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Watsi (YC W13) raises $1.2M first-of-its-kind 'philanthropic seed round'

240 points by chaseadam17 13y ago

softbuilder 13y ago
Good job guys!
ericwu01 13y ago
Congrats to the Watsi.org team!
- gracegarey 13y ago
  Thank you for everything, Eric!
- chaseadam17 13y ago
  You should be at the top of this thread Eric. I can't imagine any other investor in the world who would stay up all night coding for us while on vacation in Europe.
dnautics 13y ago
Serious congratulations. The idea of separating overhead from donations is a important idea that needs to be emulated more in the charitable community.
- maxerickson 13y ago
  This blog post is about a donation! Allowing smaller donations to be targeted and fully directed at specific goals is an interesting idea, but somebody needs to figure out the right words to use when discussing it.
  - tnorthcutt 13y ago
    dnautics is talking about how they separate donations given via their site from their overhead costs: 100% of what you give on the site goes to fund treatment, and overhead is paid for by "donations" (funding) such as the one mentioned here, and by people who give via the site but elect to target some of their donation to cover overhead (that option is presented when you give on their site).
    - dnautics 13y ago
      thanks for clarifying for me, I clearly needed more coffee before posting!
      - maxerickson 13y ago
        I apparently failed to make my point. To informed people, that overhead is being funded by separate donations is clear enough. Uninformed people are developing a habit of thinking Watsi is a for profit business (and then making angry noises). It is my view that phrasing like "The idea of separating overhead from donations" exacerbates this source of noise.
        dnautics 13y ago
        "that overhead is being funded by separate donations is clear enough"... that's not always the case for all nonprofits.
        tnorthcutt 13y ago
        Do you have a source for the thinking that people perceived Watsi as a for-profit business?
        maxerickson 13y ago
        Mostly Paul Graham's twitter conversations and the occasional paranoid comment posted here.
- tomhallett 13y ago
  Charity:Water seperated donations from overhead too. Great interview here: http://revision3.com/foundation/scottharrison http://revision3.com/foundation/scottharrison
  - dnautics 13y ago
    wow, thank you for that video, It's amazing... In tears in some segments.
- jseliger 13y ago
  The idea of separating overhead from donations is a important idea that needs to be emulated more in the charitable community. Most already do, but that's actually a problem for most charities, since they can't figure out how to scale or operate more efficiently because their budget is tied so directly to services. For more than this, see the reasoning and extensive examples in Ken Stern's book With Charity For All. I wrote about it here: http://blog.seliger.com/2013/06/02/with-charity-for-all-ken-stern-book-discussion/ http://blog.seliger.com/2013/06/02/with-charity-for-all-ken-... , and anyone interested in how the charitable subset of nonprofits actually operate should read the book. (I'm a consultant who does grant writing for nonprofit and public agencies and have heard a million laments on this issue.)
  - j_s 13y ago
    I would be interested in your take on Dan Pallota's perspective (below, several times); he seems to have a lot of exposure with his claim that nonprofit isn't working as well as it could, primarily because of the focus on "overhead". -- Dan Pallotta: The way we think about charity is dead wrong http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pallotta_the_way_we_think_about_charity_is_dead_wrong.html http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pallotta_the_way_we_think_about... (20 min video) > nonprofits [...] are rewarded for how little they spend > -- not for what they get done Pallotta on Charity and the Culture of the Non-Profit Sector http://www.econtalk.org/archives/_featuring/dan_pallotta/ http://www.econtalk.org/archives/_featuring/dan_pallotta/ (1 hr EconTalk podcast) > The use of overhead as a measure of effectiveness makes it difficult for > charities to attract the best talent, advertise, and invest for the future Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their Potential http://amzn.com/B003BLY740 http://amzn.com/B003BLY740 ($15 340 pg. Kindle book) > double-standards place the nonprofit sector at extreme disadvantage to > the for profit sector on every level
    - jseliger 13y ago
