How about reverse-order micropayment for donations? The site lets you start tipping right away, but doesn't actually pay until you load money. So you can start using the service right away, and eventually you'll guilt yourself into actually donating in bulk.
you viewed 59 applications.
supported by teams totalling 489 people.
running 78 servers.
you didn't see 4900 adverts.
your charity account has reached $5, if you have the time, those teams would appreciate your support.
This would add complexity to the backend, but I'd be surprised if it had an inherently high cost overall. A user that actively uses flattr but doesn't put any money in each month probably only represents a small overhead in resources. I guess there's a risk that someone who otherwise would have setup a regular payment now doesn't (or contributes less).
This feels like one of those ideas that is incredibly obvious in retrospect but until I'd heard someone suggest it I hadn't thought about it.
You're suggesting that process is easier than preloading an account from a credit card?
To me, having a bitcoin hot wallet on my computer is what feels unnatural. I'm far more likely to use a service that will let me preload an account balance than I am to use bitcoin and all that entails.
Everyone is their own bank. All you need is a Bitcoin wallet and I recommend exactly that app, Bitcoin Wallet: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.schildbach....
There are many others as well. BitPay has a user-friendly one called Copay: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bitpay.cop...