microgiving

MicroGiving is a true charitable website dedicated to direct online person-to-person giving from the heart to those in need. In essence, it’s a philanthropic marketplace similar to Ebay but instead of buyers and sellers, there are donors and recipients.

MicroGiving is a new and unique way of giving to the heart of the cause, where it’s needed most! By using the internet as means of global communication and the foundation for an online community dedicated to helping those in need, MicroGiving provides all donors of every means the same control over their gifts as the wealthiest philanthropists have enjoyed in the past. No longer are small “micro gifts” lumped into larger institutional accounts and divided out as other see fit. Now for the first time, you as the donor have a direct and controlling voice in where your funds are distributed.

Zopa is a global social finance company. We are a community of members who help each other financially using the tools of finance and social networking. We operate in several countries including the U.S., and in each country our approach is a bit different.

In the U.S., members who invest in a Zopa CD get a guaranteed, federally-insured investment. At the same time, they help members who've borrowed a Zopa Loan by reducing their monthly loan payments by the amount of the help given.

We're coining a term to describe what we do. It's called social finance. It means we want to improve the tools of financial services--investments, and loans, and so forth--by allowing people to use them to help themselves, and other people, at the same time.

There are lots of variations inside the world of social finance, like online person-to-person ("P2P") lending, which we pioneered in 2005, and the world of international microfinance, which we admire.