      I heard the Econtalk, and he's correct. The problem is that a relatively small number of nonprofits will abuse overhead, which is how you end up with the perennial exposé of some nonprofit where the senior managers drive Ferraris and expense $500 lunches, and then everyone thinks administrative costs get a bad name and wants to restrict them; this is similar to the "every check has a cost" idea Paul Graham writes about here: http://www.paulgraham.com/artistsship.html http://www.paulgraham.com/artistsship.html. Since charities' real clients are funders, charities artificially hold back "administrative" costs, at the cost of effectiveness. Often some form of creative accounting gets used. In addition, it's prestigious / sexy to see a staff person handing food over to someone, or providing an ear exam to a kid, or whatever. It's not sexy to get a functional CRM or logistics manager or whatever.
cindywu123 13y ago
congrats watsi! you guys are my fave
bradleybuda 13y ago
Very excited for and proud of the entire Watsi team!!
josh2600 13y ago
This is really cool, but does it scale? I tend to think of Watsi as sort of a one-off, at least right now. Do you think it will become easier to make philanthropic ventures if funding them becomes similar to funding Venture companies? I mean in a way it already is, except you write a grant instead of pitching a capitalist. Does this pave the way for more non-profit venture companies or is this just a one-off? EDIT: Massive congratulations to the team at Watsi :). Job well done.
kfarzaneh 13y ago
Well done guys!
tptacek 13y ago
Watsi could use an API, so that I can rig code up in (for instance) contests to submit a donation every time a player finishes. That would also have the beneficial effect of potentially randomizing some donations across the patient portfolio.
- jc00ke 13y ago
  That's a really good idea. We started sketching out the API a bit ago but had to put it on hold. It's something we want/need to get right. Hopefully I get some time in the next few months to get started on it.
  - tptacek 13y ago
    Let me know when you have a beta or something. We could definitely have used it for the crypto challenges, and we have a much bigger set of (non-crypto) challenges coming up that I'd love to plug directly into Watsi. If we'd had an API, we would probably have done smaller-dollar donations for people who got (say) halfway through. Also, weird as this will sound: it feels very awkward talking up donations from the challenges (for one thing, the dollar amounts we're talking about are a pittance), and so I rarely do. But if the donations were automated, we'd automatically post the donation totals as well. The way things like Twitter work, repetition is hugely valuable.
    - jc00ke 13y ago
      We've had some other partners ask for a way to automate donations. We have a plan for that, and we'll be working on it next.
  - nicksergeant 13y ago
    Also would love an API for an idea I had: a reverse-ad-platform where folks could promo campaigns where people need real help. Basically trying to help grass-roots medical campaigns to get more exposure across the "ad platform network".
  - immad 13y ago
chaseadam17 13y ago
We're searching the world for a front-end developer to join our team in time to travel with us to Nepal on August 20th. If you or anyone you know is interested, drop us a line! http://bit.ly/1boYhK8 http://bit.ly/1boYhK8
qeorge 13y ago
Anyone reading this has enough time and money to fund another person now: https://watsi.org/fund-treatments https://watsi.org/fund-treatments Do it.
- jggonz 13y ago
  Done. :)
- atonse 13y ago
  I just tried to donate and since I use 1password to pre-fill the CC info, their form validation didn't kick in, and the "Confirm Donation" button was still ghosted out. I had to do some sleuthing and simulate some KeyUp events before it was enabled. If anyone from Watsi is looking, please look into this (might be an edge case though). I was close to a "eh, let me do this later." - which is bad.
  - Hello71 13y ago
    Hit backspace, reenter last digit.
  - jc00ke 13y ago
    This is a known issue with tools like 1password and LastPass. I'm not sure how to fix it. If you have any ideas, please hit me up on Twitter: @jc00ke.
    - fistofjohnwayne 13y ago
      A lazy solution is to periodically check for changes to the field, independently of any events. Could also let the user behavior trigger a validation check.
      - jc00ke 13y ago
        I wonder if a focus/blur combo would trigger the needed event and the value would be set? I need to try it out.
mfrank 13y ago
This is great news but I'm pretty sure this it is not a "first of its kind" occurrence as there are a number of vehicles (e.g. New Profit in Boston) that specialize in these types of strategic venture-like philanthropy investments.
- avemuri 13y ago
  Yup. There's a bunch of impact funds that do this kind of investment and measure themselves on metrics other than IRR. eg. Khosla Impact, Acumen, etc etc.
c4urself 13y ago
Awesome news guys -- cheering this on! EDIT: Cheering => Donating -- https://watsi.org/fund-treatments https://watsi.org/fund-treatments
jaxomlotus 13y ago
I just funded a pregnant women's medical care and it only cost $215??? In the USA it cost tens of thousands of dollars. Amazing. On a separate note, this is an AWESOME idea and service. Trust the private sector to take on poverty, where the government has failed to date.
