I see what you're saying, but I think that if you scale this to a large number of users (especially if the free "thing" is publicly visible), then you're going

I see what you're saying, but I think that if you scale this to a large number of users (especially if the free "thing" is publicly visible), then you're going to have a lot of people abusing it and/or making a mockery of it. After all, this is the internet, and nearly every community has a subsection of immature/abusive people. To really make it special and encourage people to give, there has to be an element of rarity (or real value). I'm certain that the above approach is valid and would raise money, but I don't think it's going to maximize the amount of money collected for the organization. I'd estimate that a complete solution could bring in at least two times as many donations, and maximizing donations is the goal here (otherwise I could just do something simple like putting a banner on the front page). Regarding the honor system and scalability: I don't think that there would be much abuse if people had to contact me personally to say that they donated money, but people would be less honest in clicking a button (I imagine lots of people would click it because they planned to give in the future and then forget to do so, for example). Or maybe I'm just entirely lacking faith in the kindness of others and should be more trusting :)