Hi, all.
The blog entry I wrote on Monday entitled Making a Difference in the World is part of a blogging challenge for a charity called Vittana. Vittana had some technical issues earlier this week, so I just got the language to insert at the bottom of the blog entry. I checked the charity before participating to make sure it is legit. I welcome all of you to do the same and let me know if you find anything of concern.
Nobody should feel pressured to participate in the challenge, but I want to invite anyone to participate who **wants** to do so. In a nutshell, you loan money (I believe the minimum loan is $25) to a specific college student in a third world country who doesn’t have the funds to complete college. (You choose the student yourself — profiles are online.) College costs as low as $2 a day in some of these countries, so at $25 loan is a HUGE contribution (versus here in America where that barely buys you a cup of coffee!).
After the student graduates, he or she pays you back. From my research online, it looks like the repayment rate is in the 97-99% range, which is incredible to me! Then, you can withdraw your repayment or apply it to toward another student. I plan to do this myself (although I need to get my kid to school right now — I want to take my time in choosing which student to sponsor).
Again, NOBODY should feel pressured to participate. I am choosing to participate in making a loan and blogging about making a difference because I believe this is a worthy cause. This blog’s primary focus is healing, not fundraising, so feel free to ignore this opportunity if you don’t feel drawn to it.
Photo credit: Hekatekris
Blooming Lotus 
Great find. I will consider it.
peace,
m
I do kinda the same thing with KIVA. Which is for business. History has taught me that that a prosperous society becomes educated not that an educated society becomes prosperous, that an individual who is more educated than others from the same socioeconomic group will be more prosperous than others in the same group if and only if the society is prosperous.
I came to this conclusion in college and it seems to correlate to the current economic value of a college education.
It is not that I do not respect the intangible value of a educated mind to society more that without prosperity it has little effect as the focus is on making a living.
My theory would seem to fall apart in the face of the wealthy oil rich nations it does not. That part of those societies that became wealthy became educated after becoming wealthy and it did not benefit that society as a whole.
Either cause is a much better use of money than those where 95% of the money goes to those that administrate it. I started watching this with Ducks Unlimited. I did some work for one of the administrators..
Hi, Michael.
I, too, was appalled to find out that some of my favorite charities spend a high percentage of their donations on administrative costs. I stopped donating to those charities for that reason. (Side note — For those of you who donate to Isurvive, all of that money goes into the site. I am on the Board of Directors, which is an unpaid position, and we cannot get the two site directors to take a dime for their efforts.)
I chose to sponsor someone through Vittana going into a field that I believe will benefit her country. I doubt she will get rich if she stays in her country, but I think her degree will provide her with a way to support herself and will bring value to her country. That’s how I made my decision about which student to sponsor. :0)
~ Faith
I like how you think. Actually I like that you can and do. Smile
Why not consider supporting a local charity, like St. Jude for children, or preventing child abuse?
Hi, iwanniedie.
I encourage everyone to give where he or she feels led and not give anywhere you do not. I have set up this blog as an Amazon affiliate, and 100% of the donations are direct deposited into Isurvive’s bank account. (In case you don’t know this, Isurvive is a charity for child abuse survivors.)
As an educator, I felt drawn to this charity. You may not, and this is completely fine. :0)
~ Faith