- nfoz 13y ago
  ... and where the private sector has also failed to date.
- nawitus 13y ago
  >Trust the private sector to take on poverty, where the government has failed to date. The government has been pretty succesful in taking on poverty in Nordic countries, but it requires taxes.
- gracegarey 13y ago
  Awesome. Thanks for donating! It's pretty incredible to think that by connecting people, we may be able to transcend systems that aren't working.
- gohrt 13y ago
  In the USA, the doctors, nurses, and admin staff all live a more expensive life than their colleagues in less developed countries (and not in strictly bad ways). I'd also suspect that your $215 wouldn't cover, say, an emergency caesarian, or an epidural and similar drugs.
  - rdouble 13y ago
    I can't speak to everywhere, but in Kenya (the funding in the OP was for a Kenyan) many of the charity medical facilities are run by religious organizations, who recruit religious medical professionals from abroad to volunteer their time and services. If an OB/GYN happens to be volunteering the person could very well receive a C section. They also have stockpiles of various drugs which they've received from donations, so they could get an epidural if they happened to have the right stuff in the stock room.
bernardom 13y ago
Just freaking tremendous, guys. You're doing something magical: directly connecting philantropy to tangible results. How can we help you spread the word? What's your media strategy? What's the pinnacle- the Today show? Somebody paying for a primetime ad?
- gracegarey 13y ago
  Thanks so much! Really appreciate the kind words. Re: media strategy. Broad, national, mainstream outlets will be our next big challenge. Today would be amazing. Good Morning America, Frontline World News, 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper, Fareed Zakariah, Ellen, Diane Sawyer, Nick Kristof, Al Jazeera...any of those would be a pinnacle :)
  - bernardom 13y ago
    Awesome. HackerNews: here's your challenge. Who knows someone who produces at one of those programs? (Watsi, can one of your investors hook you up? I have to imagine Conway, PG, et al have the right connections. I wish there was something we could do with technology, like start a twitter campaign or something that would get you noticed... speaking of which, you guys would be the only place where I would actually click on a "share what you just did on facebook" button, after donating. Don't really care to share what book I purchased on Amazon, but I'd definitely be happy to share that I helped fund Phillip's treatment for cleft lip.)
  - qwertzlcoatl 13y ago
    I live in Heidelberg, Germany and I can't even fathom how many people here would be intrigued by watsi. I just found out about it and am blown away by how effective a simple idea can be executed. You guys should get a grip in europe. Are you planning on making regular bank transactions possible in europe? For traditionally-minded people who'd like to donate.
    - jc00ke 13y ago
      We have had some traction in Europe already, but it's been a while since we ran the numbers. We do have a blog post on the topic: http://j.mp/is-generosity-geographic http://j.mp/is-generosity-geographic? and we'll be looking to expand wherever we can. As for regular bank transactions, we're going to explore it. For now you can hook up your bank to your Paypal account. It's not ideal though, we know! Thanks for your support!
aresant 13y ago
This is awesome, I just donated and tried it out. If you guys are open to some conversion rate optimization testing ideas I saw a few areas that would likely respond to treatments - drop me a line via my profile and I'd be happy to have our team put together a free breakdown and help out where we can resource wise.
- aresant2 13y ago
  Darn it, my "anti-procrastination" parameters set in when I was writing an EDIT to my comment above, sorry for creating a secondary account but wanted to leave this here before I forget and maybe round up some other good HN ideas: 1) People won't click what they can't see - I've now encountered the watsi blog a few times via media. Link to Watsi.com from the header of the blog. Stick a call to action on the right side that links directly to "Donate Now". The "Donate Bitcoins" is cool, but that goes to Watsi opps vs your core biz. Ideally dynamically pull down the "closest to being funded" profile and stick it there w/a big button. 2) In checkout I used PayPal and I almost I clicked off before I saw there was another step required in the "You're about to confirm your donation" and then "Complete Donation". I'd test a little bit of a bolder statement there, would be interested to see abandons there but glad to see that you are storing the session. 