6 ms·

Google One Today

97 points by andreavaccari 13y ago

solox3 13y ago
It won't fly just like this - You can't just ask people to download an app and donate a buck a day. You need an incentive. This will definitely work if the $1 gets the donor an "item of the day" from the play store, which Google can most certainly give out copies for "free".
- Sunlis 13y ago
  That seems quite cynical. Kiva is quite successful, and they offer no incentives at all; you just loan $25, wait for it to be repaid, then loan it out again. http://www.kiva.org/ http://www.kiva.org/
  - ruswick 13y ago
    Regardless, adding a tangible incentive will undoubtedly increase adoption and will cost Google little to nothing. It seems like a good idea.
- VikingCoder 13y ago
  So they'll tie it to gifting. I gift you $25 that you can donate, $1 a time in One Today. And then you get hooked. If it does Android Notifications, it'll probably be as successful as those Sarah McLaughlan, Sally Struthers commercials.
- prawn 13y ago
  I assume you'll be able to follow the charity you've donated to and feel like you've made a difference by seeing what they're up to.
molecule 13y ago
"One Today is an app that brings together people and nonprofits through the simple act of giving $1." To be clear: you'd be giving the non-profit $0.98, and your credit-card company $0.02: http://www.google.com/onetoday/faq.html http://www.google.com/onetoday/faq.html "How much of my donation will reach the nonprofit? "The nonprofit will get all of your donation except the credit card processing fee of 1.9%"
- ryandvm 13y ago
  And this is the real value of Bitcoin et al. As more and more commerce moves to the Internet, I become increasingly irked by the credit card processing "tax" levied by Visa/Mastercard. I long for the day we can yank those leeches off the legs of the Internet economy...
  - nhaehnle 13y ago
    Of course, Bitcoin is also designed to charge a processing fee. This is currently optional, but it is entirely conceivable that this would change in the long run if Bitcoin ever sees adoption on a serious scale. This holds especially true given that mining awards will go down. Furthermore, services built on top of Bitcoin will have such charges as well. I don't think economics as a science has a consensus theory that has withstood serious empirical shakedowns for explaining how high such fees end up in practice.
    - ceph_ 13y ago
      You know the bitcoin exchanges are taking a transaction fee in the same way the credit card companies are, right?
      - nhaehnle 13y ago
        I'm very much behind on this since you wrote that two days ago, but I wrote my initial reply in the mindset of "what if Bitcoin becomes more pervasive" - as in: it gets increasingly used as an alternate currency. But of course your point still stands for the world today, and that other world will probably never come anyway.
  - MichaelGG 13y ago
    2% for all the fraud management seems like a fairly good deal all around.
    - jimktrains2 13y ago
tomasien 13y ago
Have you ever been working on something then had some huge company just go ahead and release exactly what you're building? Yeah, um, that totally didn't just happen to me.
- tomasien 13y ago
  In all seriousness, it's pretty cool to see this small bit of validation for what I'm doing. It's not my project (freelance work that I chose bc I liked it), not on the same platform, and not EXACTLY the same, so this is really nothing but a good thing. Still, threw me back on my heels a bit.
- VikingCoder 13y ago
  Contact the team. Ask for a job. No, seriously.
  - tomasien 13y ago
    A solid idea! I'm pretty dedicated to not having a job and I'm pretty good at it, but if it was anyone but me (or something like that) I'd do it for sure.
  - fijal 13y ago
    i'm impressed with your belief in google. You can't just do it. It's a giant institution with rules and hiring process is formal and can't be done by the team.
    - VikingCoder 13y ago
      There are at least two ways to get hired at Google: * Apply blind * Work on something fascinating, and have someone on the inside want to hire you The second one is normally acquisitions, but it's how researchers often get hired away from universities as well. I'm not saying it's likely for someone to get hired the second way, but it is possible.
- cyanbane 13y ago
  Whats the harm in shipping both? I love that Google is doing this, and I hope all the best for people that benefit from it, but the term "Google" is not synonymous with _charity_ for me personally. Get your app out there with some official branding from respectable charities ("certified by the red cross etc") and I would DL yours just as quick as I would DL something similar from Google.
frasierman 13y ago
I found it a bit weird that they never asked for my email, they just assumed that my Gmail account was my email.
nazgulnarsil 13y ago
Let's continue to encourage people to give to charities with shit effectiveness!
- prawn 13y ago
  Same thing happens with whoever I give money to - taxes, paying off my wife's credit card, etc...
hayksaakian 13y ago
> Google has a long-standing commitment to supporting nonprofits and to do doing good. The best kind of good /snark
jeffdavis 13y ago
What do they do to prevent fraudulent charities? E.g. a "save the seals" campaign that spends all its money on lavish salaries and helps one seal a year? People paying only one dollar are unlikely to do much research.
- pavs 13y ago
  From: http://www.google.com/onetoday/faq.html http://www.google.com/onetoday/faq.html How you find the nonprofits featured on One Today? All the nonprofits on One Today are members of Google for Nonprofits. http://www.google.com/nonprofits/ http://www.google.com/nonprofits/
  - Samuel_Michon 13y ago
    Following that logic, if I open a Google Apps for Business account that must mean I run a honest and ethical company. To become a 'member' of Google for Nonprofits, non-profits only need to show that they hold current 501(c)(3) status. That's a pretty weak filter.
hallmark 13y ago
This sounds an awful lot like Philanthroper, which Mark Wilson eventually had to shut down. However, it's a slightly new angle, and I sincerely hope they succeed. I created a nonprofit Facebook app many years ago in the same space. It's tough, but Google has the resources to see it through.
scrrr 13y ago
I once saw a nice idea when I was traveling to Sofia in Bulgaria. When I withdrew money at an ATM it asked me at the end if I would like to donate 1 LEV (0.66 USD, 0.5 EUR) to Unicef. I really liked it, because it's a very small amount of money, a big name (Unicef), and it's no hassle at all. I don't know if there are enough ATM withdrawals for the sum donated this way to be significant at all. But if yes, I wish they would do it in other countries, as well.
beyti 13y ago
Is it just me or is it really weird to request an invite to use an app which needs your donation?
- nodata 13y ago
  The invitations are to create exclusivity and drive demand.

