While logging in today, my eye was drawn to an ActiveRain Sponsorship banner on the right side of my screen, www.KIVA.org. It's true I'm "tighter" with the AR crew than most Rainers, if marriage to the team leader constitutes "special connections", but generally speaking, other than being my husband's confidante, I operate on a rather independent level professionally and interpersonally. My thoughts are my thoughts, so to speak.

So like every other Rainer dealing with hesitation or full blown speculation at anything new (we really like a good thing when we like a good thing, and we don't like it to change!) I didn't know what I thought about ActiveRain sponsorship when it first came out. I liked the idea of it, but simultaneously, it repulsed me. I imagined obnoxious blinking banners with dancing insects (or whatever it is I seem to come across on other sites). Would the classiness of AR go away? 

I think AR has done a superb job. I came to this realization not by an externalized imposed opinion (meaning, it wasn't just my desire to believe this), but by experiencing the benefits of sponsorship. If AR sponsorship is done right, it should result in sponsors connecting with those interested in what they offer, a "meet-up" of sorts. I had a meet-up like this myself!

Today I found KIVA, a life-inspiring non-profit organization that gives micro-loans through the help of donors to those in other countries for whom the micro-loans are a life-saver.

Recipients "apply" for micro-loans, to be used in a their small business (often one-man /woman operations) that enable them the resulting income to buy food, clothing, and provide for the imminent needs of their family. The felt result also benefits the community, thus bringing sustainable development and lasting quality of life improvements. Through their small business revenues, recipients pay the micro-loan back to KIVA, who then lends that money out again to another small business recipient.

"Make a loan, Change a life".

Micro-loans are small, and set up so that helping does not have to break the budget. I clicked over to their site, and was delightfully surprised to find that my husband had already created an account! (He sometimes uses my computer.) His information was saved on my Kiva homepage.

Not to be outdone (but mainly because I like to track my own spending and contributions, even though we share a bank account) I created my own account and donated $40 to support KIVA. (Donations start at $25, the price of a meal!) I've wanted to participate in micro-loans for two or three years now, and am excited that now they are part of my life!