Show HN: App for nonprofits, feedback appreciated | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: App for nonprofits, feedback appreciated

giver.io

15 pointsoakio13 comments

So is giver.io a non-profit itself or a business? I'm just interested btw, I don't think there's anything wrong with it being a for-profit. In terms of feedback I like the idea, even if some potential revenue streams could be considered amoral by some. (ie taking a percentage of each donation)

Giver.io is a for-profit. I have worked with several nonprofits and still do. What I wanted to do is build a tool that made life easier for a lot of smaller nonprofits.

Many of the nonprofits that I have worked with have real trouble managing their needs, accepting donations online, and staying connected with givers.

With every donation online, nonprofits have to pay for credit card transactions and bank fees at the very least. Giver.io wants to make that process as simple and organized as possible for the nonprofit.

We do not see it as amoral in the least, but I am very glad that you brought that up. We must not be doing as good a job as we could at explaining the app.

You need to be incredibly transparent, especially since you're appealing to non-profits and to people's desire to give to non-profits. You need to be totally up front about the cut you are taking.

And how are you vetting the non-profits? Simply that they are 501(c) orgs?

Meme stock art is a dead give away. Need real examples before you launch broadly. Find some real customers and work with them to build a tool they need and want.

Thanks for the feedback and checking it out. We've begun working with nonprofits, but I wanted a more blunt critique and figured HN would help. Nonprofits are often too kind to express their negative views.

I signed in just to say that. First thing I noticed was good girl Gina. You really integrated her into the site, which might not be a good thing. Otherwise, I think it looks pretty sound.

I think the intention was that using good girl gina as the demo user would keep it lighthearted. I totally see your point though. Thanks for taking the time to look at it.

Copy issue on: http://giver.io/how-it-works-for-nonprofits

"you will be ready to start excepting donations" should read "you will be ready to start accepting donations"

Nice catch. Thanks for taking the time to look at it.

Just signed up (I run a non-profit) and put in some basic information. It doesn't seem very clear how I can share anything (or if I can) with someone who isn't registered at giver.io

Am I missing something?

First of all, thanks for signing up!

We are currently adding more social sharing and we will clarify how to use it. That will be added this week. Right now, each organization has a public profile that they can share. Here are the public profiles. http://giver.io/nonprofits

You should work hard at accepting registrations from non profits outside the US, that's where the need is greater.

I completely agree. We are currently talking with a few.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com