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Comment by lacker | Hacker News Reader

It says that you spend $7 a month to give people internet, and that you are giving internet access to 350 students. So, you are giving about $2,000 a month of value to students? It doesn't seem like this is a cost-effective charity if you have even a single employee. I think you would be better off giving the underprivileged people money directly, and letting them purchase their own internet access.

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> So, you are giving about $2,000 a month of value to students?

I would think access to the internet is worth more than that. There's some implicit assumptions making with the conversion to dollars that make me think it isn't that simple.

eg > 49 students are now equipped with laptops, Internet access and online courses. Our partner Georgian Airlink, a local Wifi operator, covered the end-user device installation costs while our online donors sponsor the monthly Internet fees.

To have access, you need a stable living location, with say...wiring or a working wifi access point. You know, a place with a mailbox for a bill or equivalent. Schools are a decent proxy, where there are schools. You need to have a device to access it and of course, a nontrivial amount of knowledge to safekeep/operate these fundamental requirements within poverty conditions.

Ever seen someone brick an ethernet card trying to jam in a phone line? It happens, even with a 20-something that has had a smartphone almost their entire life. So maybe some stewardship is needed.

At the moment we are bootstrapping and co-founders work for free, but we hope to become more effective after we reach some scale. We need to keep our team running not only to pay for the internet but for students identification (Working with schools and NGO's), Donor growth, community building, partner relations (ISP's and local Edtech partners who provide their services to our students for free) impact measurement, etc. At the moment a couple of corporate donors are covering those costs. I am not sure if I've answered your question

Why start with the students, instead of the 9/10 schools that lack internet access?

(From your website: "In the poorest countries, only 1 out of every 10 students has Internet access at school.")

According to educators and researchers, there is a huge difference whether a student has access to the internet at home or in a public place where access is limited. In terms of creativity having internet access whenever you need it and how long you need it makes a meaningful difference. But this doesn't mean we only provide students with access. Sometimes we have projects where we connect educational community centers.

Thanks. Although I suspect more people might donate if they felt their donation helped 100 kids at a school, vs 1 kid at home. The "huge difference" might not be obvious, and I don't think it was in your FAQ.

It might be a fun experiment to let donors choose either school or individual.

Although the studies show that people are more willing to give to a certain person (the story behind her/him) rather than a group. But yes, might be still worth testing. Thanks

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