Most people are familiar with the peer-to-peer model when it comes to sharing music, but what about p2p philanthropy? Kiva is an organization that lets you make loans directly to small businesses in the developing world. Lenders can select from a wide variety of small business ranging from a taxi service in Honduras to a produce sales operation in Uganda. Loans usually last 6-12 months, during which lenders receive monthly email updates about the selected small business; these reports include content on status of loan repayment, business growth and living improvements.

Aside from the fact that the Internet based, easy-to-use p2p technology is already second nature to young people, we can see this program being very successful with them for other reasons, as well. One of the main deterrents to charitable donations that we hear from young people is that they a) don’t trust where their money is going and b) they can’t see any results. With Kiva, donations don’t go to administrative costs and donors can actually track firsthand their donations. Hopefully Kiva will grow even bigger to show more young people how easy it is to help make a difference.