Saima Zaman, a former colleague of mine, sent me a note the other day to tell me about her latest project: the Global Giving Olympics. For the next 3 weeks, project leaders at Global Giving will compete for cash prizes – whoever mobilizes the most support receives a windfall bonus. This unique contest brings a competitive, free-market feel to the world’s premier philanthropic marketplace.

GlobalGiving, founded by two former World Bank executives, is a platform that connects international donors directly to on-the-ground social, economic, and environmental development projects. The organization promotes transparency and accountability, and in its current contest, the power of competitive markets and networks. One of the founders maintains a great blog, often updating it with detailed from-the-trenches posts. We've written about GlobalGiving before and have even heard from Saima Zaman on-site.

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It is tragic that in a country where 17,000 tons of food are thrown away every day, 10% of the population is malnourished. That is what struck Hector Gonzales, anyway, when he decided this issue was far too important for a business such as his to ignore. It is upon this foundation of principled action that he resolved to develop a for-profit model to tackle hunger with the food products being thrown away daily in Mexico.