5 ms·

I really like that you brought up third-party verification. We think that's the most efficient and responsible way to scale our due-diligence process. Currently

I really like that you brought up third-party verification. We think that's the most efficient and responsible way to scale our due-diligence process. Currently, in addition to being verified by us, all of our partners have been verified by multiple third parties (Partners in Health, Givewell, CNN, ABC, HBO, etc.) and they are all 501(c)(3) organizations which means that they are also overseen by the US Gov. I agree that learning from other charities is the best way to evolve. Kiva has a pretty awesome due diligence process that we would like to pick and choose elements from as we grow: http://www.kiva.org/about/risk/kiva-role http://www.kiva.org/about/risk/kiva-role

egiva 14y ago
Like Kiva, it would be good to also list the "sponsor" (read: 501(c)(3) name) on the patient's profile/donation page. If that sponsor name also included a link to a basic sponsor profile page showing further sponsor information, that would be a step in the transparency direction for me. I'm hesitant to donate until I see which charity is sponsoring the person who needs treatment. EDIT: I dug through the pages and found a link to a Google Spreadsheet doc with basic information regarding the sponsor for each patient. This is one area I would definitely improve into a sponsor link on each patient's donations page. But all-in-all, great stuff!!
- chaseadam17 14y ago
  Thanks! The Google Doc could definitely use some improvement, but for now it seems to do the job. Did you get a chance to click on the Medical Partner link on the patient profiles? It opens a lightbox with some info on the partner. But we'd love to have more robust pages with tons of awesome info (map, financials, photos, data, etc.) for each Medical Partner. We just need to raise the money to pay for the quality dev time we need!
cbr 14y ago
Can you tell me more about the GiveWell verification?
- chaseadam17 14y ago
  GiveWell selected our first Medical Partner, Nyaya Health, as being in the top 1% of all non-profits with regard to transparency and accountability. http://blog.nyayahealth.org/2011/12/10/nyayahealth1/ http://blog.nyayahealth.org/2011/12/10/nyayahealth1/
anamax 14y ago
> they are all 501(c)(3) organizations which means that they are also overseen by the US Gov. The US govt does not do significant oversight of 501(c)(3) organizations. They don't care at all about effectiveness.
reader2000 14y ago
Please be careful and ensure that your partners have been verified, evaluated and audited regularly by experts who specialize in it and are on the ground. For example, CNN, ABC, and HBO are not experts in this area and are by no means doing it on an ongoing basis. The partner can easily showcase needy cases when the cameras show up for a week and then go back to scamming once the cameras leave. A 501(c)(3) means that it is a type of legal entity with certain tax benefits. It is not overseen by the US Government, except by the IRS to make sure for example that it is not a business pretending to be a non-profit. They do zero checks on efficacy and impact.

egiva 14y ago

Like Kiva, it would be good to also list the "sponsor" (read: 501(c)(3) name) on the patient's profile/donation page. If that sponsor name also included a link to a basic sponsor profile page showing further sponsor information, that would be a step in the transparency direction for me. I'm hesitant to donate until I see which charity is sponsoring the person who needs treatment. EDIT: I dug through the pages and found a link to a Google Spreadsheet doc with basic information regarding the sponsor for each patient. This is one area I would definitely improve into a sponsor link on each patient's donations page. But all-in-all, great stuff!!

chaseadam17 14y ago
Thanks! The Google Doc could definitely use some improvement, but for now it seems to do the job. Did you get a chance to click on the Medical Partner link on the patient profiles? It opens a lightbox with some info on the partner. But we'd love to have more robust pages with tons of awesome info (map, financials, photos, data, etc.) for each Medical Partner. We just need to raise the money to pay for the quality dev time we need!

cbr 14y ago

Can you tell me more about the GiveWell verification?

chaseadam17 14y ago
GiveWell selected our first Medical Partner, Nyaya Health, as being in the top 1% of all non-profits with regard to transparency and accountability. http://blog.nyayahealth.org/2011/12/10/nyayahealth1/ http://blog.nyayahealth.org/2011/12/10/nyayahealth1/

anamax 14y ago

> they are all 501(c)(3) organizations which means that they are also overseen by the US Gov. The US govt does not do significant oversight of 501(c)(3) organizations. They don't care at all about effectiveness.

reader2000 14y ago

Please be careful and ensure that your partners have been verified, evaluated and audited regularly by experts who specialize in it and are on the ground. For example, CNN, ABC, and HBO are not experts in this area and are by no means doing it on an ongoing basis. The partner can easily showcase needy cases when the cameras show up for a week and then go back to scamming once the cameras leave. A 501(c)(3) means that it is a type of legal entity with certain tax benefits. It is not overseen by the US Government, except by the IRS to make sure for example that it is not a business pretending to be a non-profit. They do zero checks on efficacy and impact.