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With a recent repayment, I was today able to make my 11th loan via Kiva, to help someone in the developing world, help themselves. My loan of $25 was given to Susan, a 24-year-old mother of a 3-month-old baby. Susan runs a business selling spare parts, with her shop open from 7AM - 6PM, every day. Susan lives in Rwanda. Women like Susan give me hope that there is a way for Africa -- long and torturous it may be, they will be able to join the rest of the world with relative prosperity and stability. If you have some time, head over to Kiva and loan a little. in reference to: "With this additional business, Susan will hopefully earn more profits which, in turn, will allow her to start reserving for future reinvestment in her business as well as for the wellbeing of her family." - Kiva - Susan Umuganwa from Rwanda has a loan fundraising on Kiva ( view on Google Sidewiki )

Google loaded $2M in cash into the tubes, and sent it over to Wikimedia , the nonprofit that oversees Wikipedia . The donation, which matches the donation from Pierre Omidyar's from six months ago, will go the distance to ensuring Wikipedia will continue to hum along in 2010. Despite the recession, people have apparently been loosening the purse strings and sending cash Wikimedia's way. Over 240,000 have given so far this fiscal year (July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2010). While we're on the subject of giving, another worthwhile organization to give to, is the Sunshine Press -- the nonprofit that is the custodian of Wikileaks -- the organization that specializes in shining the light in darkest recesses of censorship around the world. Wikileaks provides a forum for whistle blowers to get classified, censored and otherwise lost truths, into the open. Wikileaks has been attacked by many governments, including those of the free, democratically elected type. In response, Wikilea...

I just made my 9th loan on Kiva -- with no additional funding supplied by myself. It was made from the money repaid to me by borrowers from around the world. My 9th loan, of $25, was made to a woman in the Philippines, who's raising funds to grow her farm business -- and make a better life for herself. I love the concept behind Kiva. The money I loan goes directly to the people looking for a helping hand to get themselves out of poverty and make a better life for themselves. Just this week, Kiva loans of $2.7MM was made -- that amounted to a loan made every 9 seconds. How's that for making a difference? in reference to: Kiva - Loans that change lives ( view on Google Sidewiki )

Nothing in this world is free -- especially freedom -- and that goes for those of us living in the free world . "... serves as an uncensorable and untraceable depository for the truth, able to publish documents that the courts may prevent newspapers and broadcasters from being able to touch." — In praise of... Wikileaks - The Guardian, October 20, 2009. Wikileaks , in case you don't know, is a non-profit organization, whose purpose is to out those who would steal our freedoms and subjugate us. The organization provides a platform for whistle-blowers everywhere, to get the truth out. Wikileaks isn't loved by most governments around the world. You'd first guess that places like China and Iran don't like Wikileaks. And that would be true. However, you may be surprised to learn that governments from the US, Canada, Australia, England and other first world democracies, also don't like Wikileaks. Why? Wikileaks shine light into the dark corners of these...

Google's Project 10 100 started over a year ago with a call for ideas to change the world, that will reach as many people as possible. Now the 154,000 ideas that were submitted, have been aggregated to 16, and the voting will run until Oct. 8, 2009, to select the best 5 ideas for Google's $10M seed money, and backing to implement. What a cool idea! Thanks DH, for the link.

I initially invested $100 into Kiva loans -- Kiva, the non-profit that facilitates micro-loans between lenders and those in need of loans in developing countries. Of the $100, $40.17 has been repaid. Kiva puts a lower limit of $25 increments to loan. So I could now loan another $25, dipping into my available $40.17 credit. Which is just what I tried to do, however, Kiva lenders have managed to exhaust the system. Every loan on the site is now fully funded. According to Kiva, this week alone, over $1MM was lent -- at a rate of a loan every 20-seconds. Totally cool. And sorta restores a little faith in humanity. Maybe we will make it after all. Update: 7:13PM Okie-dokie -- I just checked out Kiva again, and new folks were fundraising. I've sent $25 to Men Theary -- a 28-year-old from Battanbang province, Cambodia. She's raising funds to buy fertilizer and rice seeds for her farm, and to add to her handbag inventory (she's also a professional tailor).

Merry Christmas Toronto! And the rest of the world ... regardless of your religious affiliation. I'm not Christian, but I'm in a Christian family ... sort of ... and Christmas is an occasion we mark with friends and family. Christmas for me isn't about celebrating Big J's birthday -- because let's face it -- it's not his birthday -- it's a creation of the church, and nothing more, which coincidentally, co-opted a number of pagan celebrations. Go figure -- the church -- political. Christmas is a time however, for a little introspection -- a time to take a deep breath, regard past misdeeds with a sigh, and make promises to build an improved future in the coming year. Goodwill to everyone, and all that sort of stuff, which the world could always use a little bit more of. Which is precisely what Habitat for Humanity is all about this Christmas , for the Mpianas -- a family that fled the Congo in 2002 to find refuge in Toronto. The Mpianas were recently...

An acquaintance of my wife had a bit of an emergency recently ... he had to move out of his home in a hurry. He had to leave by Dec. 31 st , taking everything that belonged to him and find himself a new home. Normally, this would be a problem for the best of us -- short notice, fire in the hole, scramble like hell. This situation was not so normal. Imagine your worldly possessions consisting of just your clothes, your computer and personal documents. Imagine having nothing else to your name. Imagine surviving on a limited wage amounting to less than $1,000 per month. Now imagine having no sight whatsoever. Yes, visual impairment. No sight. I can't imagine what I would do. I also suspect I have limited imagination, because I never imagined what would happen next. I never imagined the kindness of complete strangers -- and friends and family of ours. It was mostly my wife's doing -- she regularly restores my faith -- my faith in human altruism. Sharing the story of a...

Limited thinking would view the poor as a burden to society, but if you buy C.K. Prahalad's bottom-of-the-pyramid theory, the 4-plus billion impoverished people in the world are a vast untapped market. If you're motivated solely by profits, you may limit your understanding of Prahalad's theory to bringing consumerism to the poor -- but if your aspirations are to close the inequalities that exist between those that have, and those that have don't, then this vast untapped market represents an opportunity to make a difference, even while eking out profits. The poster child for tapping into those at the bottom is Grameen Bank , with their micro-financing to aid those in developing nations towards self-sustainment. Helping the poor help themselves is a novel idea that is taking off in philanthropy. It's not just about throwing endless sums of money at the vacuum of need -- but about wisely investing in the poor, so they can create an economic environment where the c...