Thank You HN: From 30 people whose lives you saved • Hacker News Board

Re: Thank You HN: From 30 people whose lives you saved

#41

Post by justjimmy » Thu, Nov 22, 2012, 12:05 AM UTC

Your open Google doc is what persuaded me. I've always felt uncomfortable donating to charities - knowing well that my money may never go towards the cause they're touting, but on TV ads, expense accounts, PR Campaigns etc. While some argue it's operation costs but it's just not transparent enough.

Your easy to access and understand table really lifts the veil, as well as your clear separation of Donations going to the patients vs. Donations to the operating costs. I think people are definitely more willing to open their wallets knowing that 100% of the money go towards directly helping the patient.

Definitely suggest setting up a recurring payment option - while some people would love to help out continuously, they may not have the time to read each case (and then having to decide who to help) and come back once in a while(paradox of choice) - just take $100 bucks each month out of my account and let me know how that $100 was spent. Also give the option of deciding a % of the donation go towards operation and a % go towards the patient (like a slider style) so people don't have to feel compelled and work to donate in 2 flows.

And knowing that you guys may have a challenge of getting operation donations, offset it by giving us easy to add social widgets or just a simple graphic to add to our blogs and sites. I have no problem showing it next to my Dribbble and LinkedIn icons knowing that you guys have a really tight budget and may not have PR money. (I think free social advertising works better than those in your face PETA campaigns anyway. Makes us feel like we're directly helping out by displaying it on our sites :D)

Re: Thank You HN: From 30 people whose lives you saved

#42

Post by dmgrow » Thu, Nov 22, 2012, 12:32 AM UTC

liber8 wrote: post #29

nodata wrote: post #25

Your website is excellent, I've helped five people so far. Just two suggestions: 1. Please give me a way to view who I have helped. A followup story would be great too. 2. Please give me a way to find out about new people

Also, on your "donate to help cover our overhead" page, you might consider giving suggested donation amounts. I have no idea what your overhead is, what amount would help you reach more patients, what your current funding is, etc. Providing suggested amounts may also boost donations (see http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669882/how-touchscreen-buttons-... )

Kiva (a similar site for microlending to entrepreneurs in third-world countries) does this. From my personal experience, it's been quite effective and encouraged me to occasionally donate while lending to entrepreneurs.

Re: Thank You HN: From 30 people whose lives you saved

#43

Post by chaseadam17 » Thu, Nov 22, 2012, 12:34 AM UTC

liber8 wrote: post #29

nodata wrote: post #25

Your website is excellent, I've helped five people so far. Just two suggestions: 1. Please give me a way to view who I have helped. A followup story would be great too. 2. Please give me a way to find out about new people

Also, on your "donate to help cover our overhead" page, you might consider giving suggested donation amounts. I have no idea what your overhead is, what amount would help you reach more patients, what your current funding is, etc. Providing suggested amounts may also boost donations (see http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669882/how-touchscreen-buttons-... )

Will do. This is a great idea. We're hoping to even have a fundraising bar ($X raised out of $X needed this month) to encourage people to give.

Re: Thank You HN: From 30 people whose lives you saved

#44

Post by dmgrow » Thu, Nov 22, 2012, 12:37 AM UTC

chaseadam17 wrote: post #39

ars wrote: post #32

Since everything is fully funded you should give people the option of funding in advance. Be open about it of course, and send them an email as soon as you know who the money is going to. Also give people the option of getting an email when there is someone in need. (To avoid annoying people perhaps limit the email to the next 3 people, then stop sending them for a user specified time.)

Love this idea. We're going to implement a "general fund" profile soon which is essentially what you described above. Email idea is also great.

Have you guys met up with the Kiva team? This strikes me as such a similar model in many ways.

I imagine they would have an incredible amount of learning from the past several years that they would be willing to share. A lot of this has to do with perfecting the user experience for potential lenders / donors. It seems like you're doing a good job on this front but no doubt there's room for improvement.

I've been a loyal Kiva lender now for years and watched them grow to $375M in loans. I think you're on to something similar with tremendous potential.

Re: Thank You HN: From 30 people whose lives you saved

#45

Post by kanamekun » Thu, Nov 22, 2012, 2:17 AM UTC

dmgrow wrote: post #44

chaseadam17 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Love this idea. We're going to implement a "general fund" profile soon which is essentially what you described above. Email idea is also great.

