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Doing Good By Paying Forward
Over the next few days, as you tuck your holiday gifts away, your thoughts may turn to paying some of your good fortune forward, reports The New York Times.
Perhaps the fastest-growing way to act on these altruistic instincts is participating in microfinancing. You take a relatively small amount of money and, through an online marketplace of sorts, give or lend it to a specific person or project whose story moves you. (Not all microfinancing organizations are nonprofits, however, so be aware of the differences.)
This fall, Kiva, one of the leading organizations in a niche that includes others like DonorsChoose and the eBay-owned MicroPlace, came under fire in a blog post by a microfinance researcher named David Roodman. He took Kiva to task for inaccurate information on its Web site about how the loans, made to entrepreneurs in the developing world by its users, actually worked.
Many of those business owners, it turned out, had received their money already; they weren’t left waiting to, say, repair their motorcycle taxis until enough Americans pitched in with $20 loans.
Kiva has since changed its site to reflect this reality more accurately. But the incident poses a question about other organizations that try to provide a direct connection between you and the beneficiaries of your donations or investments: can any of them truly deliver on the promise that many of them imply — that your dollars will go to the particular people or project leader you’ve picked out?
Continue Reading: “Doing Good By Paying Forward”
Photo by dleafy.
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