In For A Penny - In For A Pound

First, let me say hello and welcome all of you to the Our Two Cents Worth... blog. For those of you who have found your way here through the Travellerspoint Foundation wiki page and/or program announcement thread then you know what the project is all about. For those of you who haven't... Surprise! We want your money! Well, basically, we want your AdSense money. I know that's enough to make some run for the hills (so to speak) but please "hear" me out before fleeing too far. (I promise not to bore you for too long, honest.)

My name is Gretchen Wilson-Kalav (aka TP's Isadora). Some of you may know me because I am also one of the TP Resident Janitors (Moderators). Recently - okay, it was February 12th to be exact - I was asked if I would be willing to help with the creation of the Travellerspoint Foundation. Upon reading the project's proposal, it was a no-brainer and my answer was a resounding yes. So, here we are launching the Travellerspoint Foundation Give Us Your Money Good Will All Around The World Project.

In a nutshell... The project, if you choose this assignment, is this:

• You donate your AdSense earnings to the Travellerspoint Foundation.
• The TP Foundation will use that money for loans to Kiva entrepreneurs.
• Repaid loans plus all the new deposits will be "recycled" into new loans.

Now, this is where they are letting me say a few things about the Kiva Organization. Kiva's Mission Statement: "To Connect People Through Lending For The Sake Of Alleviating Poverty." It's a very simple concept that works. Through Kiva, individuals and teams (like the Travellerspoint Team which the Foundation will be a member of) are able to make small loans to entrepreneurs (small business owners, individuals, coops, etc.) around the world. Working with their partners, expert microfinancing institutions, the organization sets up a repayment schedule and disperses the money to the recipients. These recipients are people/groups whom we, the lenders, have chosen from the numerous profiles found on the Kiva website. Repayment periods are usually 6-12 months in length and the repaid money is available for use in the form of new loans at that time. Requested loan amounts range from $500-5000USD and it can take several contributors (like us) to reach that total for one recipient. By becoming a member of the Travellerspoint Foundation Project, all of those AdSense cents we earn will add up and help others across the globe to look poverty in the eye and say "Hey, I just kicked your ass with a little help from some new friends". Please, check out the Kiva Organization for more information on who they are and what they do. Then, come on back, sign up and let's make some loans!

The current plan is that during the early stages of this project the entrepreneurs will be chosen from the Kiva Travellerspoint Team's already existing group of recipients (given that they have not received 100% or their financing at that time). For more information about the Travellerspoint Team on Kiva, please click here. I am of the belief that, as the TP Foundation contributions grow, (at least) one high-risk loan should be made periodically. It's nice to play it safe but being a global (online) community, we can show that everyone deserves a chance to succeed. As needed, the Foundation will decide when new recipients need to be added to the pool to keep the loans flowing.

If you want to dive straight in and switch your Adsense earnings over the TP foundation, here's how you do so:

• Go to your profile page.
• At the very bottom of the page, where you can put in your Adsense Publisher ID (note: this is only available to members who have achieved Full Member status), put in the TP foundation ID: 1326685919872860

So, there are the basics of the project and for those of you who have not checked out the wiki page and introductory thread, go now! Hurry! Okay, finish reading this and then go. This blog has been created to give everyone updates on the TP Foundation, contributions, recipients, paybacks, statistics, pretty graphs and anything else we feel like adding to it. If you have suggestions and/or comments, please contact us at [email protected].

Hey Animaniacs - it time to sing!!! (You know them - Yakko, Wakko & Dot.)
It's a great big universe
And we're all really puny
We're just tiny little specks
About the size of Mickey Rooney.
It's big and black and inky
And we are small and dinky
It's a big universe and we're not.

Thank you for reading all the way to here and that's just my (oops, I mean our) two cents worth.....

See you soon with more updates!!

G.

ps: Here are a couple of pretty graphs to show what 1 then 2 then 3 and finally 4 contributors have earned since March 7, 2009.

The starting balance was my paltry earnings of $13.50. Peter began adding on March 7th, Sam I Am on March 16th and Dr. Pepper bringing up the rear on March 17th. The March 31st graph end points were charted at 2:00pm CDT and the day ain't over yet. Thank you kind Overlords!!!

Just a quick update as the day (March 31st) is now over - the balance in the account was $25.28 - enough to make one loan.