When I stumble on connected things one right after the other, I post about them.
First, I saw, in a Project Management blog I read of all places, Sarah McLaughlin's World On Fire site which will shame you as you realize what 200 dollars here and 500 there adds up to and how much money we waste in really trivial crap here in our first world nation.
Then later as I was skimming Mr Posty McPostness, Seth Godin, I discovered his link to Kiva. Kiva is a microenterprise lending organization where you do NOT have to "donate". You just put your money to work and see it cycle over and over again through tiny projects you personally choose to sponsor. You loan it out. You see the money come back. When it's back, you can loan it to someone else or cash out or donate it to the operating costs of the organization, but you keep connection to your money and what it's bought and you SEE it not wasted and coming back to you.
Anyhow, these two things had me thinking -- I hate like hell giving my money to beg-a-thons. I know as soon as I give 25-100 bucks to an organization I think is worthy, what I've really done is to tell them I can be shaken down for more greenbacks if they only come up with the right load of emotionalistic crap. I want to help, but I also want to know how my money got used. I want a relationship, not a direct mail campaign. Did I buy your organization pencils? Did I buy someone somewhere a hot meal? I better NOT have bought much direct marketing or I'm gonna be one unhappy camper.
I do not want to give money out of guilty conscience. I want to help people. I want a connection -- a sense of seeing the help I gave take roots and grow. The Guatemalan guys who work for Reed's construction company and send money home know exactly who they're helping and why. They know if they helped their family eat or their town dig a well or a road get paved. That's not charity. That's community building in the place they live and it happens without some 3rd party taking a cut. The trouble is, it's hard to know what people need who are not right under your nose unless you happen to be an immigrant.
It troubles me that community building here in the US runs more along the lines of selling candy for the schools or handing money to large faceless charitable organizations and less along the lines of just opening our wallets and giving money to the school or the person for the things they need and knowing that the donations bought our kids textbooks or a new swingset or a load of mulch or our neighbors a moving van or a month of rent.
Anyhow, Kiva is worthy. And I want very much to know why their idea hasn't taken the world by storm. If we're very lucky maybe it will.
Posted by karen at November 1, 2005 01:53 PM