For those looking for a new year's resolution

I'm probably late to the party, but I just discovered kiva.org via a gift from someone dear to me. To those not yet into it, go to the site and see that you too can fund microfinance. You pick an amount (as little as $25) and then choose where it goes from among the listed applicants and their projects.

You can sort through the world's applicants in a variety of ways. Default rates are shown; they are very low.

And as your loans are repaid, you can lend again. You can help build a better world, one small loan at a time. How wonderful. Happy 2009!