
Stories from our first two years - gregalbritton
http://exposure.watsi.org/watsi-turns-two
======
daeken
I know I've beaten this drum on HN in the past, but one of the things I most
love about Watsi is that you can set up a monthly automatic donation:
[https://watsi.org/monthly](https://watsi.org/monthly) This makes it
absolutely trivial to set it and help someone out every month, without having
to do anything yourself (and thus, no way to forget it!)

They really do amazing work; congrats on two years, guys.

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djcary
Chase, Watsi's founder, spoke at start up school last year.

Donate first, then watch his talk and then donate again. Make sure you look
for the tip option on the checkout page if you want to help cover Watsi's
operational costs.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlT3UhC7NwQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlT3UhC7NwQ)

~~~
rooster8
One of the best startup up school talks. Hard to watch this and not feel like
you want to work for Chase by the end.

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marquis
A problem with internationalization: One difficulty with wanting to contribute
to projects like this is that you don't get tax credits on donations outside
of your home country, which means I or my business cannot contribute any
significant amount. I understand it would be a mountain of paperwork (and
probably a loss in terms of accounting costs) for Watsi to be registered as a
non-profit in every country.

~~~
lubos
Is this some kind of Scrooge McDuck excuse? If your income tax rate is 30%, on
$1,000 donation, you get only $300 back in tax credits. If donation is not
tax-deductible, then you won't get $300 so don't donate $1,000. Donate only
$700.

~~~
marquis
Are you not then further taxed on that $700 as it must be classified as cash
spending?

~~~
dragonwriter
No, because my country (the USA) doesn't tax "cash spending". It taxes income,
and it (well, in most cases, individual states), taxes certain _sales_
(generally, this tax is collected by the seller, but when its a foreign seller
the buyer may be resposible for it as a "use" tax.) If I don't get a taxable
good or service in exchange, its not a taxable sale, and the seller doesn't
have to collect sales tax (and, if the seller is foreign, I don't have to pay
use tax.)

For a foreign "non-profit", I won't get a deduction from taxable income for
income tax purposes for the donation the way I would if the donation was to a
local non-profit [1], but I don't have to pay an extra "cash spending" tax the
way you describe.

[1] Actually, strictly this is a local _charity_ , which is a narrower
category than non-profits. Donations to local non-charity non-profits are
generally not tax deductible to the person making the donation, even if the
non-profit is itself tax-exempt.

~~~
marquis
I'm genuinely not understanding this. Taxing "income" and "cash spending" is
the same (at least, where I am taxed).

If I am a business and have earned $1000, keeping it in the bank is exactly
the same as if I withdrew that $1000 and put it under the bed in $20 notes. I
pay tax on that $1000. I can give it to Watsi, who is outside of my country's
tax jurisdiction, and I must pay tax on that $1000.

~~~
jacalata
You were taxed when you received that money, so you don't have $1000, you only
have $700 (assuming a 40% tax rate - sub in your own rate as applicable). If
you get a tax deduction for giving to Watsi, you can give them $1000 and only
lose $700 out of pocket. If you do not get a tax deduction for giving to
Watsi, then you can give them $700 and lose $700 out of pocket. In either
case, you are giving them $700 out of pocket.

~~~
dragonwriter
> You were taxed when you received that money, so you don't have $1000, you
> only have $700 (assuming a 40% tax rate - sub in your own rate as
> applicable).

30%, actually, or $600 @ 40%.

~~~
jacalata
yea, oops.

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ajiang
Truly awesome work and an inspirational journey. You guys are a huge
motivation for folks in tech to strive to actually make the world a better
place.

~~~
kumarski
agreed. I funded Watsi on a recurring basis just because of the awesomeness of
the story and it's impact.

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keerthiko
I don't often tear up reading something posted on HN, let alone a company's
website...

I really wish my mobile internet was good enough to watch Chase's talk right
now.

Edit: Also want to express that I'm proud of the Humble Bundle community! The
games industry has made us lose faith in humanity a bit recently. It is
heartwarming to hear we're regaining ground.

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AlisdairO
What a wonderful thing to have created. I know I'm just some random dude on
the internet, but you should all be incredibly proud of yourselves. I've been
meaning to start donating for some time now, and the $50-to-funded thing
pushed me to do it.

The act of funding a person rather than an organisation really connects me
with the importance of giving the gift - it de-abstracts the situation
somehow, and brings home the fact that for not-that-much-really money you can
completely change someone's life.

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markbnj
Pretty cool stuff, guys. Congratulations on two years.

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dvdhsu
In celebration, most of the patients on their website are just $50 away from
being funded: [https://watsi.org/](https://watsi.org/). Go fund one of them!

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watsithrowaway
Watsi is incredible. I really love what they do and envy those who created it.
It's also a nice surprise to see Watsi and I share the same birthday.

I'm a 26 year old, somewhat privileged white male. I have accomplished nothing
in life. I'm still struggling to graduate from college which I'd spent 6 years
of my life for. I get depressed thinking about it, and just want to dedicate
everything I have as a human being to work for some humanitarian organization
similar to Watsi so I could feel like I'm good for something. Of course, then
I realize these organizations don't exist to help privileged people like me to
figure out what we want in life, but to help people who have real problems.
I'm such a cliche. I applaud Watsi team not because they're a bunch of
wonderful people who have great talent, but because they wanted to use their
talent to make the world a better place. I wish I had your courage.

I'll donate whenever I can, which doesn't amount to much, but every bit helps.
I hope.

PS: This thread should be about Watsi but I couldn't help share what I feel. I
hope you don't take it the wrong way. Thank you.

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joshdance
Love this. Great story telling.

A side question, I love that 100% of donations go to medical care. How does
the team fund their operational costs?

~~~
giarc
From their Google Doc transparency file.

"100% of every donation to patients on Watsi directly funds medical treatment
- our overhead costs are covered by optional donor tips, cause marketing
partnerships, and private donors, foundations and corporations."

[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KQ2uWkJf5-5f34uttGmA...](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KQ2uWkJf5-5f34uttGmAhPcQPxmgq8HsnsIfwFr9Do4/pubhtml#)

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staunch
The greatest YC startup to date, by far. Good job and congrats!

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reubensandwich
This is a really incredible and moving use of technology. I will be
contributing soon!

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charlie_vill
I am a student in Boston, born and raised in El Salvador, and I can attest the
extent to which organizations like Watsi are helping save the lives of people
like you and me. Chase, I'm giving up a cup of coffee a week; that's twenty
bucks you can count on.

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Dolimiter
A great startup.

But the linked webpage... when did design like that become normal?

~~~
fixie
Looks like they are using [http://exposure.co](http://exposure.co)

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wellboy
Awesome, for me Watsi is one of the most inspirational startups right now.
Reminds me that if someone can, doing amazing startups is the right thing to
do!

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mamoriamohit
You inspire me everyday, Watsi.

