Brad Garland posted a question earlier this evening on how to best apply his small company's burgeoning interest in charitable works. A quick Seesmic exchange that followed touched on not only what his team had to give (some time and cash on an ongoing basis, and a one-time donation of equipment and hardware), but also what outcomes they were interested in. What change do they want to see in world? Given that change, how can they contribute towards making it? More time and effort will be going into this topic for the team, since that's a big question.
As it so happens, the company services the banking industry, and so microlending is something they're learning about as a potential area. By request, I'm posting this thread snippet, which provides a short walk-through of philanthropy as it relates to microlending:
I'm by no means the top expert in this area, so commenters should chime in with more lessons - I'm sure that the folks learning about this topic would appreciate additional perspectives.
(PS: the open source microfinance software project that I referred to is the Mifos Initiative, and there's a great list of companies across the microfinance ecosystem listed under Access to Finance at Omidyar Network.)
