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How can Mahalo make it easy to donate your Mahalo dollars to charity?
People have suggested ways to donate Mahalo dollars before.
There have been some excellent ideas posted on how to do so.
But I think there is still room for improvement.
What type of system could Mahalo implement to make donations easy and effective?
Discussion points are:
What charities/organizations would you like to see on such a system?
How to avoid scams and gaming of the system.
How to get charities to "sign up".
Ways to encourage users to donate.
Some ideas to expand on:
Mahalo Pages for individual charities with a "donate button"?
A single Mahalo Page for all available charities?
There have been some excellent ideas posted on how to do so.
But I think there is still room for improvement.
What type of system could Mahalo implement to make donations easy and effective?
Discussion points are:
What charities/organizations would you like to see on such a system?
How to avoid scams and gaming of the system.
How to get charities to "sign up".
Ways to encourage users to donate.
Some ideas to expand on:
Mahalo Pages for individual charities with a "donate button"?
A single Mahalo Page for all available charities?
voted interesting: buddawiggi, christhomson, sean_c, jeffhoard, ziminya, bunnyphuphu, hillo, sysaaron, sunshine09, easyeboy, smartweb
answers (9)
i think it's a great idea to make it available for not just members but for others to be able to donate directly from a Mahalo page dedicated to that charity.
each charity could have its own page. and the requirements for having a charity page could be more stringent. for example, they should have to prove they have 501 (c) 3 status...easy to do if you have it. they could be required to be listed with one of the big charity clearing houses like Guide Star... and it would be great if the GuideStar information HAD to be included on the Mahalo page. GuideStar is just one. there are a lot more.
if they were required to be listed with at least one and then their statistics were displayed on their Mahalo page, then visitors could be confident when giving.
i do not think that these pages should be open for editing by just anyone. i think they should be locked to an authorized person from the charity or from staff managing it. they should also not be able to be taken away from that charity and given to another manager for not updating. some of these pages will not need updating at all.
then i think there should be two options for giving from the page... direct link for ANY visitors to give actual $$ and another link for Mahalo users to give Mahalo dollars. and yes, i agree that it would be great to give them the full $1 rather than $.75 when they cash out their Mahalo dollars. i would think it would classify as an extra donation to charity from Mahalo.
it would also be nice to have an option to donate a percentage of a particular page we manage, or our tips, or of our entire Mahalo balance automatically, and a button to manually do it just under the cash out link... and that button could go to a listing of them... with two options. click and look at the charity before deciding, or just check a box for the ones you want to give to. that way they have the choice to learn more about them, or if they already know who they want to give to, they can just go straight to donating.
maybe a let Mahalo choose or divide equally among all charities could be an option for those who don't want to choose for themselves.
more ideas?? keep 'em coming... i love brainstorming. if we give them enough ideas i'm sure the Mahalo staff can come up with the perfect system.
each charity could have its own page. and the requirements for having a charity page could be more stringent. for example, they should have to prove they have 501 (c) 3 status...easy to do if you have it. they could be required to be listed with one of the big charity clearing houses like Guide Star... and it would be great if the GuideStar information HAD to be included on the Mahalo page. GuideStar is just one. there are a lot more.
if they were required to be listed with at least one and then their statistics were displayed on their Mahalo page, then visitors could be confident when giving.
i do not think that these pages should be open for editing by just anyone. i think they should be locked to an authorized person from the charity or from staff managing it. they should also not be able to be taken away from that charity and given to another manager for not updating. some of these pages will not need updating at all.
then i think there should be two options for giving from the page... direct link for ANY visitors to give actual $$ and another link for Mahalo users to give Mahalo dollars. and yes, i agree that it would be great to give them the full $1 rather than $.75 when they cash out their Mahalo dollars. i would think it would classify as an extra donation to charity from Mahalo.
it would also be nice to have an option to donate a percentage of a particular page we manage, or our tips, or of our entire Mahalo balance automatically, and a button to manually do it just under the cash out link... and that button could go to a listing of them... with two options. click and look at the charity before deciding, or just check a box for the ones you want to give to. that way they have the choice to learn more about them, or if they already know who they want to give to, they can just go straight to donating.
maybe a let Mahalo choose or divide equally among all charities could be an option for those who don't want to choose for themselves.
more ideas?? keep 'em coming... i love brainstorming. if we give them enough ideas i'm sure the Mahalo staff can come up with the perfect system.
source(s):
personal experience
personal experience
| Asker's rating: |
Thanks to everyone who gave their input.