3) Improve visibility of after-checkout links / actions - After funding you provide social links to share the message, get those higher up / directly under the top paragraph of text. Also include your "View Other Profiles" 4) I was compelled to donate a second time when I realized that I could be the "Final funder" to close out a campaign - that seems like a really solid way to drive a secondary call to action in the email that you send and gives immediacy that is otherwise lacking. 5) Your instant email is great, but with more and more email clients blocking images by default (1) it's a lost opportunity - this is what I saw in my gmail client http://imgur.com/u9AifHM http://imgur.com/u9AifHM - get some basic ALT tags in there as a quick fix, as a longer term fix shrink your logo way down, put block text in the top image quadrant along with a call to action eg "Thank you for funding [NAME]'s medical treatment - click here to meet other new patients on Watsi!" (1) http://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/will-it-work/image-blocking/ http://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/will-it-work/image-...
gmisra 13y ago
Serious questions: 1. Do you think there may be selection effects in this type of donation model? How do you plan on preventing discrimination against the less photogenic? 2. Do my dollars, etc actually go directly to specific individuals, or is there a layer of intermediation a la Kiva (over which there was some confusion and "controversy" [1]) 3. In a world where watsi-like treatment model becomes successful, do you believe that creating these individual-to-individual dependencies is a net positive improvement for society? [1] http://pages.kiva.org/fellowsblog/2009/11/11/kiva-transparency-and-p2p-microlending http://pages.kiva.org/fellowsblog/2009/11/11/kiva-transparen...
- eterm 13y ago
  A "random" button (super smash bros style) which picked a random from page then post donation confirm showed you who was picked would help address the photogenic issue. Also, some UK localization allowing gift aid would help you scoop up my tax with the donation. (Unless I missed it already, I'm only browsing on mobile.)
  - jc00ke 13y ago
    re: UK localization - mind emailing us connect@watsi.org about this? I'm curious to learn more about how the UK handles donations, especially if there is a tax (VAT?) involved. Thanks!
  - jc00ke 13y ago
    Thanks for the UK idea. Luckily we can also chat with Prizeo, one of the companies in our YC batch.
- chaseadam17 13y ago
  Great questions. >Do you think there may be selection effects in this type of donation model? In short, no, because we leave patients posted until they are fully funded. More detail here: http://b.qr.ae/109DseY http://b.qr.ae/109DseY >Do my dollars, etc actually go directly to specific individuals? 100% of your donation goes to the Medical Partner for the purpose of covering the cost of care for that specific person. In Watsi's case, however, sending money to the hospital is actually more efficient than sending money to the patient directly, because that's where the funds will ultimately end up. We talk more about operations in our FAQ: https://watsi.org/faq https://watsi.org/faq and in this blog post: http://bit.ly/Ynug55 http://bit.ly/Ynug55 >Do you believe that creating these individual-to-individual dependencies is a net positive improvement for society? I believe systems like Watsi are the future of healthcare. There are roughly 200 countries in the world, and approximately 40 have functioning healthcare systems. In each of those 40 systems, healthcare is paid for by individuals, for individuals (either through taxation or insurance premiums). We're universalizing those same dynamics in a more transparent and accessible way.
jgillman 13y ago
Congrats guys! Well deserved :)
foobarqux 13y ago
How do you prevent fraud?
purephase 13y ago
Seriously, your goal is awesome and I love it. Aside from donations (which I've done) is there anything else that we can do to help?
hesdeadjim 13y ago
The absolute hardest part I have when donating on this site is having to choose who gets your money. It hurts me a lot realizing just how much help people in poverty need, and it hurts even more knowing that I (or anyone else for that matter) lack the resources to help everyone in need. That said, congrats to the team for tackling such a worthy cause.
- jc00ke 13y ago
  Stay tuned, we're addressing that next ;-)
- king_jester 13y ago
  > ...and it hurts even more knowing that I (or anyone else for that matter) lack the resources to help everyone in need. This isn't really true, most issues about resource distribution are political in nature and are not the result of a lack of resources.
changdizzle 13y ago
This is incredible, question for you guys, do you avoid having to pay the PayPal fees if I pay with funds from my bank account? If so, everyone should try to do that to save the small percentage charge.
dome82 13y ago
Congratulations guys, it is an awesome news. I really love your mission and you have done wonderful job until now. Keep going like that! Wish you luck for the future!

