Kiva is a micro-lending site ($25 and up) that loans money to low income entrepreneur. The loans general last 6-12 months so that a class can make a loan and then trace its history of repayment.
The site has a 96% repayment. The lender can select the gender, the continent and the area of the loan (agricultural, business, etc). Each requester has information about what he/she/they want the money for. As people lend a portion of the money, a scale shows how close the requester is to reaching the goal.
Math students can do a multitude of math such as figuring out how many more $25 donations are needed for the person to get the loan. Social Studies students learn about daily economy from what the requester wants the money; they can see the average annual income such as $2,817 for Bolivia. They also can identify all the countries from which loans have been given to a person. Foreign language students can read the requests in the target language. Art students can draw posters as a promotion for the requester.
In all classes, students can debate which person/group should get a loan from the class. The students can read to compare how many people from the same country are requesting money for the same thing (farming) and from which regions of the country the requesters are. Have your students learn more about the area from which the person is like and compare that area to their area.
More importantly, they can lend knowing that these loans change lives.
Give to Kiva as a class and as an individual.
Education with Technology Harry G. Tuttle 