Friday morning and how nice to get an email from Kiva.com.
It was good news indeed:-
1. What seems like a short time ago, I was one of a few people who lent Enebish Dashtseren $25 and to date I have been repaid $23.12 which I am now able to lend to someone else !
2. I had also been one of a group of people who lent $25 to Elsa Fabria who has paid back $4 of the loan so far.
3. That means I have $27.38 in my Kiva Account, so today I can lendanother $25 to one person, and I will increase my Loan Fund by another$25 like I did last month, because I can see this working !
Since I joined I have lent $75, and had $31 paid back so I can lendit again. Thats the wonder of Kiva, you lend money to help people, theypay it back, and then you lend it again. Its been very satisfying froma personal point of view, and made possible because of the technologythat kiva are using and the excelent communication they manage.
Why not take a look at Kiva and see how you could help ?
Coming back to the office after a holiday normally means a stack ofemails to catch up on and even some post ! And of course all thosethings that need doing that probably should have been done before theholiday !
A welcome email on my return was my first email from www.kiva.org updating me on the status of the loan that was made to Elsa Fabria for her food product business in the Philippines.
I was one of five lenders who each lent $25, totaling $125 to help Elsa in her business venture.
My email from Kiva advised me that the first repayment had beenmade, but more to the point that I could now lend this repayment toanother worthy venture.
I think this is the attraction of supporting Kiva, You lend somemoney, you help some one, you get the money paid back, you lend itagain, you help someone again.
So I was inspired to increase my lending fund a little, and I will be making another loan.
In the meantime, please feel free to join our team on Kiva and lets see how much we can lend and help together.
Its good to be back in the office, but its going to be a few days before I catch up !
Thanks to Dennis Howlett I was introduced to Kiva whose mission is
to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty
Dennis was chatting on Twitter about attending the London Go Game For Good which looked like great fun if your free on August the 15th.
I had seen Kiva a while back and had, as you do, forgotten all aboutit, so I had to make myself join up today, lend the first bit of moneyand set up a Team so that maybe in the future other people will join in and together we can see what impact we have had.
I think the real attraction here is that you can lend money, let ithave an impact, get it back, and then relend it. That seems an amazingway of helping, and if I could build up a nice little lending fundmaybe I could have fun watching the impact and joining in, as well ascontributing in a tax deductible manner !
So you will see the banner ad if you scroll down , its on the left and please feel free to join our team, BFCA Professional Network, if you become a member of Kiva.
Personally I am still amazed at what can be achieved today, with afew clicks of the mouse you can join an organisation, lend a smallamount of money to them, join a community on Face Book, join in withfriends to do some more, and its all on the internet !
Ah well, back to work......
The World Vision Week for Children starts today, the 8th June 2009 and I had an email to say:-
World Vision's Week for Children is fast approaching,and as one of our invaluable supporters, you can help us to make aneven bigger difference - simply by spreading the news.
You already know sponsoring a child helps to provide them with a brighter future, but as always, more are in need of help.
All we ask is that you tell five friends about World Vision's Weekfor Children and the Channel Five reports. If each person who receivesyour email considers sponsorship and forwards it onto five more friendswho consider sponsorship, it will be a huge success - meaning and moreand more children can expect a better start in life. So why not simplyforward this email on to five of your friends right now?
I have sponsored a child for a while, and I can say that it is anincredibly rewarding experience. As Dorothy has learned to write andexpress herself her letters, although simple, have meant something eachtime they arrive. Before she could write herself , her guardians wouldwrite as her parents are unable too.
I have Dorothy's photo on my desk at work, it is something I feltwould mean that I didnt just sponsor and forget her, but include her inmy daily life. There are days where it has done me a great deal of goodto sit back and remember one of the lines from her letters
it is very hot here and so we have to spend most of the day in our hut
If anything it helps me keep things in perspective.
For UK Taxpayers World Vision is a registered charity and so willclaim Gift Aid on your sponsorship. For your Limited Company thecharitable donation would be a deductible expense against profits.
Here are some more details about World Vision.
World Vision launches its Week for Children on Monday, aiming tofind new sponsors for children living in some of the world’s poorestcountries.