I think there are some really great ideas here.
Hopefully we will get to see some of them put in to action!
@smartweb,
Great answer with a summary of some of the good points from others as well as your own ideas.
I think there are some really great ideas here.
Hopefully we will get to see some of them put in to action!
@smartweb,
Great answer with a summary of some of the good points from others as well as your own ideas.
voted helpful: brian san
Great idea @briansan. You are just a great idea machine. I just did a Mahalo.com search for How to Donate Your Mahalo Dollars to Charity and found a page just waiting to be built. One of our "How to" club members might be kind enough to throw there effort behind this noble page and help us help out.
And l'd like to mention again the Mahalo Answers Kiva Lending team
And l'd like to mention again the Mahalo Answers Kiva Lending team
If this goes through I can really see this dea picking up around the holidays or when a disaster strikes! Would also help give mahalo a more positive spin and attract more members!
good idea!
Ask charities who have an internet presence to advertise for free, and to join Mahalo.
Have a:
donate here to ________ company name series of buttons
It would automatically go to their paypal accounts!
Places that I'd guess might consider it: Make a Wish foundation, Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity, The Peace Corps.... the list can go on......
Ask charities who have an internet presence to advertise for free, and to join Mahalo.
Have a:
donate here to ________ company name series of buttons
It would automatically go to their paypal accounts!
Places that I'd guess might consider it: Make a Wish foundation, Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity, The Peace Corps.... the list can go on......
voted helpful: brian san
Mahalo does pay out via PayPal which has a lot of connection to different charity orginazations. See links below for a list of charities that accept donations from PayPal. But even give that, ther must be a better way to choose from a list directly from your Personal Mahalo page and select the $ ammount to donate.
Great question thanks
Great question thanks
tags: charities
voted helpful: christhomson, n4thanl, brian san
Thanks for the good points.
The main problem with PayPal donations is users like me who have yet to ever request a PayPal payout. Being able to donate Mahalo dollars would really simplify things.
The main problem with PayPal donations is users like me who have yet to ever request a PayPal payout. Being able to donate Mahalo dollars would really simplify things.
Why not just allow you to say Payout to _____ and insert the charity there? Or, the mahalo people could have a redeem to box and allow you to select any number of charities.
I love the idea of having a donate button on a charity's Mahalo page. This would give people a chance to learn about new charities that they be interested in supporting. It also think this option would fit the best with how Mahalo is structured.
The best way to implement this would be to have a "donate to charity" link on each user's account page, under Mahalo dollars balance and "request a payment." This could direct users to a list of charity pages sorted by topic that they could browse and choose from. Then, once they decided to donate, they would simply click the "donate" button on the page that would let them choose a Mahalo dollar amount to donate. I think the limit on this should be less than the M$40 paypal limit since it is for charity after all!
I also think it would be awesome if Mahalo somehow allowed M$ that are donated to charity to be worth $1 instead of $0.75. I think this would be an added incentive for people to donate to charity and to do so through Mahalo.
As for charities I'd like to see included, I am a big supporter of St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, but I'd also like to see some smaller and less well-known charities included. Inclusion of charity donations would be a wonderful way to learn of new charities to support, and I can't wait until this is implemented.
The best way to implement this would be to have a "donate to charity" link on each user's account page, under Mahalo dollars balance and "request a payment." This could direct users to a list of charity pages sorted by topic that they could browse and choose from. Then, once they decided to donate, they would simply click the "donate" button on the page that would let them choose a Mahalo dollar amount to donate. I think the limit on this should be less than the M$40 paypal limit since it is for charity after all!
I also think it would be awesome if Mahalo somehow allowed M$ that are donated to charity to be worth $1 instead of $0.75. I think this would be an added incentive for people to donate to charity and to do so through Mahalo.
As for charities I'd like to see included, I am a big supporter of St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, but I'd also like to see some smaller and less well-known charities included. Inclusion of charity donations would be a wonderful way to learn of new charities to support, and I can't wait until this is implemented.
This is a great idea! One charity I like is DonorsChoose.org.