97 points by andreavaccari 13y ago

It won't fly just like this - You can't just ask people to download an app and donate a buck a day. You need an incentive. This will definitely work if the $1 gets the donor an "item of the day" from the play store, which Google can most certainly give out copies for "free".

Sunlis 13y ago
That seems quite cynical. Kiva is quite successful, and they offer no incentives at all; you just loan $25, wait for it to be repaid, then loan it out again. http://www.kiva.org/ http://www.kiva.org/
- ruswick 13y ago
  Regardless, adding a tangible incentive will undoubtedly increase adoption and will cost Google little to nothing. It seems like a good idea.
VikingCoder 13y ago
So they'll tie it to gifting. I gift you $25 that you can donate, $1 a time in One Today. And then you get hooked. If it does Android Notifications, it'll probably be as successful as those Sarah McLaughlan, Sally Struthers commercials.
prawn 13y ago
I assume you'll be able to follow the charity you've donated to and feel like you've made a difference by seeing what they're up to.

molecule 13y ago

"One Today is an app that brings together people and nonprofits through the simple act of giving $1." To be clear: you'd be giving the non-profit $0.98, and your credit-card company $0.02: http://www.google.com/onetoday/faq.html http://www.google.com/onetoday/faq.html "How much of my donation will reach the nonprofit? "The nonprofit will get all of your donation except the credit card processing fee of 1.9%"

ryandvm 13y ago
And this is the real value of Bitcoin et al. As more and more commerce moves to the Internet, I become increasingly irked by the credit card processing "tax" levied by Visa/Mastercard. I long for the day we can yank those leeches off the legs of the Internet economy...
- nhaehnle 13y ago
  Of course, Bitcoin is also designed to charge a processing fee. This is currently optional, but it is entirely conceivable that this would change in the long run if Bitcoin ever sees adoption on a serious scale. This holds especially true given that mining awards will go down. Furthermore, services built on top of Bitcoin will have such charges as well. I don't think economics as a science has a consensus theory that has withstood serious empirical shakedowns for explaining how high such fees end up in practice.
  - ceph_ 13y ago
    You know the bitcoin exchanges are taking a transaction fee in the same way the credit card companies are, right?
    - nhaehnle 13y ago
      I'm very much behind on this since you wrote that two days ago, but I wrote my initial reply in the mindset of "what if Bitcoin becomes more pervasive" - as in: it gets increasingly used as an alternate currency. But of course your point still stands for the world today, and that other world will probably never come anyway.
- MichaelGG 13y ago
  2% for all the fraud management seems like a fairly good deal all around.
  - jimktrains2 13y ago

