Comment by Geof25
6 hours ago
I highly recommend not to. The potential for whole operation being a scam because you have no way to verify anything is pretty high. Now add there reality of generative AI and very easy way to make deep fakes and essentially every charity is certified scam.
You may see it as cynical or unfair but that's unfortunate reality of time we currently live in.
I highly recommend to diversify. Donate a smaller amount to a bunch of different charities.
hot take :/ Would you really have trouble trusting the OP?
Maybe you just don't want to donate resources in general, because otherwise surely there exists some channel you could witness with your own eyes and donate to with confidence.
I think there are good trustworthy places to donate and the person you replied to was a bit too cynical. OP might be a good place to donate! However:
> hot take :/ Would you really have trouble trusting the OP?
Yes? Your first instinct when someone tells you a sob story or an epic western savior spiel is to do your due diligence.
Recent HN account, the website is a year old, they don't list the 501 EIN and searching for "Tanzania Education Project" on https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/ yields nothing. OP doesn't list his name on the website (but it is on gofundme).
OP seems genuine, but there are many red flags.
I understand where you're coming from and I think that gut reaction is appropriate.
My name is Luke Bodmer. I graduated in June with a PhD in Computational Science from the University at Buffalo in New York and I am currently working in los angeles as a post-doc in Nuerosurgery at a major hospital doing cancer research. I'm a real person, you can look me up!
Not listing the EIN was an oversight. It is EIN: 87-3919577. I'll add it to the site when I get home tonight from work. If you look it up you might see "Ibumila Fund" which is what it was called before I named it to Tanzania Education Project.
The epic western savior thing is very cringy and I don't know how to avoid it at his point in the project. I try to limit my role as much as possible and have everything done by Tanzanians in Tanzania. Eventually I hope to remove myself from the site and the story and have it be a fully Tanzanian effort. I don't see how I can remove myself at this point.
Ideally I don't want people to look at this effort as "oh look at how good of people we are!". My hope is that people will assess their situation and the situation of the children in the village and feel compelled to give because it is fair and right.
I appreciate your skepticism and I think its totally fair. This post is really the first time I'm going public beyond my inner circle with this effort and any tips on how I can build trust are really appreciated.
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Yes, best to live in a cave and never take any risks or have any contact with dangerous, suspicious, filthy humans.
It's fine. There is plenty of good in the world. Touch some grass and take a deep breath.