I mentioned kiva.org as a possibility for our first charity a few posts ago. I did some further research and found some people who are upset about some of their practices. I haven’t had time to look into it fully and this kind of thing will probably pop up for the majority of charities, but I figure for completeness sake I should post them here:
http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=76720
http://www.kivafriends.org/index.php/topic,918.0.html
Here is the wikipedia page where there’s some discussion on the interest rates which are perceived as high by some people:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiva_(organization)#Interest_rates
Again, I’m just putting this out there. Have had no time to think about what this information means or whether it should be an issue. I’m sure if we go further with choosing this charity I’ll give them a call and try to get as much information as I can on exactly how it works.
Lets give the money this month to Bill Jones. He sure could use it.
I wouldn’t trust most internet charities like that i would go for something more localized and known.My personal choice would be for something educational like building with books where they build houses for lower class countries such as Nicaragua.
ACLU!!!! They have projects on drug policy, the school-to-prison-pipeline, women’s rights, gay rights, guantanamo bay, etc. They represent the girl who was stripped searched by school officials, parents who don’t want their kids to be taught intelligent design in PUBLIC school science classes, organizations that are being criminally prosecuted for trying to register more voters, teenage girls who are being criminally prosecuted for cell phone pictures of themselves, churches who are being shut down by municipal governments for trying to run homeless shelters, doctors who lose their clearance for criticizing the government, immigrants who were being forced out of Hazelton, etc., etc., etc. And most of the issues/suits I’m describing are in Pennsylvania alone. Imagine the work they are doing all over the nation.
Greg–These are all things that you believe in. Just because Bush is out of office, doesn’t mean civil liberties are no longer important. This is an organization worthy of your donation! (Of course, there are many other organizations that are also worthy, but I’ll try to sell you on one at a time.)
Kiva does a great job, I’ve made several loans via their site. The first link provided that rants on about “loans are NOT given out interest free” I guess he does not understand microfinance lenders and how that business model works. What Kiva brings to the table is that they monitor and rates the microfinance companies and assigns a risk factor. That’s a huge service that provides me confidence that the money will be used, repaid and used again. That’s my kiva model to put the money in play and when it’s returned loan it out again.
Here is one in process 50% paid back.
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=95851
The micorfiance company has been with Kiva 24 months and has loaned out over 2M with a .02% delinquency rate, not bad…