I have been looking at DRIPs (Direct Re-Investment Plans) lately. This looks like a better investment.
I'll coin the phrase DROPs (Direct Re-Investment Opportunity for Poverty) to describe Mike Murray's objectives.
Do you know that only 2% of philanthropy in the US goes outside the US.
With a $100 loan, a woman can purchase a water bucket & a dairy
cow. It will take 2 years to pay off this loan. By 7 years
she will be self-sustaining and her family will be able to go to
school. Her family will break the cycle.
Over 7 years seems like such a long time for the 30-second MTV
generation. How can we do this faster? (hope I quoted him
right on that)
How do we get this money to the people, and be sure it gets
there? Paypal? Mail? The journalists who risk their
lives every day, like Kevin Sites?
The aid workers who have access to the Internet? Eco-tourists who want
to give a little extra? Are there banks or money transfer stations
people can go to? How does this get distributed?
How do we see the results of our donations? Some ideas. The Million Dollar Home Page becomes full of people's joyful faces for each hundred dollar loan. Digg
becomes a list of different testimonials from the field on how people
will use the money, with dugg people receiving more loans. Slashdot, well, Slashdot better not change.
Microfinance is a great idea that sounds like it just may work.
Read this book if you want to open your eyes to the world of insurmountable poverty.
Not so much agreeing with that Smurf Video though. There are many other ways to get your point across with positive messages. Here are a couple.
Click. Click.