Have you guys met up with the Kiva team? This strikes me as such a similar model in many ways. I imagine they would have an incredible amount of learning from the past several years that they would be willing to share. A lot of this has to do with perfecting the user experience for potential lenders / donors. It seems like you're doing a good job on this front but no doubt there's room for improvement. I've been a lo…

Kiva was actually part of Adam's inspiration! http://www.fastcoexist.com/1680490/making-medical-care-affor...

Members of the Watsi team work for Kiva too (at least as of several months ago): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4424745

Re: Thank You HN: From 30 people whose lives you saved

#46

Post by noonespecial » Thu, Nov 22, 2012, 2:30 AM UTC

I can't help feeling that there's some of the ingredients needed to create an entirely new form of health insurance in here.

I'm ridiculously glad its working as well as it is. Its like watching the start of an avalanche. You don't really know what exactly is going to happen, but the ground is rumbling and you're sure its going to be huge and exciting.

Re: Thank You HN: From 30 people whose lives you saved

#47

Post by dmgrow » Thu, Nov 22, 2012, 3:12 AM UTC

kanamekun wrote: post #45

dmgrow wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you guys met up with the Kiva team? This strikes me as such a similar model in many ways. I imagine they would have an incredible amount of learning from the past several years that they would be willing to share. A lot of this has to do with perfecting the user experience for potential lenders / donors. It seems like you're doing a good job on this front but no doubt there's room for improvement. I've been a lo…

Kiva was actually part of Adam's inspiration! http://www.fastcoexist.com/1680490/making-medical-care-affor... Members of the Watsi team work for Kiva too (at least as of several months ago): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4424745

Excellent - thanks for sharing! It's a great model and I'm excited to see it grow.

Of course, the nice thing about Kiva is that it is a loan, rather than a donation, which allows you to use the same initial investment to help lots of people again and again.

Re: Thank You HN: From 30 people whose lives you saved

#48

Post by jlees » Thu, Nov 22, 2012, 4:39 AM UTC

gotmayonase wrote: post #36

ars wrote: post #32

Since everything is fully funded you should give people the option of funding in advance. Be open about it of course, and send them an email as soon as you know who the money is going to. Also give people the option of getting an email when there is someone in need. (To avoid annoying people perhaps limit the email to the next 3 people, then stop sending them for a user specified time.)

Another option is to donate to their operating costs here ( http://watsi.org/about ) under the Donate to Watsi heading.

Wonder if there should be an option to over-donate. I'm particularly sympathetic to certain illnesses that I've lost loved ones to, and covering the cost of the immediate treatment is lovely but I wouldn't mind giving that person a little more so they can be comfortable while recovering and cover future bills from follow-up treatment too.

Re: Thank You HN: From 30 people whose lives you saved

#49

Post by chaseadam17 » Thu, Nov 22, 2012, 4:46 AM UTC

sinnerswing wrote: post #14

dos1 wrote: post #9

Holy shit. I can't remember a time when a website had an immediate impact on me like this. I mean, literally 5 seconds after landing on the site I got what they were trying to do and couldn't click the fund button fast enough. Such a simple idea but maybe that's what makes it so damn brilliant. So cool. Edit: When I first went to the site 15 minutes ago there were two profiles of people in need of medical care. The t…

this is indeed THE BEST web service that I've ever seen EVER. @chaseadam17 Do you take advantage of mobile apps/fb/twitter/etc.? One thing I realized about your service. It's sustainable. Resources are NEVER depleted. I have a lot respect for Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, but according to them they intend on spending ALL their money on charity in their lifetime. So that means the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will…

Thanks sinner ;) The good guys at futura.io have agreed to help us with an iOS app, and we're hoping to get started on that soon. Also looking to integrate open graph ASAP. So much to do!

Re: Thank You HN: From 30 people whose lives you saved

#50

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Nov 22, 2012, 4:48 AM UTC

noonespecial wrote: post #46

I can't help feeling that there's some of the ingredients needed to create an entirely new form of health insurance in here. I'm ridiculously glad its working as well as it is. Its like watching the start of an avalanche. You don't really know what exactly is going to happen, but the ground is rumbling and you're sure its going to be huge and exciting.

[deleted]