Description: Kiva.org connects people with low-income entrepreneurs in the developing world through loans. By investing in their businesses, people empower these entrepreneurs to achieve economic independence.

Mission: Kiva.org exists to alleviate global poverty, and does so by bringing together low-income entrepreneurs in the developing world and people looking to participate in the fight against global poverty. The idea for Kiva was born in 2004 when the founders were working with a microfinance institution in Uganda. They were amazed by the powerful, positive impact of microfinance, but saw no way to participate themselves (they had $50 to loan to a Ugandan farmer, but how?). Kiva.org believes that empowering the poor to work their way towards economic independence is a sustainable way in which to fight global poverty.