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Show HN - We just built a site that saves lives

watsi.org

61–70 of 190 posts

Re: Show HN - We just built a site that saves lives

#61
Does adding a "monthly subscription" type option make sense? It does add another level of complexity(user accounts and whatnot), but I think people would like the convenience of automatically donating.

Maybe having the option to split their donation as they see fit(1/3, half and half, 100% to just one, etc).

Good luck with the site. :)

Re: Show HN - We just built a site that saves lives

#63
This made me really misty eyed. It's a really good idea that will change peoples lives. I'm going to share this to everyone I know.

Please share this on Reddit as well and make it viral.

Nothing brings me down like seeing children with medical conditions and parents that can't afford treatment. It's so sad.

Re: Show HN - We just built a site that saves lives

#65
post #49

Awesome site! One point of feedback: the PayPal workflow is so bad it almost made me stop my donation. It would be much easier with a standard CC payment option. Good luck!

We hope to switch away from PayPal asap. Trust us, that's the first update we're going to make. Braintree is looking pretty good right about now.

Please keep it as a choice, though. It's easy for me, i'd prefer Paypal over CC.

Re: Show HN - We just built a site that saves lives

#66

I'm typically against organizations that need to live off donations. I think it's an impractical and unsustainable model. Your cause is very close to my heart and I would love to support it, but I'm a creature of convenience. I could make one donation now, but would fail to continue making donations. The two solutions I have seen that are successful at solving this problem are: 1) Automation. E.g. in the movie Office…

These are great points. We would love to enable recurring donations. For example, you could allocate X% of your income every month to "Watsi Credit." We also think that a program like this would be great for Corporate Social Responsibility Programs. Members of our team work for Kiva and Vittana (and I worked in microfinance for 4 years) and we would love to eventually try and offer a healthcare loan product (or at le…

Devil's advocate to myself: I heard Jessica Jackley speak once and one of the stories she told that stuck was about the that company offered to automate thousands of dollars to Kiva to go towards microloans. She refused because she wanted people to have a personal connection with borrowers.

I would love to say that if you took X% off my paycheck, I would sign up instantly. But I would just be escaping my responsibility as a citizen then.

It's a tricky situation because I want automation for cash flow, but at the same time I want intimacy with the program and the people it involves.

Re: Show HN - We just built a site that saves lives

#67
I imagine a lot of people will be reading the FAQ page, so you might want to correct this typo:

In order to be eligible for Watsi funding, patients must be inflicted with an illness that meets the treatment criteria and subsequently be unable to afford the required medical treatment as a result of poverty.

You surely mean "afflicted" rather than "inflicted"

Re: Show HN - We just built a site that saves lives

#68

The one thing you need to focus on above all else is transparency and preventing scams. Video of the actual person who needs the treatment would go a long way, as would video updates along the way. I'm thinking an Android app that the locals could use to document the process. If you solve that properly, this will really take off and do a lot of good. Also, you're going to eventually need to take a very small cut of t…

This service has a tremendous potential to do good and help people in need. As the previous poster mentioned, I too recommend you guys continue focusing on transparency and preventing scams. You don't want the service to be ruined because of a few bad apples. IMO, a smartphone/android app would probably not be accessible for many of those living in developing countries. But the general trend I've been hearing about i…

Like I said above, transparency and accountability are our two strongest values, and we've spent a very long time making sure our operations are as legit as humanly possible.

Right now we are only working with three partners, all of whom we have a personal relationship with and trust 100%. That said, if/when we expand, we won't have the luxury of only working with people we know and that's going to make the due-diligence process more difficult. But unlike other NGO's (like global giving, kiva, etc.) we don't need a ton of partners to grow. A single partnership with an organization like Doctors Without Borders would ensure we have enough profiles for a lifetime.

However, I love the idea of having the community regulate the Medical Partner via SMS or something like that (sort of like an, "am I driving poorly? call 1-800... for healthcare providers). Great idea!

Re: Show HN - We just built a site that saves lives

#69
post #49

Awesome site! One point of feedback: the PayPal workflow is so bad it almost made me stop my donation. It would be much easier with a standard CC payment option. Good luck!

We hope to switch away from PayPal asap. Trust us, that's the first update we're going to make. Braintree is looking pretty good right about now.

Look at Stripe also -- very easy API to work with. I hear good things.

Re: Show HN - We just built a site that saves lives

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are great points. We would love to enable recurring donations. For example, you could allocate X% of your income every month to "Watsi Credit." We also think that a program like this would be great for Corporate Social Responsibility Programs. Members of our team work for Kiva and Vittana (and I worked in microfinance for 4 years) and we would love to eventually try and offer a healthcare loan product (or at le…

Devil's advocate to myself: I heard Jessica Jackley speak once and one of the stories she told that stuck was about the that company offered to automate thousands of dollars to Kiva to go towards microloans. She refused because she wanted people to have a personal connection with borrowers. I would love to say that if you took X% off my paycheck, I would sign up instantly. But I would just be escaping my responsibili…

Exactly. I think that's where the "Watsi Credit" idea comes in. You could allocate $X per month, then head over to Watsi and spend your credit whenever you like. The donation is automated, but you still get to choose who you support.

Does that sound like something you would be interested in?

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