Categories
life meta pictures technology

Kiva

For those who wish to help others but who have limited means to do so Kiva provides an opportunity to give a little (as little as $25) and help people around the world who have business plans to lift themselves up economically. Loans from individuals get pooled as necessary to fund people. I have been very impressed with this system that allows people to help others by using small means to make great things happen.

I was very happy to take the opportunity to take the code written by Connor Boyack and turn it into the Kiva plugin for WordPress so that people can raise the visibility of Kiva by displaying loans in the fundraising stage with a link to donate.

version 1.1 (2/10/2009)
More options over which loans to show

Latest Version 1.2 (2/27/2009)
You can now use a text widget with the shortcode SHOW-KIVA (enclosed in square brackets – []) to display the Kiva plugin in a widgetized sidebar.

Options include:

  • Number of posts to show.
  • Display format for loan list – Image only displays the image for each loan linked to the donation page, Both displays the image and text information, Text only displays name(linked to the donation page), business, country, and fundraising level/goal for the loan.
  • Gender – you can restrict to only show loans for men or loans for women.
  • Region – you can show loans only in one of 7 geographic regions.
  • Sector – you can only show certain types of loans such as retail or agriculture.

To install it simply unzip the file linked above and save it in your plugins directory under wp-content. In the plugin manager activate the plugin. Settings for the plugin may be altered under the Kiva page of the Options menu (version 2.3) or Settings menu (version 2.5 or later). Place the call show_kiva(); anywhere in your page templates or use [ SHOW-KIVA] in a text widget.

Categories
life

I Gave at the Office

When I see people asking for handouts on the street I have faced a quandry about how to react. I can’t give to all of them and I have no desire to give if the gift would be wasted. After reading Mosiah 4 (again) I realize that “I give not because I have not, but if I had I would give” (verse 24) can apply for those who have enough to give but who have already given as much as they are able.

In my case, I no longer need to feel any pang of regret for not carrying cash to give on the streets when I have already given to organizations that are meant to help those very same individuals. In other words, I gave at the office once I received my means without waiting to see who I might meet on the street. I no longer need worry if I should give and take the chance that it would be used wisely by an individual because I have selected only the most effective charitable organizations to receive what I am able to give.

Categories
culture life

Done in Wisdom and Order

I have heard this statement from Mosiah 4:27 applied to many things:

And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength.

Somehow in all the repetitions, in my mind the statement had become divorced from the context in which it was given. I don’t mean to suggest that it was not applicable in all the places I have heard it applied, but I learned a lot about the proper disposition of material goods (the context it was given in) when I avoided generalizing the counsel.

The statement was made at the end of king Benjamin encouraging his people to give of their goods to those who sought their help if they were able. His statement was to remind those who might be overly generous, to not bring themselves to a beggars status in their efforts to help the beggars. Making that connection was not a major revelation to me, but combined with much of the best financial advice I have come across I came up with a comprehensive approach to the best way to allocate your money to be generous with others while not running faster than I have financial strength.

There are 5 avenues to dispense with material goods. In the proper order they are:

  1. Tithing
  2. Sustenance
  3. Savings
  4. Philanthropy
  5. Luxury

Having the order is one thing, but knowing how and when to allocate your means to each avenue is the tricky part.

First, pay tithing on whatever means you have. With what remains, provide for your own sustenance, in other words, the necessities of life for yourself and your family.

Second, once you have more means than are necessary for your bare necessities you should allocate some means to savings so as to be able to weather the financial storms that life will bring your way.

Third, when your means are sufficient for you to be able to put some money into savings on a regular basis you should start some form of philanthropy even if you are not able to save as much as you would wish to save. (I use the term philanthropy so as to avoid confusion with some of the meanings of the word “charity.”) As your means increase, you should increase your allocations to both savings and philanthropy in a balanced way (that may not be a 50/50 split, but it should not be giving a pittance to philanthropy while saving large amounts of money).

Fourth, once your savings has increased to the level you feel comfortable with for your future needs you may feel free to allocate excess resources towards some luxuries. (Of course by this time your sustenance should be exceeding a cardboard box for shelter and a diet that is limited to rice and Cup ‘o Noodles®.) As your means continue to increase you should increase your philanthropy at least as much as you increase your luxury (and you might want to increase your savings as well).

Finally, if your material means begin to exceed the level required for luxuries enough to make your live materially easy (meaning that more luxuries would not bring more fulfillment in your life) then you should allocate virtually all increases in your resources toward philanthropy.

Categories
culture life

Doing Good

In an effort to get back into the writing habit after a very tumultuous few days – here’s something rather light.

I stumbled onto this video and it took me back to my time in Missouri where I first started seeing billboards from the Foundation for a Better Life. As the smiles and memories came floating back I began to wonder how such a foundation gets started, and wondered if there was anything that could be done to have a few more groups who have no goal in mind but to make the world a better place.