Kiva's tag line is "loans that change lives", and that's exactly what they provide. It's a unique non-profit public benefit corporation that connects good Samaritans that are willing to give with entrepreneurs and businesses in developing countries that are in need. During the typical 6-12 months of a loan, lenders will receive periodic email journal updates from the sponsored business. The loans are interest free for the recipient and provide no financial return on investment for the lenders.

Kiva is using the power of the internet to facilitate one-to-one connections that were previously prohibitively expensive. Child sponsorship has always been a high overhead business. Kiva creates a similar interpersonal connection at much lower costs due to the instant, inexpensive nature of internet delivery. The individuals featured on our website are real people who need a loan and waiting for socially-minded individuals like you to lend them money.

Kiva is a great idea that harnesses the power of the internet and its users. Business and entrepreneurs, both large and small, can receive the money from a lot of people willing to give a little money. It's great to see a service like this, whose aim isn't to be the next company bought by Yahoo or Google.

A commenter has informed us that Kiva does not charge interest to its microfinance institution partners, but those partners charge interest to the entrepreneurs. Thanks for the correction.