240 points by chaseadam17 13y ago

softbuilder 13y ago

Good job guys!

ericwu01 13y ago

Congrats to the Watsi.org team!

gracegarey 13y ago
Thank you for everything, Eric!
chaseadam17 13y ago
You should be at the top of this thread Eric. I can't imagine any other investor in the world who would stay up all night coding for us while on vacation in Europe.

dnautics 13y ago

Serious congratulations. The idea of separating overhead from donations is a important idea that needs to be emulated more in the charitable community.

maxerickson 13y ago
This blog post is about a donation! Allowing smaller donations to be targeted and fully directed at specific goals is an interesting idea, but somebody needs to figure out the right words to use when discussing it.
- tnorthcutt 13y ago
  dnautics is talking about how they separate donations given via their site from their overhead costs: 100% of what you give on the site goes to fund treatment, and overhead is paid for by "donations" (funding) such as the one mentioned here, and by people who give via the site but elect to target some of their donation to cover overhead (that option is presented when you give on their site).
  - dnautics 13y ago
    thanks for clarifying for me, I clearly needed more coffee before posting!
    - maxerickson 13y ago
      I apparently failed to make my point. To informed people, that overhead is being funded by separate donations is clear enough. Uninformed people are developing a habit of thinking Watsi is a for profit business (and then making angry noises). It is my view that phrasing like "The idea of separating overhead from donations" exacerbates this source of noise.
      - dnautics 13y ago
        "that overhead is being funded by separate donations is clear enough"... that's not always the case for all nonprofits.
      - tnorthcutt 13y ago
        Do you have a source for the thinking that people perceived Watsi as a for-profit business?
        maxerickson 13y ago
        Mostly Paul Graham's twitter conversations and the occasional paranoid comment posted here.
tomhallett 13y ago
Charity:Water seperated donations from overhead too. Great interview here: http://revision3.com/foundation/scottharrison http://revision3.com/foundation/scottharrison
- dnautics 13y ago
  wow, thank you for that video, It's amazing... In tears in some segments.
jseliger 13y ago
The idea of separating overhead from donations is a important idea that needs to be emulated more in the charitable community. Most already do, but that's actually a problem for most charities, since they can't figure out how to scale or operate more efficiently because their budget is tied so directly to services. For more than this, see the reasoning and extensive examples in Ken Stern's book With Charity For All. I wrote about it here: http://blog.seliger.com/2013/06/02/with-charity-for-all-ken-stern-book-discussion/ http://blog.seliger.com/2013/06/02/with-charity-for-all-ken-... , and anyone interested in how the charitable subset of nonprofits actually operate should read the book. (I'm a consultant who does grant writing for nonprofit and public agencies and have heard a million laments on this issue.)
- j_s 13y ago
  I would be interested in your take on Dan Pallota's perspective (below, several times); he seems to have a lot of exposure with his claim that nonprofit isn't working as well as it could, primarily because of the focus on "overhead". -- Dan Pallotta: The way we think about charity is dead wrong http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pallotta_the_way_we_think_about_charity_is_dead_wrong.html http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pallotta_the_way_we_think_about... (20 min video) > nonprofits [...] are rewarded for how little they spend > -- not for what they get done Pallotta on Charity and the Culture of the Non-Profit Sector http://www.econtalk.org/archives/_featuring/dan_pallotta/ http://www.econtalk.org/archives/_featuring/dan_pallotta/ (1 hr EconTalk podcast) > The use of overhead as a measure of effectiveness makes it difficult for > charities to attract the best talent, advertise, and invest for the future Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their Potential http://amzn.com/B003BLY740 http://amzn.com/B003BLY740 ($15 340 pg. Kindle book) > double-standards place the nonprofit sector at extreme disadvantage to > the for profit sector on every level
  - jseliger 13y ago
    I heard the Econtalk, and he's correct. The problem is that a relatively small number of nonprofits will abuse overhead, which is how you end up with the perennial exposé of some nonprofit where the senior managers drive Ferraris and expense $500 lunches, and then everyone thinks administrative costs get a bad name and wants to restrict them; this is similar to the "every check has a cost" idea Paul Graham writes about here: http://www.paulgraham.com/artistsship.html http://www.paulgraham.com/artistsship.html. Since charities' real clients are funders, charities artificially hold back "administrative" costs, at the cost of effectiveness. Often some form of creative accounting gets used. In addition, it's prestigious / sexy to see a staff person handing food over to someone, or providing an ear exam to a kid, or whatever. It's not sexy to get a functional CRM or logistics manager or whatever.

