In 1961, a group of college students founded a community development organization called ACCION International to address the horrific poverty they discovered in the shantytowns of Caracas, Venezuela and other Latin American cities. They began by building schools, installing sewer lines, and establishing health programs—but soon realized that sustainable jobs were the residents’ greatest need. In 1973, the group began offering loans to fund small businesses—and in the decades since, ACCION and their local partner groups’ microfinance loans have helped more than 2.7 million people lift themselves out of poverty.

Unlike most other microfinance organizations, which work solely in the developing world, ACCION also saw the need to provide small, low-interest loans to struggling entrepreneurs here in the United States—and so, in 1991, ACCION USA was born. Offering microloans, grants, and business consulting services to small businesses in low-income communities across the U.S., the organization has now provided more than $154 million in loans to over 16,000 entrepreneurs to help them launch small businesses. Not only have nearly all of ACCION USA’s clients repaid their loans, but they’ve become profitable: According to a study, two small loans over a 17-month period helped entrepreneurs raise their income by an average of 38 percent.

Whether you’d like to help out those closest to home or on the other side of the world, ACCION has the network and resources to make sure that struggling businesspeople finally get a fair shot.

Inspired by the work of Mohammad Yunus and his Nobel Prize-winning Grameen Bank, the Grameen Foundation’s mission is to help the world’s poorest people rise above poverty by providing small loans with reasonable interest rates. To accomplish their goal, the organization partners with 53 microfinance institutions in 23 countries, providing them with funding, technological assistance, and consulting services. Through these partnerships, the Foundation has helped more than 34 million people—primarily impoverished women—receive loans to finance their own businesses.

The foundation has also created a state-of-the-art management information system to help microfinance institutions communicate with better ease, and is working with a group of research laboratories, corporations, and universities to come up with innovative ways for microfinance programs to use technology to its fullest extent. By making a donation to Grameen Foundation, you can contribute to an organization on the cutting-edge of global poverty relief.

HOPE International believes that poor people don’t need a hand-out—instead, they need a hand up. To that end, this ten-year-old Christian organization has launched microfinance and business training programs in 12 countries, including China, India, Russia, and Rwanda. The organization also funds children’s ministries in the same areas, creating weekly “Tomorrow Clubs” and summer camps that provide social and spiritual support.

HOPE even offers donors a chance to see exactly where their money goes: When you take one of their three-day HOPE trips, you’ll have the opportunity to meet face-to-face with HOPE staff and loan officers, and visit the local marketplace to see how HOPE’s microfinance loan programs are helping small businesses in the region flourish. Your donation to HOPE will provide much-needed capital to help business owners get on their feet for good.

If you like to know exactly where your money goes once it leaves your wallet, Kiva is the organization for you. This web-savvy microfinance organization shares the stories of struggling entrepreneurs vying for loans on their site, allowing you to pick which small businesses you’d like to invest in. You’ll receive emailed progress reports on what the business owner is doing with the loan, and usually within a year or less, you’ll receive a full refund, allowing you to reinvest in another entrepreneur. With Kiva’s model, your money can do good, over and over again.

To help out a business owner with a small loan, visit Kiva’s lending center to make your choice. But since Kiva passes the entire contribution on directly to the entrepreneur, the organization itself needs help to cover its costs, too—if you’d like to help Kiva grow and increase its impact, make your donation here.

Opportunity International is one of the oldest and largest microfinance organizations in the world. This Christian group provides loans, insurance, and business training to more than one million people in 28 developing countries, working with local partner organizations.

Rather than simply providing loans, Opportunity International is putting the power into the hands of the people by establishing 17 microfinance banks, where their impoverished clients can take advantage of loan opportunities and earn interest on their savings. Opportunity International is pledging to help 2 million business owners each year by 2010 – your contribution could help them get there even faster.