tomasien 13y ago

Have you ever been working on something then had some huge company just go ahead and release exactly what you're building? Yeah, um, that totally didn't just happen to me.

tomasien 13y ago
In all seriousness, it's pretty cool to see this small bit of validation for what I'm doing. It's not my project (freelance work that I chose bc I liked it), not on the same platform, and not EXACTLY the same, so this is really nothing but a good thing. Still, threw me back on my heels a bit.
VikingCoder 13y ago
Contact the team. Ask for a job. No, seriously.
- tomasien 13y ago
  A solid idea! I'm pretty dedicated to not having a job and I'm pretty good at it, but if it was anyone but me (or something like that) I'd do it for sure.
- fijal 13y ago
  i'm impressed with your belief in google. You can't just do it. It's a giant institution with rules and hiring process is formal and can't be done by the team.
  - VikingCoder 13y ago
    There are at least two ways to get hired at Google: * Apply blind * Work on something fascinating, and have someone on the inside want to hire you The second one is normally acquisitions, but it's how researchers often get hired away from universities as well. I'm not saying it's likely for someone to get hired the second way, but it is possible.
cyanbane 13y ago
Whats the harm in shipping both? I love that Google is doing this, and I hope all the best for people that benefit from it, but the term "Google" is not synonymous with _charity_ for me personally. Get your app out there with some official branding from respectable charities ("certified by the red cross etc") and I would DL yours just as quick as I would DL something similar from Google.

frasierman 13y ago

I found it a bit weird that they never asked for my email, they just assumed that my Gmail account was my email.

nazgulnarsil 13y ago

Let's continue to encourage people to give to charities with shit effectiveness!

prawn 13y ago
Same thing happens with whoever I give money to - taxes, paying off my wife's credit card, etc...

hayksaakian 13y ago

> Google has a long-standing commitment to supporting nonprofits and to do doing good. The best kind of good /snark

jeffdavis 13y ago

What do they do to prevent fraudulent charities? E.g. a "save the seals" campaign that spends all its money on lavish salaries and helps one seal a year? People paying only one dollar are unlikely to do much research.

pavs 13y ago
From: http://www.google.com/onetoday/faq.html http://www.google.com/onetoday/faq.html How you find the nonprofits featured on One Today? All the nonprofits on One Today are members of Google for Nonprofits. http://www.google.com/nonprofits/ http://www.google.com/nonprofits/
- Samuel_Michon 13y ago
  Following that logic, if I open a Google Apps for Business account that must mean I run a honest and ethical company. To become a 'member' of Google for Nonprofits, non-profits only need to show that they hold current 501(c)(3) status. That's a pretty weak filter.

hallmark 13y ago

This sounds an awful lot like Philanthroper, which Mark Wilson eventually had to shut down. However, it's a slightly new angle, and I sincerely hope they succeed. I created a nonprofit Facebook app many years ago in the same space. It's tough, but Google has the resources to see it through.

scrrr 13y ago

I once saw a nice idea when I was traveling to Sofia in Bulgaria. When I withdrew money at an ATM it asked me at the end if I would like to donate 1 LEV (0.66 USD, 0.5 EUR) to Unicef. I really liked it, because it's a very small amount of money, a big name (Unicef), and it's no hassle at all. I don't know if there are enough ATM withdrawals for the sum donated this way to be significant at all. But if yes, I wish they would do it in other countries, as well.

beyti 13y ago

Is it just me or is it really weird to request an invite to use an app which needs your donation?

nodata 13y ago
The invitations are to create exclusivity and drive demand.