3 ms·

To those considering donating to Watsi - the best part is when they send you an update on the patient's condition after surgery. The transparency is admirable.

xhrpost 13y ago
Yes this is a good step in the right direction I feel. Personally though some updates would have been nice, I think there was at least 4 months between funding and hearing that surgery was complete for the patient I helped with. An earlier update would have been nice, was wondering what was going on for a while. Also they used the original picture of the patient rather than an updated one. Maybe I'm just being picky but I think those things could help improve the response that a donor feels from helping out.
- lukethomas 13y ago
  Agreed - I just think it's lightyears ahead of other charities. Most of the time, I have no idea where the money even goes, which is really unfortunate (and makes me not want to donate to them)
  - xhrpost 13y ago
    Yes, completely agree, we need more of this as it helps people better see the impact their donations have in areas donors will likely never visit. I like how Charity:Water is also doing this by giving you photos and GPS coordinates to the pump you help fund. If there's a such thing as a disruptive charity, it's organizations like these.
    - nowarninglabel 13y ago
      I agree, these organizations are great. Speaking as a long-term software engineer at Kiva, I've come to see there is always a fine balance on what to update on and how frequent to update people. For the what, there are many concerns, namely privacy. For the frequency, we've tried to allow users a lot of choice in choosing how often to be updated, but then it's still a question of how much resources should the charity spend on getting updates. It is usually going to cost someone's time and money to gather updates, whether the charity in question or the partner they are working with in the field, or both. So, one has to think critically on how to balance spending money on that with spending money on the actual help to people. Granted, the exciting thing is that as the people these charities are helping get more connected to online networks, there is more opportunity for them to make their own choices in regards to when and on what to update the people who are helping them.
davedx 13y ago
Yep. I tend to fire and forget with charity, and it's always awesome to get those emails and see you've really helped someone.

xhrpost 13y ago

Yes this is a good step in the right direction I feel. Personally though some updates would have been nice, I think there was at least 4 months between funding and hearing that surgery was complete for the patient I helped with. An earlier update would have been nice, was wondering what was going on for a while. Also they used the original picture of the patient rather than an updated one. Maybe I'm just being picky but I think those things could help improve the response that a donor feels from helping out.

lukethomas 13y ago
Agreed - I just think it's lightyears ahead of other charities. Most of the time, I have no idea where the money even goes, which is really unfortunate (and makes me not want to donate to them)
- xhrpost 13y ago
  Yes, completely agree, we need more of this as it helps people better see the impact their donations have in areas donors will likely never visit. I like how Charity:Water is also doing this by giving you photos and GPS coordinates to the pump you help fund. If there's a such thing as a disruptive charity, it's organizations like these.
  - nowarninglabel 13y ago
    I agree, these organizations are great. Speaking as a long-term software engineer at Kiva, I've come to see there is always a fine balance on what to update on and how frequent to update people. For the what, there are many concerns, namely privacy. For the frequency, we've tried to allow users a lot of choice in choosing how often to be updated, but then it's still a question of how much resources should the charity spend on getting updates. It is usually going to cost someone's time and money to gather updates, whether the charity in question or the partner they are working with in the field, or both. So, one has to think critically on how to balance spending money on that with spending money on the actual help to people. Granted, the exciting thing is that as the people these charities are helping get more connected to online networks, there is more opportunity for them to make their own choices in regards to when and on what to update the people who are helping them.

davedx 13y ago

Yep. I tend to fire and forget with charity, and it's always awesome to get those emails and see you've really helped someone.