I found Kiva.org to be a strangely addictive way to do "charity" 1. It is microfinance lending so it is not "really" charity. Default rates are very low as with most of microfinance so you can recycle your money through to various people working on small businesses.
2. The immediacy of reading the micro business plans is pure honey to a business geek like me
3. The price points are low, starting at $25, so it you can experiment painlessly.
A few days ago, I apparently made a very minor contribution to capital improvements in a small cafe in Ukraine. The paragraph that clinched me is below - This would bring joy to even the most conservative banker's heart.
Oksana has perfect credit history with Nadiya Ukraine. She has repaid ten different loans without any delinquencies. She is requesting a loan of $1000 to purchase some new equipment for her café. Oksana hopes that modern technologies will help her business operate more efficiently and generate additional profit as a result.
Ok, updates as I learn more about being a retail banker. Yet another organization that would not be possible without the web. We are at year 10 of a 30 year cycle in what a global communications platform is going to cause in terms of changes.