cindywu123 13y ago

congrats watsi! you guys are my fave

bradleybuda 13y ago

Very excited for and proud of the entire Watsi team!!

josh2600 13y ago

This is really cool, but does it scale? I tend to think of Watsi as sort of a one-off, at least right now. Do you think it will become easier to make philanthropic ventures if funding them becomes similar to funding Venture companies? I mean in a way it already is, except you write a grant instead of pitching a capitalist. Does this pave the way for more non-profit venture companies or is this just a one-off? EDIT: Massive congratulations to the team at Watsi :). Job well done.

kfarzaneh 13y ago

Well done guys!

tptacek 13y ago

Watsi could use an API, so that I can rig code up in (for instance) contests to submit a donation every time a player finishes. That would also have the beneficial effect of potentially randomizing some donations across the patient portfolio.

jc00ke 13y ago
That's a really good idea. We started sketching out the API a bit ago but had to put it on hold. It's something we want/need to get right. Hopefully I get some time in the next few months to get started on it.
- tptacek 13y ago
  Let me know when you have a beta or something. We could definitely have used it for the crypto challenges, and we have a much bigger set of (non-crypto) challenges coming up that I'd love to plug directly into Watsi. If we'd had an API, we would probably have done smaller-dollar donations for people who got (say) halfway through. Also, weird as this will sound: it feels very awkward talking up donations from the challenges (for one thing, the dollar amounts we're talking about are a pittance), and so I rarely do. But if the donations were automated, we'd automatically post the donation totals as well. The way things like Twitter work, repetition is hugely valuable.
  - jc00ke 13y ago
    We've had some other partners ask for a way to automate donations. We have a plan for that, and we'll be working on it next.
- nicksergeant 13y ago
  Also would love an API for an idea I had: a reverse-ad-platform where folks could promo campaigns where people need real help. Basically trying to help grass-roots medical campaigns to get more exposure across the "ad platform network".
- immad 13y ago

chaseadam17 13y ago

We're searching the world for a front-end developer to join our team in time to travel with us to Nepal on August 20th. If you or anyone you know is interested, drop us a line! http://bit.ly/1boYhK8 http://bit.ly/1boYhK8

qeorge 13y ago

Anyone reading this has enough time and money to fund another person now: https://watsi.org/fund-treatments https://watsi.org/fund-treatments Do it.

jggonz 13y ago
Done. :)
atonse 13y ago
I just tried to donate and since I use 1password to pre-fill the CC info, their form validation didn't kick in, and the "Confirm Donation" button was still ghosted out. I had to do some sleuthing and simulate some KeyUp events before it was enabled. If anyone from Watsi is looking, please look into this (might be an edge case though). I was close to a "eh, let me do this later." - which is bad.
- Hello71 13y ago
  Hit backspace, reenter last digit.
- jc00ke 13y ago
  This is a known issue with tools like 1password and LastPass. I'm not sure how to fix it. If you have any ideas, please hit me up on Twitter: @jc00ke.
  - fistofjohnwayne 13y ago
    A lazy solution is to periodically check for changes to the field, independently of any events. Could also let the user behavior trigger a validation check.
    - jc00ke 13y ago
      I wonder if a focus/blur combo would trigger the needed event and the value would be set? I need to try it out.

mfrank 13y ago

This is great news but I'm pretty sure this it is not a "first of its kind" occurrence as there are a number of vehicles (e.g. New Profit in Boston) that specialize in these types of strategic venture-like philanthropy investments.

avemuri 13y ago
Yup. There's a bunch of impact funds that do this kind of investment and measure themselves on metrics other than IRR. eg. Khosla Impact, Acumen, etc etc.

