Day 4 & 5

Consolidation is the name of the game. I was too busy yesterday to make a post in a timely manner; ergo, I decided to just combine these two dates and share some good orgs to invest your money in.

Day 4:

Sooo you may be a poor student, or unemployed, or just really low on funds thanks to your Christmas shopping, and all of this "donating to a cause" sounds great, but impractical, because you need every penny you can spare. Well, thankfully, there is an amazing organization that allows you to provide a loan for an entrepreneur abroad looking to improve their own life and that of their community. You get your money back. You just have to pretend that you put $25 into savings for a little bit, should you begin to have money separation anxiety.

Kiva is a 501(c)3 that allows you, the average (awesome) person, to become an investor in a start-up business on the other side of the world through micro-financing. You browse the site, pick a person and business that you would like to help out, loan them $25 or more, and then get re-paid once their business has taken off and made a profit. Kiva doesn't just throw money at people and expect them to run with it, though. In order to maximize the impact/benefit of the money invested, Kiva partners with other local financial organizations to provide educational resources, financial and community support, repayment collection and assistance, etc. to these international entrepreneurs.

Their website below explains the entire process much better than I can, and can get you started shopping for your first business investment or work on giving a Kiva Card! Enjoy.

Day 5:

Access to clean water is not something that we concern ourselves with too much here in the States. Mainly because we all have access to drinking water and multiple sources for water used for sanitary, cooking, and cleaning purposes. It's difficult to wrap your head around the fact that a large number of people around the world cannot even brush their teeth with tap water without risking serious illness or parasites, much less the fact that many of them do not have sanitary drinking water sources. The ability to access clean water is not only a global health issue, it perpetuates the cycle of poverty. 

Water for People is an organization that works with local entrepreneurs, civil society, governments and communities to create innovative and sustainable solutions that allow people to build and maintain safe water systems. Based in Colorado, this organization works internationally with various partners and communities to solve the water issue and positively impact the locals. Check out their site below and donate!

Tomorrow I will be prompt about an update, I apologize for the tardiness of this post. Be blessed. Happy Friday!

-Educated & Employed (what?! True story... Details coming to a blog post near you, soon)