Comments on: Designing for donations http://www.sharpenr.net/2010/01/04/designing-for-donations/ Jaan Orvet - Functional Creativity Tue, 11 Oct 2011 06:33:33 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Jaan Orvet http://www.sharpenr.net/2010/01/04/designing-for-donations/comment-page-1/#comment-206 Jaan Orvet Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:25:46 +0000 http://www.sharpenr.net/?p=2005#comment-206 Yes you are making perfect sense. How to incorporate the "effectiveness factor" is something I'm looking at too as the charity would need to change the destination of the money depending on current needs. The latest idea is similar to what you propose: everyone who is about to donate $X or more would get an option to put that money towards infrastructure like roads, school house, etc. This option would only kick in once the immediate needs (food, shelter, medical) had been met. That way donations always maximize the greater good for the community receiving the assistance. Yes you are making perfect sense. How to incorporate the “effectiveness factor” is something I’m looking at too as the charity would need to change the destination of the money depending on current needs.

The latest idea is similar to what you propose: everyone who is about to donate $X or more would get an option to put that money towards infrastructure like roads, school house, etc. This option would only kick in once the immediate needs (food, shelter, medical) had been met.

That way donations always maximize the greater good for the community receiving the assistance.

]]> By: frebro http://www.sharpenr.net/2010/01/04/designing-for-donations/comment-page-1/#comment-203 frebro Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:27:51 +0000 http://www.sharpenr.net/?p=2005#comment-203 Yeah, or it could be measured in buckets of water, or miles saved going to a well, or number of treatments of malaria. You get the point. The important thing is that you see a clear result of the donation, and that it's easy to add just a little bit more. Another fun thing to do would be to incrementally increase the effect of a donation. Maybe $30 would fund 20 inocculations against dengue fever. By going to $60 you could finance a hospital emplyee for a month instead, thereby making an even grater difference. You could create "levels" of donating instead of just increasing a static number. Am I making sense? :) Yeah, or it could be measured in buckets of water, or miles saved going to a well, or number of treatments of malaria. You get the point. The important thing is that you see a clear result of the donation, and that it’s easy to add just a little bit more.

Another fun thing to do would be to incrementally increase the effect of a donation. Maybe $30 would fund 20 inocculations against dengue fever. By going to $60 you could finance a hospital emplyee for a month instead, thereby making an even grater difference. You could create “levels” of donating instead of just increasing a static number. Am I making sense? :)

]]> By: Jaan Orvet http://www.sharpenr.net/2010/01/04/designing-for-donations/comment-page-1/#comment-193 Jaan Orvet Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:29:10 +0000 http://www.sharpenr.net/?p=2005#comment-193 Thank you Fredrik. I really like the weeks of school idea, very nice and tangible. Thank you Fredrik.

I really like the weeks of school idea, very nice and tangible.

]]> By: frebro http://www.sharpenr.net/2010/01/04/designing-for-donations/comment-page-1/#comment-186 frebro Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:26:15 +0000 http://www.sharpenr.net/?p=2005#comment-186 Genious! First thing I thought when reading the first paragraphs was to visualize the result of a donation, and you solved that beautifully. Another cool thing to do is to measure the donation directly in results instead of money. Imagine the text "I want to give a child X weeks of school" where you let the donor change the X to any number they want. It's pretty tempting to add a few weeks just to be extra nice. The total sum would of course be shown too, but the focus in on the number of weeks. Genious! First thing I thought when reading the first paragraphs was to visualize the result of a donation, and you solved that beautifully.

Another cool thing to do is to measure the donation directly in results instead of money. Imagine the text “I want to give a child X weeks of school” where you let the donor change the X to any number they want. It’s pretty tempting to add a few weeks just to be extra nice. The total sum would of course be shown too, but the focus in on the number of weeks.

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