Two Chickens and a Goat

One of my very favorite things to do at the Christmas season is to give one special gift to a charity of my choice. For several years now, that has been World Vision.

Not only does World Vision have an excellent record of accountability in use of funds. The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability reports that 87% of the funds collected go for programs. 9% is spent on fundraising, and 5% on administration. World Vision was one of the charter members of the EFCA in 1979, when 150 religious organizations recognized that people wanted to know which non-local groups could be trusted to use donated funds responsibly.

Over the years, I have donated to them from time to time. But a few years ago, World Vision launched a Gift Catalog style of giving. You can select items from this catalog to purchase, and these will be delivered to people in need. This approach really speaks to me. I can have some level of control over how I am helping in a small way to change people's lives.

There are many types of gifts. Various farm animals are popular. Clean water delivery is another great choice (filters, shares in a deep well, etc). You can buy shelters for people; help girls attend school; provide agricultural tools, seeds, or fruit trees; participate in small business loans; or donate to emergency relief funds. These are general categories, but within those topics, there are choices for anyone who has as little as $25, or thousands, to give.

You can pay by credit card, or they recently added a PayPal option. They do send a paper catalog to previous givers, but everything is also online. I enjoy looking through the catalog and choosing what I want to give at a particular time, based on my budget. I know that whatever I choose, it will be just the right gift.


This year, I chose two chickens and a goat. World Vision says "we've paired these most popular animals... so you can provide a steady supply of eggs, milk, and meat to feed children and transform lives. It's the best $100 you'll ever spend."

See World Vision
See EFCA report on World Vision

web ad income Dec 7 (4 blogs, 2 web sites, writing): Adsense $.05 Adgitize $.83 Project Wonderful $.02 Clixsense $.10 My Survey $.15 Neobux $.04 ______________________ Total: $1.19

Kiva Goes International... er... US National

Kiva has expanded their reach today by loaning money to entrepreneurs in the United States. Previously, their success in providing small business loans around the world has become renowned.

Kiva does not loan money directly. However, they work with partner organizations which identify valid requests for micro-loans. Their success has been in making it easy for anyone, via the internet, to donate as little as $25 to help someone else. 98% of all loans are repaid.

I personally have had a Kiva account for about two years. I first loaned money to help a man open a grocery store in Cambodia. That loan was repaid, and now I am helping a woman in Viet Nam open a tailoring shop. I don't have much money myself, but I love helping other people who really appreciate it!

You earn no interest; this is not an "investment" in that sense. It is an investment in the lives of people. You may donate to cover administration costs if you wish.

And now, people in the US can receive Kiva funding. The United States Field Partners currently are Opportunity Fund and ACCION USA. Kiva's web site states, "Kiva is a global organization and seeks to provide working capital to entrepreneurs all over the world. Poverty exists in every country, including the United States, and Kiva hopes to address poverty wherever it exists."

I encourage anyone with a desire to help others to check out Kiva.

Kiva

Free Rice and Word Fun!

Here's a great way to have some word fun, stretch your brain and help feed someone- all for FREE!

Free Rice shows you a word and you try to match the definition from four choices, in English. The game quickly adapts to the level of your vocabulary skills. If you get one wrong the correct answer is shown. If you keep playing after you get a few wrong those words will appear again soon giving you the chance to reinforce their correct meaning.

For every answer you get correct 10 grains of rice will be donated to help fight world hunger. I know this doesn't sound like much, but the grains multiply quickly. I just played this morning, for only a few minutes, and made it to 160 grains. I just weighed that many grains and it was 0.2 of an ounce, enough to register on my kitchen scale. Think about hundreds of people doing that every day! In fact, as of today, they say that over 65 billion grains have been donated. A simple calculation puts that at over 5 million pounds donated!

And there are other categories of learning. You can also try English Grammmar. You can try learning French, German, Italian or Spanish. Like Art? Try identifying famous paintings! Other subjects are Pre-algebra math, and the multiplication tables- let your kids brush up on their math skills and help feed children around the globe! In Geography you can identify countries on a map, or be quizzed on world capitals. There is also a quiz on the symbols for chemical elements.

I'm adding a permanent link to this great resource in the sidebar of this blog. FreeRice.com

I'll post the May income totals soon