For the Good: A Beta Build of a Web-based Solution to Request-based Charity

Donating or giving to charity is often a complex undertaking with several decisions to be made by potential donors, including who or which charity to donate to, how to securely send the money, evaluation of the risk of scam and fraud, the genuineness of appeal, the risk of compromise of privacy etc. At the same time, the opportunity for the needy to put forward requests of a specific desired nature is usually limited to the face-to-face or personal level. To realize an instant and impersonal request-based donation process, a web application named “ForTheGood'' has been conceptualized, designed and developed by the authors of this paper. The application enables the needy to make requests on the website for actual goods available from linked third-party vendors. These requests are made visible in a familiar social-mediastyle “news feed” format to the general public, who may then donate to any request(s) of their choice by making the required payment to the corresponding vendor through the site. The application is a fully working beta build replete with well-designed user interface, database support, authentication mechanisms, end-to-end transaction processing capability, payment gateway bridging, usage of automated messaging for internal coordination, envisioning and incorporation of a delivery scheduling algorithm, user-assistive features, activity records in the form of user history, and implementation of certain machine learning and data mining models to enhance user experience.