kivaI've been blogging over a year now (eep!) and one of the biggest things I've noticed is that as a whole, bloggers are actually pretty nice people. With a few obvious exceptions, most bloggers will help you with any problems you're having (both technical and emotional), offering whatever advice they can free of charge. And happy to do it too.

But besides freely giving advice, a lot of bloggers seem to be into the whole charity scene too, whether it's hosting An Act of Kindness contest, blogging 24 hours straight for a real good cause, or making a huge difference in a complete stranger's life with a small selfless act. I'm seriously impressed by the tremendous amount of selflessness out there in the blogosphere. And I'm happy to say that we're finally doing a small part ourselves to help other's in need.

I don't normally like making these types of posts, but I'm really excited about a new program that Ultimate Coupons founder (and my high school buddy) Jeff just signed us up for. It's a company called Kiva, and basically they help you "connect with and loan money to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world." For just a minimum of $25, you can help give a loan to ambitious people around the world who can barely make ends meet, but just need that little help to get started. Through Kiva, you can pick the exact person you want your money to go towards, and they actually show photos, give some background information and even regularly update you on the person's progress, including how their business is doing and how much of your loan they've paid back.

So while you can view this as a charitable donation, it really is a loan that more often than you think is actually paid back. Which you can then use to help someone else out and so on. What I really like about Kiva is, unlike mailing a check into some Breast Cancer Awareness organization where you have no clue where your funds are actually going (and sadly with a lot of charities, many can go right back into funds for mailings asking for more contributions), with Kiva, you see exactly where your money's going.

We actually have a Lender Page for Ultimate Coupons, where you (and me) can track where we've lent our money out, and follow all these great stories. Like Nguyen Thi Lich from Vietnam, a widow with three children who's trying to raise funds to buy some piglets. Or Sona Oeu from Cambodia, who's looking to raise money for cloth and a new sewing machine.

These are all real people just trying to get by one day at a time. And reading just a few of their bios helps put everything into perspective. It's a pretty big world out there, which is sure easy to forget most days as I sit here in my nice comfy home office typing this post on one of my two computers.