I’ve added a new item to the “Do Some Good” sidebar this morning: “Fund a Microloan”, which leads to Kiva, a brilliant organization that brings together donors directly with poor business owners who are in need of very small loans for their businesses.

The gist is this: you can browse the site to find a business owner you’d be interested in giving a loan to. Here’s a sample:

Once you’ve decided to help fund a business, you submit money via PayPal. You can then opt to receive updates on the business via email or RSS. When the business owner repays the loan (and the vast majority do — the default rate is an amazing 0.29%), you can either withdraw your money or choose to reinvest in another business.

I’ve been intrigued by the idea of microloans for a while, and think this is a spectacular idea. I plan to give each of the kids some money to put into this so that they can have a hand in helping out some industrious folks who lack means elsewhere and hopefully gain a little insight into the world beyond the United States.

It’s great to see Kiva using the Internet to give people a personal way to help people out and to invest in other economies. Thanks, guys!