I posted this on the blog, but i'll repeat it here:
Honestly, first things, find a designer to do some work on the site. having the charity panel being red is a huge turn off. I immediately skipped it, I imagine all the potential charities are too.
Even after that, you need a good looking site, in the minds of most, design reflects quality of work. who wants to work with a web developer/designer with a site that looks like that.
I'd eliminate the need for a github account. charity and non profit people are typically not techno-centric. github accounts really are for more development oriented people, and why would they need your service?
writing a brief is HARD, writing a good one doubly so. you need to guide them through it, preferably by hand.
that means really, rather than 'if you build it, they will come', you need to actually go out and talk to charities that need your help, because they might not even know it. They certainly don't have the time to go and find you.
tl;dr - you need to sell this service as if it's an actual product, because it is. ease of use matters.
Don't give up yet, please. It's a great idea -- wish I had seen it earlier. I've got some connections with international health NGOs, so let me see if I can stir up some interest (no promises, though, these organizations tend to be technologically delayed).
Your post gives me a little glimmer of hope. I was kind of hoping this thread would go better on HN and get lots of leads like yours.
Just finding meaningful causes is proving a problem, and at least at first before theres any kind of momentum behind the site its going to rely on leads like yours.
Absolutely any help I can be in getting things posted, please just ping me on my blog or willvarfar at google's free email service .com.
Honestly, first things, find a designer to do some work on the site. having the charity panel being red is a huge turn off. I immediately skipped it, I imagine all the potential charities are too.
Even after that, you need a good looking site, in the minds of most, design reflects quality of work. who wants to work with a web developer/designer with a site that looks like that.
I'd eliminate the need for a github account. charity and non profit people are typically not techno-centric. github accounts really are for more development oriented people, and why would they need your service?
writing a brief is HARD, writing a good one doubly so. you need to guide them through it, preferably by hand.
that means really, rather than 'if you build it, they will come', you need to actually go out and talk to charities that need your help, because they might not even know it. They certainly don't have the time to go and find you.
tl;dr - you need to sell this service as if it's an actual product, because it is. ease of use matters.