tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4748060798655400108.post7463594284713550318..comments2023-11-02T08:55:35.510-07:00Comments on Market Design: Giving anonymously, for a feeAl Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02232854038397912604noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4748060798655400108.post-83825927197054516632009-04-21T11:05:00.000-07:002009-04-21T11:05:00.000-07:00Gareth & Anonymous,
The donations are made in...Gareth & Anonymous,<br /><br />The donations are made initially to the non-profit by the donor's credit card, and the fees, as for any other credit card purchase, scale with the amount. GA is simply passing along their cost.<br /><br />An alternative would be for GA to accept checks from donors. However, this could lead to increased overhead (they currently claim a reasonable ~$110 a month in costs) and possible problems with check fraud.<br /><br />Hope this helps clear things up.<br /><br />--AndrewAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4748060798655400108.post-54825632777836436862009-04-01T16:11:00.000-07:002009-04-01T16:11:00.000-07:00What are these "banking and transaction charges" a...What are these "banking and transaction charges" and why are they so large? For individuals, neither writing nor cashing checks costs anything; is the situation different for organizations (even non-profits), or what?Gareth McCaughanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05377158305586280009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4748060798655400108.post-53522645938908203292009-03-30T13:53:00.000-07:002009-03-30T13:53:00.000-07:00Thanks William. I should have looked more closely...Thanks William. I should have looked more closely before commenting. My bad.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4748060798655400108.post-20943739146591310392009-03-30T10:19:00.000-07:002009-03-30T10:19:00.000-07:00Anonymous,According to their website they are a no...Anonymous,<BR/><BR/>According to their website they are a non-profit, and in their FAQ (http://givinganon.org/faq.php) they explain the pricing:<BR/><BR/>"The 2.5% fee is to cover banking and transaction charges which range between 2.4% - 3.1% for each gift transaction. The $2.25 helps pay for a postage stamp, the check, envelope and brochure. What's left of the $2.25 (roughly $0.05) goes towards our overhead of +/- $110 per month."Willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10898746176059320974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4748060798655400108.post-66113566598356059162009-03-30T07:27:00.000-07:002009-03-30T07:27:00.000-07:002.5% is outrageous, particularly since the giver p...2.5% is outrageous, particularly since the giver presumably is trying to do a good deed. Is there anything more reprehensible than scalping a good samaritan? (Sorry for the mixed metaphors.)<BR/><BR/>Also, it's not clear why a percentage based fee is even appropriate. Does it cost 10 times more to write a check for $1,000 than it does to write one for $100? If this is to work, they need a reasonable, flat fee, say $20 per transaction.<BR/><BR/>This is a good idea, but a disturbingly greedy implementation.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com