Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dollar a Day

dollaraday.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 97 posts

Re: Dollar a Day

#41

Post by wtracy »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #34
travisfischer wrote: post #21

I was hoping this would be implemented as: - I sign up to donate at least a dollar a day. - There is a growing list of non-profits supported. - I get emails with newly added ones. - For each non-profit I get to choose to either: a) add a full additional dollar a day for that organization or b) add the new organization to a list of organizations that split my daily existing donation amount. or c) skip it. I dislike th…

> From my perspective I will never donate to an unknown entity regardless of filtering criteria. I have limited resources and believe I can have the impact I want to have by chosen where to use those resources. That's your choice, of course, but then I think you're not their target audience. This service seems tailored for people who would gladly give some money to charity, but don't feel like researching effective n…

> Unless they start donating to ISIS or KKK

Or an organization that provides family planning support, or that funds stem cell research.

Re: Dollar a Day

#42

Post by guelo »

travisfischer wrote: post #21

I was hoping this would be implemented as: - I sign up to donate at least a dollar a day. - There is a growing list of non-profits supported. - I get emails with newly added ones. - For each non-profit I get to choose to either: a) add a full additional dollar a day for that organization or b) add the new organization to a list of organizations that split my daily existing donation amount. or c) skip it. I dislike th…

You could do what these volunteers did with their free time and build out your idea.

Re: Dollar a Day

#43

Post by richbradshaw »

wtracy wrote: post #41
TeMPOraL wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> From my perspective I will never donate to an unknown entity regardless of filtering criteria. I have limited resources and believe I can have the impact I want to have by chosen where to use those resources. That's your choice, of course, but then I think you're not their target audience. This service seems tailored for people who would gladly give some money to charity, but don't feel like researching effective n…

> Unless they start donating to ISIS or KKK Or an organization that provides family planning support, or that funds stem cell research.

At first I thought you were joking, then realised you likely live in the US. I guess each country has it's share of things that other countries don't understand!

Re: Dollar a Day

#44

Post by ernestipark »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #34
travisfischer wrote: post #21

I was hoping this would be implemented as: - I sign up to donate at least a dollar a day. - There is a growing list of non-profits supported. - I get emails with newly added ones. - For each non-profit I get to choose to either: a) add a full additional dollar a day for that organization or b) add the new organization to a list of organizations that split my daily existing donation amount. or c) skip it. I dislike th…

> From my perspective I will never donate to an unknown entity regardless of filtering criteria. I have limited resources and believe I can have the impact I want to have by chosen where to use those resources. That's your choice, of course, but then I think you're not their target audience. This service seems tailored for people who would gladly give some money to charity, but don't feel like researching effective n…

> This service seems tailored for people who would gladly give some money to charity, but don't feel like researching effective non-profits on their own.

That's really the problem. If you would gladly give money to charity, but don't care enough to even research who you're giving to, the chance that you help create lasting change and a shift in thinking about yourself versus others is unlikely. Don't get me wrong, being able to raise money for charities (assuming it's a good cause) is undoubtably a good thing, and will have a positive impact, but this is the kind of shallow giving that doesn't create lasting change. I believe true impact comes not just from dollars but people having their hearts invested in causes they believe in.

If you're willing to trust Dollar A Day to spread your money to charities, why not just cut out the middle-man and find one charity you trust and believe in to give to?

Re: Dollar a Day

#46

Post by scotje »

bmmayer1 wrote: post #30
travisfischer wrote: post #21

I was hoping this would be implemented as: - I sign up to donate at least a dollar a day. - There is a growing list of non-profits supported. - I get emails with newly added ones. - For each non-profit I get to choose to either: a) add a full additional dollar a day for that organization or b) add the new organization to a list of organizations that split my daily existing donation amount. or c) skip it. I dislike th…

I have to agree. If I don't know where my money is going, I simply can't countenance giving money to a nonprofit (or a company for that matter). I don't know what their selection process is. The one nonprofit they show on their site, Shelterbox, I've seen in action in the Philippines and I have a lot of issues with how they run their operation and the efficacy of their solution. I've actually looked into that model.…

Do you know if there a legal/tax impediment to getting the pass-through classified as a not-for-profit? Or did you just mean it makes it harder to implement as a traditional startup?

Re: Dollar a Day

#47

Post by kolev »

How is this any different than Google One Today (https://onetoday.google.com/)? At least with Google, I trust them with money, plus, the app has a lot more than just $1/day if you really care about a cause. It has the game mechanics, too, so, I'm sorry, but I'm sticking with Google.

Re: Dollar a Day

#48

Post by cophelan »

I created a non-profit with a similar concept about 5 years ago called Vonate.org (now defunct). Our concept was $1/month and you would vote/donate (vonate) your dollar to one of the two featured organizations. I'm a big believer in the micro donation space, but execution is key.

My biggest lessons learned were:

1) Find and vetting 24 great organizations was difficult. 2) Getting people to spend $15/year (how we covered costs) was a challenge, so keep your expectations on audience engagement incredibly low. 3) Revenue through sponsorships won't keep the lights on.

Regardless - best of luck.

Re: Dollar a Day

#49

Post by dnautics »

ernestipark wrote: post #44
TeMPOraL wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> From my perspective I will never donate to an unknown entity regardless of filtering criteria. I have limited resources and believe I can have the impact I want to have by chosen where to use those resources. That's your choice, of course, but then I think you're not their target audience. This service seems tailored for people who would gladly give some money to charity, but don't feel like researching effective n…

> This service seems tailored for people who would gladly give some money to charity, but don't feel like researching effective non-profits on their own. That's really the problem. If you would gladly give money to charity, but don't care enough to even research who you're giving to, the chance that you help create lasting change and a shift in thinking about yourself versus others is unlikely. Don't get me wrong, be…

> If you would gladly give money to charity, but don't care enough to even research who you're giving to, the chance that you help create lasting change and a shift in thinking about yourself versus others is unlikely.

1) I think it might be less, but unlikely? That's a pretty strong statement.

2) Rational assessments of charities, like stock picking, can go horribly awry if you put all your resources in one pot. This is more like a 'managed fund'.

3) mindlessly giving money away could be a gateway to mindfully giving money away. Creating zero or low-barrier modes of entry to beneficial habits is a good idea. Ultimately, a user of this service could see, hey $360/year isn't that bad for my bottom line, and begin regularly donating $360 to a charity of choice.

Re: Dollar a Day

#50

Post by dnautics »

Someone1234 wrote: post #10
jawns wrote: post #3

I _love_ the idea of getting a daily email that tells you about a worthy nonprofit that you might not otherwise hear about, and this system makes it dead-simple to make micro-donations to each charity. However, I _hate_ the idea of donating to a black box. True, Dollar a Day publishes its criteria for selecting nonprofits, but those criteria are highly subjective. And, according to the FAQ, there's no way to opt out…

I both agree and disagree. On one hand I agree that it would be nice to opt out of charities you disagree with. However I think in doing so it would destroy "Dollar a Day's" USP. To me the USP of "Dollar a Day" is: Completely hassle free donating at an affordable cost ($30/month) which gives you almost endless positive feedback (i.e. every day you're reminding of why you're a "good person"). As soon as you start addi…

on the UI front, you could make it as simple as a 'swipe left/swipe right'.
Post reply on HN