The organisation has teamed up with Channel Five, who will show aseries of special reports during their flagship five o’clock newsbulletin from 8 June.
Focusing on health, and specifically the five main killers ofunder-fives, the reports will highlight the issue of the nine millionchildren who die each year from preventable illnesses.
The reports will also show the positive difference that sponsorship can make for children living in developing countries.
World Vision aims to attract 5,000 new sponsors during the Week for Children
Click here to find out more about sponsoring a child.
You can also see World Vision on Face*book and Twitter
We had a bit of fun on Friday 13th 2009 at the European Operations Centre raising £185 for Red Nose Day 2009.
Thanks to everyone who took part.
It is still not too late to donate direct to Red Nose Day.
The Digital Red Nose Gallery did not have any takers, so it has been taken off the knowledgebase :-)
By Phil Richards
We will be raising money for Comic Relief on Red Nose Day , Friday 13th March.
In our European operations Centre we having a "Free Lunch" , thecompany is providing lunch and all our team are donating whatever theycan.
Entertainment is being provided by Luke Dimech who has raised over€100 by being sponsored to have his legs waxed, thanks Luke :-) So ifyou feel like giving some money to Red Nose Day then please sponsor Luke .
This year sees the introduction of the Digital Red Nose which youcan buy for just £1, all you have to do is upload a photo and chooseyour nose, and you can do that here.
If you send me your digital red nose photos and I will publish them on our 2009 Digital Red Nose Gallery
By Phil Richards
Thanks to everyone who sponsored me for the World Vision 24hr famine, I didnt find it easy but I made it.
I raised £50 which has gone direct to World Vision which is enough to buy 13,661 condoms for the people of Ranjat, Jaipur.
In case you missed it here is the reason behind the 24hr famine and here is the original blog post.
And just in case you can donate to help buy more condoms pleaseclick on the image below, JustGiving is a great system where you candonate money and it goes straight to World Vision, it’s a great time tothis if you are a higher rate tax payer as you will get the tax reliefon the donation in the 2008-09 tax year :-)
Thank You
By Phil Richards
.jpg "World Vision")
This year’s official 24 Hour Famine weekend is fast approaching.
On 13th February I will be going without food to make a difference to the Rajnat community in Jaipur, India.
You can see a video all about why this is happening on the World Famine Page
Update on 13th February:
Todays the day ! Last night I watched the full story from the World Famine Page itsan 18 minute video that you need to download. ( The video on the pageis a cut down 8 minute video that disnt tell me enough !).
I was amazed at the plight of the Ranjat people (I know there aremany more people sufferring in many parts of the world ). The thingthat really struck me was the complete lack of choice the women seem toaccept and grow up with from childhood which leads them to their poorlifestyle which they do dislike. I was also impressed with WorldVision's attempt to encourage change with Education and Economic Power( ie. create choice through knowledge and alternative incomepossibilities ).
Please click on the image below, JustGiving is a great system whereyou can donate money and it goes straight to World Vision, it's a greattime to this if you are a higher rate tax payer as you will get the taxrelief on the donation in the 2008-09 tax year :-)
Thank You
By Phil Richards
Last Christmas, instead of sending Christmas cards, Blevins Franksmade an equal donation to the 'Hurungwe Area Development Programme' inZimbabwe.
The money donated bought 500 exercise books and chalk for schools within the area of the project.
The project which is co-ordinated by World Vision is to help thepeople of Hurungwe which is a remote rural area 300km north of Harare. The people there are subsistence farmers who often struggle to growenough food.
Since the introduction of 'child sponsorship', a programme isunderway for constructing schools, clinics and water pumps. People arebeing trained to dig healthy pit-latrines as poor sanitation is thecause of many illnesses.
World Vision is supporting awareness activities that will reduce thehigh rate of HIV infection in the region. The many orphans aresupported in continuing their schooling.
Project staff are training local leaders to develop their community,providing them with the skills required to teach local people bettermethods of crop production to enable them to earn a better living.
We received a personal note of thanks together with a photograph of some of the children in receipt of the donation (see below).
For further information on World Vision and it's sponsorship programme please visit www.worldvision.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.15
Charity Donations made to a Registered UK charity are tax deductible against the profits in your business.