Moron Enterprises

My brother works for a company that writes Internet-based software for non profit organizations. The company is a for profit company, but I am always fascinated by the fact that their market consists of solely non profit organizations that want to be online.

A lot of people make excuses for not giving, and I’ve used the same excuses at times. Giving is nice, but when you have to go out of your way to give, it gets pushed to the back burner. The Internet is a great tool to raise awareness for causes that need funding and to help facilitate that funding.

I was reading an issue of Fortunate magazine, and there is a new type of fund raising that has been popping up on the Internet. They work off the concept of micro loans, which is nothing new, but the twist is that these loans don’t get paid back with any interest, and sometimes the original dollar amount is never returned. These companies are betting that people are more interesting in helping out and knowing how their giving helps, than in making more money.

Kiva.org has the goal of eradicating poverty in the world by helping out businesses in developing countries. They do this by connecting people that want to give with people that need money to develop their businesses. Donations are used to finance business plans with 0% interest loans, which are paid off like any other loan. In exchange for the loan, Kiva gives updates on the business plan as it progresses. Once the loan is paid off, the original donation can be collected, donated to another cause, or donated to the Kiva team. Most people keep their donations in circulation.

DonorsChoose.org is geared specifically towards education projects. Funds given to this organization, however, do not come back. They are true donations. Donors Choose tries to pick up where the public school system leaves off. A list of school needs are listed on their website so you can choose which projects to fund. You will receive updates on the project to see how the donations ended up helping. I think I’d be more inclined to donate to unusual projects like a salmon conservation project for a biology class. Although probably not as fundamentally important as teaching kids to read, the updates you would receive would be much more interesting.

So there are two options with many more existing I’m sure. You now have easy options to make this world a better place. Get to it.