Frankly, I'm surprised that they have forums to begin with.  You don't see the major agencies like Corbis or Getty messing around with stuff like that.

I saw this thread and thought I'd chip in with a recommendation for the book "Banker to the Poor" by Muhammad Yunnus.  He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, and is widely regarded as the father of microlending.   It's an interesting book and details how he originated the concept in Bangladesh in the early 1970s.  Banks and the government were riddled with corruption, and had no desire to loan money to the people who needed it the most.  And in the very patriarchal society, it was taboo to loan to women.  Yet with microlending he was able to create something that has enabled people, and especially women, to build their own businesses and work their way out of poverty.  Kiva is a different organization, but incorporates many of the same principles.  Kiva's innovation is that it allows individuals to use the Internet and Paypal to fund the loans, rather than governments and traditional banks.

Interestingly, he is very against outright charity for the poor, for much of the same reasons that others have posted in this thread.  It's a very good book.