c4urself 13y ago

Awesome news guys -- cheering this on! EDIT: Cheering => Donating -- https://watsi.org/fund-treatments https://watsi.org/fund-treatments

jaxomlotus 13y ago

I just funded a pregnant women's medical care and it only cost $215??? In the USA it cost tens of thousands of dollars. Amazing. On a separate note, this is an AWESOME idea and service. Trust the private sector to take on poverty, where the government has failed to date.

nfoz 13y ago
... and where the private sector has also failed to date.
nawitus 13y ago
>Trust the private sector to take on poverty, where the government has failed to date. The government has been pretty succesful in taking on poverty in Nordic countries, but it requires taxes.
gracegarey 13y ago
Awesome. Thanks for donating! It's pretty incredible to think that by connecting people, we may be able to transcend systems that aren't working.
gohrt 13y ago
In the USA, the doctors, nurses, and admin staff all live a more expensive life than their colleagues in less developed countries (and not in strictly bad ways). I'd also suspect that your $215 wouldn't cover, say, an emergency caesarian, or an epidural and similar drugs.
- rdouble 13y ago
  I can't speak to everywhere, but in Kenya (the funding in the OP was for a Kenyan) many of the charity medical facilities are run by religious organizations, who recruit religious medical professionals from abroad to volunteer their time and services. If an OB/GYN happens to be volunteering the person could very well receive a C section. They also have stockpiles of various drugs which they've received from donations, so they could get an epidural if they happened to have the right stuff in the stock room.

bernardom 13y ago

Just freaking tremendous, guys. You're doing something magical: directly connecting philantropy to tangible results. How can we help you spread the word? What's your media strategy? What's the pinnacle- the Today show? Somebody paying for a primetime ad?

gracegarey 13y ago
Thanks so much! Really appreciate the kind words. Re: media strategy. Broad, national, mainstream outlets will be our next big challenge. Today would be amazing. Good Morning America, Frontline World News, 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper, Fareed Zakariah, Ellen, Diane Sawyer, Nick Kristof, Al Jazeera...any of those would be a pinnacle :)
- bernardom 13y ago
  Awesome. HackerNews: here's your challenge. Who knows someone who produces at one of those programs? (Watsi, can one of your investors hook you up? I have to imagine Conway, PG, et al have the right connections. I wish there was something we could do with technology, like start a twitter campaign or something that would get you noticed... speaking of which, you guys would be the only place where I would actually click on a "share what you just did on facebook" button, after donating. Don't really care to share what book I purchased on Amazon, but I'd definitely be happy to share that I helped fund Phillip's treatment for cleft lip.)
- qwertzlcoatl 13y ago
  I live in Heidelberg, Germany and I can't even fathom how many people here would be intrigued by watsi. I just found out about it and am blown away by how effective a simple idea can be executed. You guys should get a grip in europe. Are you planning on making regular bank transactions possible in europe? For traditionally-minded people who'd like to donate.
  - jc00ke 13y ago
    We have had some traction in Europe already, but it's been a while since we ran the numbers. We do have a blog post on the topic: http://j.mp/is-generosity-geographic http://j.mp/is-generosity-geographic? and we'll be looking to expand wherever we can. As for regular bank transactions, we're going to explore it. For now you can hook up your bank to your Paypal account. It's not ideal though, we know! Thanks for your support!

aresant 13y ago

This is awesome, I just donated and tried it out. If you guys are open to some conversion rate optimization testing ideas I saw a few areas that would likely respond to treatments - drop me a line via my profile and I'd be happy to have our team put together a free breakdown and help out where we can resource wise.

aresant2 13y ago
Darn it, my "anti-procrastination" parameters set in when I was writing an EDIT to my comment above, sorry for creating a secondary account but wanted to leave this here before I forget and maybe round up some other good HN ideas: 1) People won't click what they can't see - I've now encountered the watsi blog a few times via media. Link to Watsi.com from the header of the blog. Stick a call to action on the right side that links directly to "Donate Now". The "Donate Bitcoins" is cool, but that goes to Watsi opps vs your core biz. Ideally dynamically pull down the "closest to being funded" profile and stick it there w/a big button. 2) In checkout I used PayPal and I almost I clicked off before I saw there was another step required in the "You're about to confirm your donation" and then "Complete Donation". I'd test a little bit of a bolder statement there, would be interested to see abandons there but glad to see that you are storing the session. 3) Improve visibility of after-checkout links / actions - After funding you provide social links to share the message, get those higher up / directly under the top paragraph of text. Also include your "View Other Profiles" 4) I was compelled to donate a second time when I realized that I could be the "Final funder" to close out a campaign - that seems like a really solid way to drive a secondary call to action in the email that you send and gives immediacy that is otherwise lacking. 5) Your instant email is great, but with more and more email clients blocking images by default (1) it's a lost opportunity - this is what I saw in my gmail client http://imgur.com/u9AifHM http://imgur.com/u9AifHM - get some basic ALT tags in there as a quick fix, as a longer term fix shrink your logo way down, put block text in the top image quadrant along with a call to action eg "Thank you for funding [NAME]'s medical treatment - click here to meet other new patients on Watsi!" (1) http://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/will-it-work/image-blocking/ http://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/will-it-work/image-...

