audiences that other mediums may not be able to tap into, and in turn, spark a viral campaign. Discussing social issues is vital to addressing humanity entirely. We all know that in today's society, it's very easy to turn your head the other way. I've posed this question before and I'll ask it again: it may be easy, but is it right?