Thanks for your vote, it's very much appreciated.

On the subject of credibility of some of these orgs, I feel that's always going to be an issue and it's not just confined to MFIs, but to the internet in general. But that's a topic way too big for this thread.

Thanks so much for your vote. Fingers and eyes crossed that I win!

Mike

I run an initiative called Help From Home http://www.helpfromhome.org/ that promotes and encourages people to micro-volunteer from their own home via it’s tagline of, ‘Change the world in just your pyjamas’!

Micro-finance is just one of the ways in which people can help others and as part of HFH’s remit to get people to think about others the HFH site contains links to many other micro-finance sites which I hope you’ll check out. You’ll probably know most of them but if there’s any orgs that you know about that aren’t included in the list then please let me know. I’m after sites like Kiva, ie, you lend money + get paid back or the interest earned on your capital goes to good causes.
http://www.helpfromhome.org/links-goodcauses-microlending.htm

Just so that you know, Kiva is missing from this list as it serves as the main link into the above list from another page on the HFH website.

On another issue, I wondered if you guys and gals might consider voting for me in the prestigious UK TalkTalk Digital Heroes competition. I'm one of the 3 shortlisted people for the Wales region in TalkTalk's Digital Heroes competition for my efforts to promote micro-volunteering through my initiative Help From Home.

Would appreciate your support and if you're so inclined, you may wish to vote for me, Mike Bright, here 
http://www.talk-talk.mirror.co.uk/region-wales.htm

No registration needed, just vote and go! Voting ends Nov 12, 2010

This would be a huge break for me if I won, as the prize money and the 'opening of doors' that winning this comp would bring, would be used to set up schemes to promote micro-volunteering to school kids (Help From School), the responsible tourist market (Help From Holiday) and prisons. I already promote it to office workers and care home residents as well as to people within their own homes.

Thanks so much in advance.

Mike

Here's a few ideas for promoting the concept of Kiva:

Humour emails
1) Almost everybody receives humour emails which have been passed onto them by somebody they know, who in turn passes it on to somebody they know.  Most people don’t consider this as spam, so it seems OK to send it on.  Why not put Kiva’s message and link at the bottom of the email and then pass the email on.  Maybe, just maybe the humour email will in turn get passed on, which in turn gets passed on etc, etc.  There is a potential here for the number of people eyeballing Kiva’s message to be enormous.

Post-It Notes
2) Could you do something similar to what this person is doing with post-it notes http://thingsweforget.blogspot.com.  Basically she/he writes inspirational messages on post-it notes and then just leaves them in public places.  Why not write Kiva’s message and web address on a post-it note and leave it in a public place like a shop, library, bus etc etc. 

Door Knob
3) Could you leave a simple message advertising Kiva by your doorbell or letter plate.  There is a potential for people to read it whilst they are waiting for you to answer the door.

Hope thats helpful to you Kivans.
Mike

I have just come back from a holiday in Cape Town. Whilst there, I saw groups of volunteers picking up litter from the streets. They wore high visibilty jackets ie. those flourescant-ish yellow or orange jackets so beloved of building site workers, which had a message on it's back that said 'Street Clean Volunteer – Jesus Saves Lives'. To me they were trying to associate a beneficial community action with the perceived good that comes from believing in Jesus Christ. To put it another way, if you're proud of doing good in the world, then you would be proud of becoming a Christian. Association by an act of kindness.

What if the message on the jacket said 'Street Clean Volunteer – Kiva.org – Loans that Save Lives'. Again, the association of a kind act would resonate with the good that Kiva does. Pick an area where there's plenty of traffic and instantly, you've got a huge number of eyes looking at the Kiva message.

As it's already being done in Cape Town, then I see no reason why a group of 'Kivans' can't set it up in their local area as well.

Mike

Ever heard of Idea Portal websites. They exist for people to post their ideas on many topics, so that others may benefit from them either financially or altruistically. A few of these type of websites have categories devoted to charity, social or community ideas. Maybe if I post some links to some of these websites, somebody might see an idea that although unrelated to Kiva could be adapted to help Kiva. I hope that if you think of anything, that you'll post it to the Forum here.

Global Ideas Bank - http://www.globalideasbank.org/site/home/
Click on 'The Ideas Bank' tab at top of page and then choose your category

UnLtd Ideas Bank - http://www.unltdideasbank.org.uk/site/home/

HalfBakery - http://www.halfbakery.com/category/Public
Click on categories like 'Charity', Charity - Small Change' etc., etc.

Ideawicket - http://www.ideawicket.com/index
Click on 'Categories' tab at the top of page. Then maybe 'Miscellaneous' or 'Social'

Whynot - http://www.whynot.net/
Click on 'Communities' or 'Non Profit'

Creativity Pool - http://www.creativitypool.com/
Click on 'Society + Welfare' category to the left of the page

Thinkspotting - http://www.thinkspotting.com/

IdeaBobber - http://www.ideabobber.com/homepage/index.php
Click on category 'Charity' to the left of the web page

Cambrian House - http://www.cambrianhouse.com/
Do a search for 'Charity' in the Search box to the left of the page

Mike
 

I did look into designing one, by using some of the book cover design software out there but not being anywhere near proficient or skilled at being creative, I thought it would be better if someone who has more skill than me to come up with something. Hopefully that person will be able to upload it in .pdf format to the Downloads section of this Forum for everybody else to use. I realise that there are many different book formats out there, so this might not be as easy a task as it first seems - or perhaps it's just me not knowing too much about designing things.

Anyway, if nobody has a go at it, then I'll give it a go, but don't expect anything anytime soon - I'm a busy person these days. Gosh, my last post was on Aug 29, 2007 - that's how busy I am!

Mike

Design a book cover that proclaims the message of Kiva.  You can then replace the book cover of the book you’re currently reading with the Kiva one.  This idea is useful for these people that travel on public transport, where fellow passengers may have the opportunity to read your book cover and hopefully visit the Kiva website, which would be prominently displayed on the cover.

Mike

Thanks for your kind words of my idea. Regarding your Suggestion Box suggestion - well I didn't even know there was a category called this until I read your reply. Maybe some kind soul who moderates this board could move this thread to that category - I know they can because somebody did it to one of my posts recently about bequeathing Kiva certificates in wills.

Mike

Congrats Ramon, for persevering with this idea. Wonderful to see so many hits to your listing and potentially (although you'll prolly never know) more recruits to Kiva. Ha ra!

Mike