gmisra 13y ago

Serious questions: 1. Do you think there may be selection effects in this type of donation model? How do you plan on preventing discrimination against the less photogenic? 2. Do my dollars, etc actually go directly to specific individuals, or is there a layer of intermediation a la Kiva (over which there was some confusion and "controversy" [1]) 3. In a world where watsi-like treatment model becomes successful, do you believe that creating these individual-to-individual dependencies is a net positive improvement for society? [1] http://pages.kiva.org/fellowsblog/2009/11/11/kiva-transparency-and-p2p-microlending http://pages.kiva.org/fellowsblog/2009/11/11/kiva-transparen...

eterm 13y ago
A "random" button (super smash bros style) which picked a random from page then post donation confirm showed you who was picked would help address the photogenic issue. Also, some UK localization allowing gift aid would help you scoop up my tax with the donation. (Unless I missed it already, I'm only browsing on mobile.)
- jc00ke 13y ago
  re: UK localization - mind emailing us connect@watsi.org about this? I'm curious to learn more about how the UK handles donations, especially if there is a tax (VAT?) involved. Thanks!
- jc00ke 13y ago
  Thanks for the UK idea. Luckily we can also chat with Prizeo, one of the companies in our YC batch.
chaseadam17 13y ago
Great questions. >Do you think there may be selection effects in this type of donation model? In short, no, because we leave patients posted until they are fully funded. More detail here: http://b.qr.ae/109DseY http://b.qr.ae/109DseY >Do my dollars, etc actually go directly to specific individuals? 100% of your donation goes to the Medical Partner for the purpose of covering the cost of care for that specific person. In Watsi's case, however, sending money to the hospital is actually more efficient than sending money to the patient directly, because that's where the funds will ultimately end up. We talk more about operations in our FAQ: https://watsi.org/faq https://watsi.org/faq and in this blog post: http://bit.ly/Ynug55 http://bit.ly/Ynug55 >Do you believe that creating these individual-to-individual dependencies is a net positive improvement for society? I believe systems like Watsi are the future of healthcare. There are roughly 200 countries in the world, and approximately 40 have functioning healthcare systems. In each of those 40 systems, healthcare is paid for by individuals, for individuals (either through taxation or insurance premiums). We're universalizing those same dynamics in a more transparent and accessible way.

jgillman 13y ago

Congrats guys! Well deserved :)

foobarqux 13y ago

How do you prevent fraud?

purephase 13y ago

Seriously, your goal is awesome and I love it. Aside from donations (which I've done) is there anything else that we can do to help?

hesdeadjim 13y ago

The absolute hardest part I have when donating on this site is having to choose who gets your money. It hurts me a lot realizing just how much help people in poverty need, and it hurts even more knowing that I (or anyone else for that matter) lack the resources to help everyone in need. That said, congrats to the team for tackling such a worthy cause.

jc00ke 13y ago
Stay tuned, we're addressing that next ;-)
king_jester 13y ago
> ...and it hurts even more knowing that I (or anyone else for that matter) lack the resources to help everyone in need. This isn't really true, most issues about resource distribution are political in nature and are not the result of a lack of resources.

changdizzle 13y ago

This is incredible, question for you guys, do you avoid having to pay the PayPal fees if I pay with funds from my bank account? If so, everyone should try to do that to save the small percentage charge.

dome82 13y ago

Congratulations guys, it is an awesome news. I really love your mission and you have done wonderful job until now. Keep going like that! Wish you luck for the future!