One Today makes donating to charities and projects around the world an effortless process and it can be done right from your smartphone. With the touch of a button, you can donate $1 to a great cause. The app is currently only available to Android users and since it's still in beta, you need to receive an invite to get started which you sign up for HERE
Once you've downloaded the app, you'll be presented with a cause or charity to donate to with info on how many people have donated and how much has been earned so far.
Scrolling down presents you with more detail about the cause. You'll get more information about what exactly your money is going towards and how it will help.
Scrolling even further down will show you how much has been donated so far and what that money translates to. You'll also see a list of recent givers, and yes that means if you choose to donate, others will be able to see. I believe it pulls your name from your Google+ account.
Another awesome feature of the app is if you're passionate about a particular cause, you can share it with your friends and even offer to match their donations. You can also choose to match donations with everyone who donates that day, but that may get a little rough on the bank account once the app becomes more public.
Within the app, you can keep track of all the causes you've donated to and how much money was raised. As you can see in the screenshot below, some generous individual offered to match everyone's donation to MANA Nutrition, so my $1 turned into $2.
You're limited to $1 donations, which I think is what makes this even more appealing. $1 doesn't get you much in your day-to-day, but to those in need, it buys a lot. If you would like to donate more than that, then you'll have to challenge your friends to donate as well and offer to match the donations. All donations are paid through your Google Wallet account and you don't actually pay the money immediately. You can wait several days and donate to several charities and then pay all at once. You will get friendly reminders about settling your balance if you take too long though, and if you wait too long, certain features of the app will be locked out and you'll be unable to continue donating until your balance is paid up.
Currently, you are not able to search for a specific cause to support and are limited to what's presented to you that day. But an interesting feature is that as you donate, One Today will learn what projects interest you and tailor it's suggestions accordingly.
Give it a try! It's only a dollar and it's awesome seeing what exactly your $1 is going towards and how it's going to help. It's better than having sad puppies and Sarah McLachlan music thrown at you.
