[techman9]

I hate to discuss anything faith-based on HN, but in seeing models of charities like Watsi's, I'm reminded of how Tzedakah (charity) was discussed in Hebrew school growing up. Maimonides suggests that not all giving can be considered equal and outlines a hierarchy for what types of donations are considered most "pious":

  1. The lowest: Giving begrudgingly and making the recipient feel disgraced or embarrassed.
  2. Giving cheerfully but giving too little.
  3. Giving cheerfully and adequately but only after being asked.
  4. Giving before being asked.
  5. Giving when you do not know who is the individual benefiting, but the recipient knows your identity.
  6. Giving when you know who is the individual benefiting, but the recipient does not know your identity.
  7. Giving when neither the donor nor the recipient is aware of the other's identity.
  8. The Highest: Giving money, a loan, your time or whatever else it takes to enable an individual to be self-reliant. [0]

Maybe it's just the way I was raised, but platforms that allow me to select an individual person to receive my philanthropy (like watsi) make me deeply uncomfortable. The intuition here is that it's more pious to give because it is our duty to take care of those with less than to give out of pity for someone's plight. I would rather give money through a trusted third party, such as a reputable NGO that focuses its efforts on healthcare needs in the developing world. I would rather give to an organization and trust trust their judgement in distributing my money in the ways they believe it is needed most, than pick which individuals are deserving of my charity.

[0] https://www.charitywatch.org/charitywatch-articles/eight-run...

[mda]

They have universal option where you just say the monthly amount and it is used pretty randomly.

[kaybe]

I think it's fine to choose somebody.

Why? Because others will chose the others and everyone who on the list will receive the care. It doesn't matter which one I choose since my choice doesn't make a difference to the person in need.

It's nice to hear how it turned out though. I stopped giving money to charities that don't tell me what happened after. Like.. just write me an email. 'With the money donated this month we bought clean water for hurricane victims in whereever. Find the full list of activities this month here <link>.'

[ZeroGravitas]

I would guess one response is to suggest that Watsi is moving people from steps 1/2/3 to step 4. The list, when reverse engineered pretty much suggests that it's easier to get people to give if they know who is getting the money, so Watsi is applying that principle to raise more money.

[gadders]

For a lot of the charities where you select an individual there is no guarantee the money actually goes to that person.

[golangnews]

https://watsi.org/monthly