What IF *we* could do it?

Post Reply New Topic

Heh. Crazy thought of the day I suppose.

I've had an idea (one of many lol) for a few years or so that was inspired by a post on these forums by someone who no longer posts here.

It'd be for a charity/non-profit - probably the latter, and in order to make it happen would require a website with very specific functionality. It COULD begin as a dead simple single static page with some info and a couple of email addresses or text box form fields & a paypal link/box etc which would then require manual work in the background by h00manZ in order to complete the process(es) the entire concept would require. And then it could be automated via web developers/programmers of whatever sort would be able to make the processes happen automatically.

It's a very simple concept, which is part of why it might actually work - and if it does - it does some real good in the world. (IMO)

Super basic explanation of the process:

$ gets donated by those with $ to donate. Maybe they get a receipt for tax deduction purposes for having donated one time Or making a monthly donation.

The only real expenses would be web development, hosting, administering the process manually at first etc with as much of the donated money as possible going directly to doing the good thing the non-profit would be intended to do.

Donating $ would accumulate until there was enough to pay for a thing and have it shipped out to a person on a waiting list for said thing who is willing to utilize said thing for the general good utilizing those widgets will do for the world, but who does not have the financial resources on hand to be able to afford the thing themselves. The thing would be procured from the geographically closest vendor to the recipient - to support local businesses & minimize shipping distance/cost/pollution etc.

Rinse & repeat as many times over as possible


That's really truly about it in a nutshell. Simply matching mismatched resources. People with disposable income able to donate to a charity/non-profit who feel good about contributing to a specific cause being matched up with others who have the capabilities, resources, and will to utilize the widget things that in turn does good in the world -> a very simple feel good loop that could really truly honest to God make a real difference in the world.

I have no idea what type of programming would be required to automate such a website, especially if it were to have automated accounting in multiple currencies, automated tax receipts issued/donation certificates of sorts sent via email, automated procurement of widgets (if possible) and forwarding of names and shipping addresses to vendors and updating of the list of those awaiting the receipt of their thing when their turn in line comes etc. Although, the last few bits may always have to be done more manually as I suspect that most-to-all of the potential widget suppliers won't have the technical capabilities to have automated purchase process flows.. but maybe some. In a perfect world it could be setup and automated and then have almost zero human input to minimize labour costs and maximize the good that donated funds could do. But, there may be no way around that and there may always have to be humans employed to process purchases and convey shipping addresses to vendors.


I've thought before that maybe I Should just set it up as a standalone static website with the simplest of execution and then see if the concept even works, and then if it does attract donors and grows to a point where I don't have time to facilitate it, then maybe some of the contributions get set aside to build the budget required to pay programmers to automate it as much as possible with the next iteration of the website minimizing the required human input to maximize efficiencies & utilization of donor funds. But it's still not the end of the world if it creates Necessary human jobs that can't be automated very easily at all.



That's about it for the moment. I just recall seeing someone's post recently saying they were some sort of programmer and couldn't find work in their field and it made me think "What if, collectively, people right here on WP could make this work ?" Thing is, I expect programming will cost a lot more $ than I can personally afford.. hence the thought about maybe launching it very manually to test the waters, and then if it flies, retain funds to pay programmers. Is there enough info above for programmers here to give some sort of idea on what it would cost to build such an automated site? Any idea of the budget required? It's something I've been curious about for a few years or longer now and what IF *we* could pull it off.. could create some jobs, could do some good in the world, could be good for one's resume if it became a known thing to people etc. Would be kinda neat.. "Oh really? You worked on that internet charity thing that does abc/xyz good in the world??" "Yep! Sure did. Proud of it." kind of thing.

_________________
No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

Lawyers are expensive. Not sure why I’d need a lawyer or a CPA. ??

If one is legally required to sign off on registering a non-profit, then maybe I’d have to pay for a signature. But I’m not sure on that.

I know a couple people that have registered non profit organizations so could ask them what they cost to register. I can’t imagine it’s all Thaaaat much different than registering an incorporation here. (IIRC it costs around $1k)

It’s possible someone might volunteer to assist if they were passionate about the cause and project, but reality is most people can’t afford to work for free and need to be paid for their work so they can afford to pay for things like shelter, food, transportation etc. So I fully anticipate having to fund any real programming to create an automated website.

It’s technically possible to start with something so simple than anyone could create the site with some sort of wysiwyg editor and a few google searches to see how to insert a PayPal form etc. Then if it proves successful and is worth automating, it would generate enough $ to self fund its own employees/contract programmers.

But it would be neat if someone saw what I see in it and decided to collaborate with me on it, especially if they had programming & technical skills that I don’t. It’d be dead simple for some kind of web dev to slap something together in 1-3 days kind of thing that would work for proof of concept. Then if the idea is a true success, it’d generate enough $ to then pay them to work on the automation end of things.

As for multiple currencies - yeah, it can get complex using your own code for sure.. so maybe some ots plug & play solution like PayPal is the way to go and just let it handle all transactions, subscriptions/recurring donations, multiple currencies etc.

_________________
No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

Hmmm, maybe sometime in the new year I'll be motivated to catch up on a bunch of overdue taxes, invoicing, paperwork stuff etc.

If I clear my plate of all of that stuff and am truly caught up to date, it'll be easier to focus on starting a new project, even if in it's most simplistic format.

Busy times with work and school and Christmas stuff right now, so especially in the next couple weeks I'm not going to do a damned thing to work towards this.

But never know, maybe in the new year I'll catch up on "life paperwork," and clear my mind enough to give this some attention. Maybe lol - school course runs until ~February/March.

_________________
No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.