From their website:
Here's how it works: public school teachers from every corner of America post classroom project requests on DonorsChoose.org. Requests range from pencils for a poetry writing unit, to violins for a school recital, to microscope slides for a biology class.
Then, you can browse project requests and give any amount to the one that makes your eye twinkle. Once a project reaches its funding goal, we deliver the materials to the school.
You'll get photos of your project taking place, a thank-you letter from the teacher, and a cost report showing how each dollar was spent. If you give over $100, you'll also receive hand-written thank-you letters from the students.
At DonorsChoose.org, you can give as little as $1 and get the same level of choice, transparency, and feedback that is traditionally reserved for someone who gives millions. We call it citizen philanthropy.
From their website:
Here's how it works: public school teachers from every corner of America post classroom project requests on DonorsChoose.org. Requests range from pencils for a poetry writing unit, to violins for a school recital, to microscope slides for a biology class.
Then, you can browse project requests and give any amount to the one that makes your eye twinkle. Once a project reaches its funding goal, we deliver the materials to the school.
You'll get photos of your project taking place, a thank-you letter from the teacher, and a cost report showing how each dollar was spent. If you give over $100, you'll also receive hand-written thank-you letters from the students.
At DonorsChoose.org, you can give as little as $1 and get the same level of choice, transparency, and feedback that is traditionally reserved for someone who gives millions. We call it citizen philanthropy.
voted helpful: brian san
I really love this idea as well. The paypal sounds astonishing. Maybe we could also place a charities list in on a page here at Mahalo. I would love to donate money to several charities, however the one that has helped me the most has always been the Salvation Army. http://www.salvationarmy.org/ihq/www_sa.nsf. Long story but I have had several health problems in the past 7 years and several surgeries. When I needed the help they were there and I would love giving back.
With the economy so bad I think it would be great to donate to places that help families with bills, insurance & meds as well as housing. I know so many people that lived in Michigan and have since moved away for there is no jobs here. Unfortunelty for the few that are left we do whatever we can to make things work. Some times they do most most of the time they don't LOL.
Therefore I would love to donate to someplace such as this. I really love the idea of helping people !!
With the economy so bad I think it would be great to donate to places that help families with bills, insurance & meds as well as housing. I know so many people that lived in Michigan and have since moved away for there is no jobs here. Unfortunelty for the few that are left we do whatever we can to make things work. Some times they do most most of the time they don't LOL.
Therefore I would love to donate to someplace such as this. I really love the idea of helping people !!
First of all, Mahalo should ask users what charities/organizations they would like to help. Organize a Barnraising about charity and discover a variety of initiatives worldwide. Make people vote for the most interesting organization, choose the top seven.
Mahalo could give users the option to donate every time they receive M$!
It would be like:
Click here to donate to Charity
Then we could set the amount
and check to donate for one of the top seven (and the top seven could change from time to time, by user’s vote)
There would be also an option to choose another organization known by Mahalo
Mahalo Pages for individual charities with a "donate button"? Yes! Why not?
A single Mahalo Page for all available charities? Yes! Why not?
There’s plenty of space.
The important thing is that Mahalo would only accept donations for organizations that we can trust, because we know they really exist, how they function, where they act and so on (like WWF, Caritas etc). People will understand that selection will be taken very seriously and it means that some charities may have a Mahalo Page but will be not approved for donations till Mahalo is 100% sure.
Once the organizations receive more than 1000 Mahalo Dollars, they can request it via PayPal.
Mahalo could give users the option to donate every time they receive M$!
It would be like:
Click here to donate to Charity
Then we could set the amount
and check to donate for one of the top seven (and the top seven could change from time to time, by user’s vote)
There would be also an option to choose another organization known by Mahalo
Mahalo Pages for individual charities with a "donate button"? Yes! Why not?
A single Mahalo Page for all available charities? Yes! Why not?
There’s plenty of space.
The important thing is that Mahalo would only accept donations for organizations that we can trust, because we know they really exist, how they function, where they act and so on (like WWF, Caritas etc). People will understand that selection will be taken very seriously and it means that some charities may have a Mahalo Page but will be not approved for donations till Mahalo is 100% sure.
Once the organizations receive more than 1000 Mahalo Dollars, they can request it via PayPal.
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