For American readers, do you remember those charity cardboard boxes you would get in grade school that you had to assemble in order to deposit donations to the poor?  The instructions on the side of the box alluded to the fact that by every coin you dropped in, you were helping a home.

Then came those television commercials that opted for the ‘in-your-face’ method of thrusting horribly poverty-stricken scenarios into your living room (most likely as you stuffed your face with TV dinners). They attempted to bring the images of poverty close to home in the hopes that this would drive more donations – potentially out of guilt.  As a gift for donating, you would receive a packet in the (snail) mail providing you details on your recipient.  Yet, it still felt disconnected.

As we’ve seen with many organizations like Donorschoose.org, Kiva.org, and Vittana.org, there is a new attempt at the personalization of poverty.  In today’s digitally connected world where no one in our contact book is further than a text or a tweet away, organizations have started to realize the value in connecting you to the recipient.

Kiva is testing out a new system of peer to peer lending that does not go through a Microfinance Institution, which removes yet another “impersonal” layer to microloans.  A risky play, but one that Kiva is no doubt testing its way through.

In today’s fast paced world, the inter-connectedness in the developed world and in our developed networks is incredibly powerful.  Somehow emails and re-tweets have taken on as much of a personal meaning as a phone call or face to face meeting.  If that’s the case, in what other ways can we make connecting with the developing world more personal?  With today’s tools in front of us, it doesn’t need to mean a flight halfway across the world.

-          Chris