GiveCrypto Monthly Update — November 2020
Marketplace update, donor survey and a fundraising request
Marketplace Update
We launched a feature complete v1 of the crypto donation marketplace in mid-October. Our focus for November has been improving functionality, with the primary goal being to increase donations. We are trying to make the service as compelling as possible for prospective donors. Based on what we have learned from initial research, we believe this involves improving two areas of the marketplace; recipient content and trust.
Recipient Content
We deliberately kept v1’s functionality as simple as possible. A result of this lean approach is that we requested minimal information during the recipient on-boarding flow. The most common message we’ve heard from donors is that they want to see more information about recipients. We have made a number of attempts to respond to this feedback.
The first way we tried to improve the service’s content is by adding a Q&A feature. This allows prospective donors to ask questions about a funding request. Our hope is that a funding request will evolve into a conversation between the recipient and potential donors. This will allow donors to get a better idea of who the recipient is and how they plan to use the funds.
Another feature that we recently launched is the ability to filter posts in the feed. The current filters allow the user to sort based on our algorithm vs. recency as well as the ability to see unfunded and/or funded posts.
We also began experimenting with ambassadors recruiting recipients. Not only does this provide some curation in terms of who becomes a recipient, the ambassador also helps the recipient enter better information during the on-boarding process. We gave the ambassadors very specific instructions on what information is desired and have noticed improved content among the recipients that were recruited by ambassadors.
Additionally, we are currently adding fields to the recipient profile and funding request. We feel that this additional information will give prospective donors a better understanding of who the recipient is and how they will use the funds.
Trust
Perhaps the most important factor in a donation is the trust between the donor and the recipient. Donors need to feel confident that the recipients are real people and will use the funds in good faith.
The first way we are attempting to address this concern is allowing recipients to share how they are using the funds. The feed should be a combination of requests for help as well as evidence of how funded recipients used the help. We believe that showing this evidence will increase trust among prospective donors.
Another important element will be explicit indications of a recipient’s trustworthiness. We launched the first incarnation of this as a profile badge for users that have a risk score below a certain threshold. We are also planning to add more granular levels of verification, depending on how much information has been provided by the recipients. These badges could include things like Google auth, SMS verification, ETH validation and perhaps in-person interviews.
While we feel that we have done a good job making incremental improvements to the product, there is still a lot of work to be done in order to appeal to a mainstream audience of donors.
Donor Survey
In order to improve the donation marketplace, we are trying to learn as much as possible about how donors think about helping people in need. We know that a good percentage of the people who receive our monthly updates (and read this post) have already made a crypto donation.
We would greatly appreciate a few minutes of your time to help us better understand the psychology behind the donation process. The survey is eight questions long and should only take a minute to complete. Thanks in advance.
Fundraising Request
2020 has been a challenging year and we are all coming to terms with a new reality that will likely include even greater wealth disparity.
This disparity is especially evident in the world of crypto. While some of us are fortunate enough to be benefitting from the recent asset price rally, there are many others who are becoming increasingly needy.
It would be tremendously appreciated if you could make a donation to help us continue our work. If you pay US taxes, your donation is 100% deductible.
Staying Connected
As always, we love to hear from supporters outside of our updates. Please follow along on Twitter and our blog for information on our programs.
