If you haven’t signed up for Kiva yet, you should. Right now.
Here – go. Use this link. I’ll wait.
Why? You can give a free trial loan! How amazing is that? At the last time I checked (10:20 PM) there were still 28,553 free trials.
What is Kiva you ask? Well this is from their “about” page:
We are a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world. Learn more about how it works.
I can’t believe Kiva was (only) started in 2005. Kiva is a 501c3 and it allows you to help someone in an extremely passive way. You can either donate, or you can loan money. And if you choose the latter, you’re [generally] likely to get your money back. It’s more of a sure thing than not.
I won’t say much more about it, other than, if you’ve never signed up before, now is a great time. Even if you don’t do anything else with it in the future, at least you can give someone $25 to help them make their life better at zero cost to yourself!