“Do you remember the Shire, Mr. Frodo? It’ll be spring soon. And the orchards will be in blossom. And the birds will be nesting in the hazel thicket. And they’ll be sowing the summer barley in the lower fields… and eating the first of the strawberries with cream. Do you remember the taste of strawberries?” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

One more step…

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I decided three weeks ago that this was going to be my new project, and just three weeks later we are onto product vision and mockups for the Tithe app (working title). I have a fun video releasing Tuesday, March 18th on “Winning Capitalism”, which is just a fun and crazy idea for how we could design a different system. I think you’ll dig it.

If you want to keep up to date on this project and others like it then please consider subscribing to my channel on YouTube.

The elevator pitch

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Our non-profit application will personalize your giving journey with AI-driven plans tailored to your passions, from global causes to local initiatives. Simplify donations with single-click or with automated payments, then track real-world impact through monthly reports highlighting the number of lives you’ve saved, meals you’ve provided, and communities you’ve empowered. Earn badges, unlock exclusive rewards, and collect virtual stickers as you hit milestones. Join community quests to team up with neighbors on local projects, turning generosity into an adventurous, social experience that feels less like a duty and more like a game.

The user onboarding process

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I want the onboarding process to be rigorous and thorough while also being as intuitive and unobtrusive as possible. We need to get the user to define some weights for our recommendation engine, which will be used to match them with charities in their giving plan.

First, I downloaded a list of all non-profits in the US from Kaggle’s 2020 dataset mined by a user and then categorized each type of non-profit and built an ontology for how to classify them. I came up with three groups of seven measures each which are represented in the onboarding flow below.

First, the user registers their account and verifies their email address.

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Then we take the user through a set of preference choices.

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Then we summarize this output using our conversational AI model before “finalizing” the settings and building the user’s giving plan.

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Call to Action

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I did this in a weekend. I have over 18 years working in software, I’ve led multiple teams to success. I’ve published two tabletop games. I’ve brought countless products to market. I am declaring war on those who wish to use AI to control, to subvert, and to divide. I will instead use this technology and the skills I’ve learned over my long career to build what must be built — an engine that rebuilds our trust in each other.

I hope that you will join me.

…and use the share links below to tell people about what I am building.

If you are someone with a strong background in non-profit leadership or non-profit fundraising then please reach out to me at wonderandcode@gmail.com.