themattscott are you listening yet

Have you ever taken part in changing the world via Kiva? If you have, then you know what a micro-loan is and how it works, for those of you who don’t heres a quick run down.

It starts with a small business owner in need of money to grow his or her business in some way. With Kiva the loans range from $500 to several thousands of dollars, and the idea is that you can get a group of people together to donate $25 each and all of you collectively can help support the business. It’s a great idea and Kiva has had a large amount of success in helping business owners in third world countries.

But there’s a problem with Kiva, there is really no relationship aspect. You get a short bio of the business owner(s) but you never really get to know them, and this has been a problem for me, I want to work within the confines of relationships to help out.

A solution has come in the form of this Indian Taxi Fund. Let me introduce you to Amit.

Amit is a church planter in India, to help support his calling he has been teaching at a local university, however the university recently closed. After the university closed Amit began working a Taxi business, but he is being severely overcharged by the man he is renting a taxi from, and is not able to really make enough money to support his family and continue to plant churches.

Enter Josh Brown and his blogging cohorts. Josh built a relationship with Amit, Josh brought us this story, and Josh set this plan in motion. Now, we are going to join together to raise $7500 for Amit to purchase a taxi in order to continue his ministry.

Now, this is a loan, which means Amit will be repaying the lenders (no you will not be collecting interest), but it will enable him to continue his ministry.

So here’s what I’m asking. $25 from each reader in my blog, but I’m also looking for anyone willing to match the contributions made via my blog. If you’re interested in donation matching, please contact me via e-mail (mattscott306 at comcast dot net).

Josh Brown is also providing the following for any wishing to take part in the Indian Taxi Fund (cross posted from Josh’s site)

Via Red Cowboy Designs (my graphic design company), I’ll be taking the first 3 clients (new) that contact me for a new project. I will write them a quote as usual offering a 20% discount on what I normally would charge. I will then have them send the money directly to the Indian Taxi Fund PayPal account. I will not take a penny of this money, but it will go directly to Amit’s Indian Taxi Fund. All of the monies will go directly to Amit in India to help pay for his taxi. For example, if I quote you $350 for a rave card and give you a 20% discount, you will be asked to donate $270 directly to the Indian Taxi Fund. That’s a pretty nifty bargain/deal/make the world a better place offer. But it gets better, at the end of the loan when Amit repays the amount, we will give you your money back. So you will technically be getting a design for free. It’s like Oprah’s Big Give. But cooler. I think.

To donate refer to this link for the PayPal information.

If you want more information, please email me at the address above, or head over to this page for further context and background.

UPDATE: This is cross posted from the comment section on Josh’s site, regarding certain logistics of the operation.

i’m planning on the money going to the paypal account. i’ll pay for the money that paypal takes as their cut out of pocket. i’ll then send a lump sum check via western union to amit. and then we’ll set up a payment plan for 24 months. where he sends payment back via western union every month. and i’ll be the last to take the repayment. just because i’m horrible with math. and i want to minimize paypal eating into our chunk of money raised, i’ll pay back individuals with a regular check probably. or just send it paypal. but i’ll do it in a lump sum. so if amit pays us back $1000. i won’t divide that up 30 ways. i’ll just start paying certain people their whole sum. that way we don’t get hit with multiple transaction fees. does that make any sense.