It has been quite a while since I have done anything for the $20 challenge. That is about to change. I will try to spend a significant amount of time on a new project that I am putting up with the $20 challenge.

Now that it is certain that both Nate and I will be working on our sites full time and will not need to get other jobs in the future, we have decided that we also want to give back since we consider ourselves very fortunate to be able to do the things that we love to do. We therefore have decided to set up a new site that will donate money to

Kiva.org

Kiva.org is an organization that gives microloans to people who would not normally be able to get a loan for their small business. The way that the nonprofit works is that normal people, like you and me, lend money to the bank for these people to take out a loan and then the bank gives them the money. The one key difference is that when you lend your money to these people, you don't earn any interest on the loan.

What both Nate and I like about this organization is that not only does the money you lend help the person it is first lent to, but once the money is paid back you are able to lend it to another person. Therefore the same money can be used to help a number of people over the years. Of course, there is a risk that the person will default on the loan and you will lose your money, but up until this point the payback rate of loans has been 100% and most loans of this type are paid back in the 95% to 97% range.

As many of you know who have been on this site for a long time, before I started to work on the site full time, I made my living selling stuff on eBay. What I have decided to do is to take the stock that I still have left over from that business and once again sell it on eBay in my spare time. Any profits that I make on the sale of those items I will lend to people on Kiva.org.

My hope is that I can lend several thousand dollars by the end of the year and that I can re-lend all the money that is paid back. I will be documenting the different loans that I give on these pages as part of the $20 challenge. I'm really excited about this challenge and I think that it is going to be a fun way to give back for all the things that I have received from the site.