Simple Suggestion #189 ... Give a gift that makes a difference

What do you want for Christmas this year? Is it something you really need? I could use some new oven mitts -- but if I'm totally honest, the ones I have still work just fine (though they're a bit worn and kind of ugly from past baking "accidents"). And the rest of the stuff on my Christmas wish list isn't really essential to my well-being, either -- or anyone else's, for that matter.

So I'm thinking I should be more like my mom. For our family Christmas exchange, she put "men's briefs" on her Christmas wish list. Not because she's odd that way, but because she knows that there's always a shortage of underwear for homeless guys who visit the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Clothing Room where she volunteers.

What if everybody on the planet gave/asked for gifts that made the world a better place for others, not just for themselves? Here's a funny little video in that vein to make us all think!

There are many organizations that provide necessary items to those who need them -- in our own back yard or in the developing world. Even better are those organizations that help people to help themselves, like microloan groups.

If Kid President (who is pointing his viewers to Unicef's inspired gifts.org website) has you thinking, here are a few more websites worth a visit:

Donate toward housing a family (Habitat for Humanity)

Give a microloan to help someone make a living (Kiva.org)

Donate toward justice issues in the developing world (Development and Peace)

Give an education (Mennonite Central Committee)

Donate food producing livestock (Food for the Hungry)

Give the gift of food (Canadian Foodgrains Bank)

Donate water  (Plan Canada)

So here's a note to the person who has my name in our family gift exchange: Ignore everything I may have told you that I want for Christmas. I'd be happy to receive a donation to any of the above organizations! Or, some men's underwear...

P.S. Looking for more Simple Suggestions? Click here.

Simple Christmas idea #13 -- Make a micro-loan gift

Sharing our abundance...

I've already moodled this idea before, but it's worth repeating: if we really want to "live simply so others may simply live," it's always a good thing to share our abundance with those less fortunate. One of my favourite ways to do this is through a micro-loan organization. The idea of giving small loans with very low interest to entrepreneurs in the developing world is catching on more and more, and it's easy for us to join in!

The thing is that people who are poor don't exactly have any collateral to offer in exchange for a bank loan. Providing proof of steady employment and a verifiable credit history are pretty much impossible for a woman with a family in a small village in Africa, so how can she be expected to apply for traditional credit to start her own business? Just the interest rates alone may sink her. And interest rates applied to the developing world by our developed world are a huge part of the reason that our brothers and sisters in developing countries are so far behind us in their standard of living.

There are those who question charging interest at all... but after years and years of sending donations to people in the developing world, we are realizing that free money creates an unhealthy imbalance between donor and recipient. Giving a loan at an interest rate that is easily repaid, however, allows for both sides to feel good about their efforts. Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank in India, understood that people feel better when they repay a loan rather than receive charity. He received a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering efforts in microfinance, and the award brought his work into the limelight -- after he'd been at it for 30 years! He began in 1976, lending small amounts of his own money at low interest to help rural people start their own businesses. 35 years later, there are many organizations that do the same. Punch microloans into your favourite browser, and see how many hits come up!

My own experience has been through www.kiva.org. In 2009, a friend gave my daughters each $25 for Christmas to invest through Kiva. Since then, they've recouped their money twice, and will soon be able to reinvest again because a Sewing co-operative in Paraguay has almost repaid one loan. A music store owner in Honduras and a food store operator in Liberia are doing alright, too.

What we really like is that we're not sending money away and never hearing whether our donation made a difference. We can see that it did, and that makes us want to continue our microfinance efforts.

If you're interested in giving an entrepreneur in the developing world a low-interest loan, there are many organizations with whom to work. I know that Kiva works well, but if you've given through another organization and can recommend the experience, I'd love to hear about it. Any way that we can share resources with our brothers and sisters in the developing world is a project worth taking on!

#78 of 100 Simple Suggestions... Invest in "Micro-loan" organizations

If we really want to "live simply so others may simply live," it's always a good thing to share our abundance with those less fortunate. One of my favourite ways to do this is through a micro-loan organization. The idea of giving small loans with very low interest to entrepreneurs in the developing world is catching on. Even Oprah did a show about microfinance before she "retired."

The thing is that people who are poor don't exactly have any collateral to offer in exchange for a bank loan. Providing proof of steady employment and a verifiable credit history are pretty much impossible for a woman with a family in a small village in Africa, so how can she be expected to apply for traditional credit to start her own business? Just the interest rates alone may sink her. And interest rates applied to the developing world by our developed world are a huge part of the reason that our brothers and sisters in developing countries are so far behind us in their standard of living.

There are those who question charging interest at all... but after years and years of sending donations to people in the developing world, we are realizing that free money creates an unhealthy imbalance between donor and recipient. Giving a loan at an interest rate that is easily repaid, however, allows for both sides to feel good about their efforts. Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank in India, understood that people feel better when they repay a loan rather than receive charity. He received a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering efforts in microfinance, and the award brought his work into the limelight -- after he'd been at it for 30 years! He began in 1976, lending small amounts of his own money at low interest to help rural people start their own businesses. 35 years later, there are many organizations that do the same. My girlfriend's sister started Shanti Microfinance, a successful organization in the UK that encourages socially conscious technology companies to invest in the small businesses of people in Gujarat province in India.

My own experience has been through www.kiva.org. In 2009, a friend gave my daughters each $25 for Christmas to invest through Kiva. We looked at the website and made loans to three different people -- a hairdresser in Senegal, a would-be shop owner in Togo, and a seamstress in Uganda.  By the following Christmas, the loans had been repaid, and the girls reinvested in people in Azerbaijan, Ghana, and Pakistan. What's really neat is that we can track the progress of our entrepreneurs online. If all goes well, we'll be repaid again by Christmas this year.

Here's our successful hairdresser friend.

What I really like is that we're not sending money away and never hearing whether our donation made a difference. We can see that it did, and that makes us want to continue our microfinance efforts.

If you're interested in giving an entrepreneur in the developing world a low-interest loan, there are many organizations with whom to work. Here are just a few:

www.care.org (Care -- "Fighting Poverty, Defending Dignity")

www.swwb.org (Women's World Banking -- "Investing in Women, Transforming Lives")

www.kiva.org ("Empower people around the world with a $25 loan")

I'll add more as I discover them, or if you know of others, let me know. In the meantime, happy lending!

P.S. Looking for more Simple Suggestions? Try here.

An excellent gift idea

Let's face it -- in North America, a lot of us have everything we need and more than we want... so Christmas giving is unnecessary, except for the fact that we desire to recognize the important people in our lives with some sort of gift. So what do we do?

Here's one of my favourite ideas, passed along last Christmas by my friend, Cathy. She sent each of my daughters a $25 Kiva.org gift card via the internet. Kiva is an amazing organization that relies on donors to make contributions toward micro loans that enable people in the developing world to start businesses that support them and their families. My girls went to the Kiva website and were able to view all sorts business opportunities and the people who were asking for assistance to get them started. They were delighted to choose to donate their "gifts" to help a hairstylist and two grocers in Senegal, Togo and Uganda.

The wonderful thing about Kiva is that we've gotten regular updates on the business people the girls sponsored, and all but $4.48 of the money invested last Christmas has been paid back. The girls are able to sponsor new people with the original monies they received, and will have the fun of choosing and learning about them all over again. A Kiva gift truly keeps on giving, and that's way better than an ugly tie or a box of chocolates!

http://www.kiva.org/