Iâm an AI entrepeneur and one of the guys behind the GoodWallet: thegoodwallet.org
Benjamin Jaeger đ¸
Karma: 12
I truly believe the public API could be a game-changer.
For example, I envision a loyalty card where GoodWallet users receive charitable contributions on purchases, similar to how cashback programs work. This could eventually lead to an inversion of the current paradigm, where end-users are asked for donations at checkout (for example). With the GoodWallet, corporations would be the ones donating by paying into peopleâs GoodWallets.
Of course, there are many more examples: a donation-based airbnb, a marketplace, any âsharing platformâ like car sharing, bike sharing etc. Iâm curious to see where this goes and if there are any showstoppers that might have led to previous failed attempts at building something like this.
Good idea to allow the user to pre-select multiple effective charities and let the donor decide. We would just need to set up the payment flow to the charities directly.
Thanks for the feedback! Very generally the two sides we envision as users are:
Givers: People who wanna show love or support, maybe for something free or a favor, and want that their money does good instead of just being a simple payment.
Receivers (using the wallet): Basically anyone who gives informal support or provides free stuff â creators, people doing favors (couch surfing thanks, splitting a bill nicely), selling old belongings, or people that want a seamless way to channel gifts or small debts into charity instead of relying on cash. Basically, anywhere there are implicit costs but social norms mean you donât ask for money.
There was a recent post here that is very related: https://ââforum.effectivealtruism.org/ââposts/âârCvaLdjefLoxtfcrv/ââsmall-simple-way-to-promote-effective-giving-while-making#:~:text=recommended%20%C2%A0charities
Our initial target group would be impact-driven creators that have a big crowd and community. By convincing only a small fraction of their supporters to donate a small amount, they could accumulate a significant amount which can be channeled towards donations.
Our future vision is bigger than the above and aims to establish a public API for anyone to use in their products. Think of a marketplace where people âpayâ with the GoodWallet, or loyalty/âcashback cards where the money goes into your GoodWallet (or pre-selected charity directly), etc.
Hi Jason! Benjamin here, co-founder and responsible for the technical side. This is exactly the kind of feedback we are looking for so thanks a lot for commenting.
The delayed-allocation model is mostly a feature of us being in the prototype phase. The main reason is rather technical, because public APIs are missing to directly set up the payment flows from external donors to different charities via the GoodWallet.
There are two other minor arguments for at least having the option to accumulate funds first: One is emergency relief. We believe that having a social fund that can easily be directed to emergency relief when needed can be valuable. The second is privacy. Even among highly effective charities, people still have preferences, and weâve heard people say they would appreciate an option to choose and switch between charities in private.Having that said, we totally agree with you. Giving GoodWallet users the chance to pre-select a charity to which incoming payments are directed to is something we will certainly add to the platform.
In general, our current situation is mostly resource limited. This is the reason why we kept things as lean as possible. However, we are starting to see interest and would like to drive this forward. Our goal is to register GoodWallet as a non-profit itself and then decide on further product directions. The mini-DAF functionality is something we see fit in perfectly into the overall concept, but we definitely need to explore its practicality further.
Great initiative! Good luck with everything thatâs ahead.