Let's micro Loan

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But honestly it looks like the total revenue isn't enough to buy too many diamonds, much less a mine.

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That's irrelevant. I just don't want to donate money to a 501(c) that exists largely to make its CEO, or other officers rich

Then do your homework and decide where to donate. One point though, loans are not donations.But keep bumping this thread. Hopefully even more folk will start making micro-loans.

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Immigration has been a problem Since 1607!

From what I am aware, that is their first 990, and I think it is for 1 Nov 2005 - 30 Sep 2006 - so I imagine they haven't been an entity much longer than that.

Exactly, and we found this out by looking at their records. Hopefully, the fact that they aren't rolling in filthy amounts of cash might encourage one or two fence-sitters!

Hmmm. Then it will take a couple years to see how they treat that net asset line. Call me paranoid, but I understand nonprofits as well as accounting enough to be suspicious. But that's always a problem for new non-profits. Until they have a history of honesty and good resource allocation, it's a struggle.

And yes, they were formed in 2005.

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Immigration has been a problem Since 1607!

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Then do your homework and decide where to donate. One point though, loans are not donations.

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*sigh*We are doing homework. Looking at a 990 IS homework.And just for your information, nonprofits take in donations, which are either marked for operations of the nonprofit or for the nonprofits's reason for existence, in this case loans. In this case, it appears that you make a donation to Kiva with a specific mark on the money to go to whoever you picked to get the loan. Then Kiva makes the micro-loan out of its donation fund. The money trail is relatively simple. You -> Kiva -> Kiva's donation fund -> Microloan beneficiary. What we're looking for is any shenanigans, such as the one I posted in the link where instead of the donation money going to microloans, it goes somewhere else, such as Kiva's operations funds or someone's wallet.

Kiva is but one of the possible ways that YOU can help make an impact. E-Bay is also working towards that as mentioned above.A few other really great ideas are: Trickle Up: Unlike Kiva, these are not loans but outright grants. The only requirement is that the recipient does have to get training. Oportunity International that is directed primarily towards groups of women. Heifer International that donates breeding pairs of animals with the requirement that the recipient donate a breeding pair from offspring to another person.

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Immigration has been a problem Since 1607!