Grassroots Philanthropy

During the many years I worked at Turner Broadcasting System, I witnessed Ted do some pretty impressive things -  perhaps none more admirable than his munificent $1 billion donation to the United Nations.

In my own, much smaller way, I contribute to causes I like and receive much satisfaction from it.  The other day at an Urban Solutions Advisory Board luncheon I became aware of  Kiva Zip another enterprise I will now support and invite you to learn more about.

Since leaving the Big Corporate world a number of years ago I have had the opportunity to meet  many fine small business entrepreneurs, some whose business are so small, so new, that the prospect of obtaining a traditional small business loan is dim and can be demoralizing.

Enter Kiva Zip! This is a project through which borrowers and obtain zero interest loans (up to $10,000) directly via the internet. Register as a lender and for as little as $25 you can help a small business of your choosing. According to the Kiva Zip website, to date 71,537 individual lenders have loaned over $11.6 million to 11,547 small businesses (with an 88.7% repayment rate). Impressive.  

I've made my first Kiva Zip small business loan to a Polk Street florist trying to raise $10,000 to improve the store environment and purchase a new computer system. I figure helping her benefits me as well by having another pleasant storefront as part of my urban landscape. Check out this link and you can see other lending opportunities - hopefully one or more that you'd like to support.

Thanks for reading!

p.s. As is my custom, I leave you with with a song which I've always tried to select with some relationship to my post - even if it is only obliquely so - as it surely is in this case. The Grass Roots, a 60's band. The song wasn't very high on my play list and I was going to continue to search but when I saw that the introduction was by the wonderful Jimmy Durante I just had to use it.