Inspiration
Every year, billions of dollars in charitable donations go unspent. Why? Because donating is hard. Donors want to help, but finding trustworthy charities, checking legitimacy, and manually sending payments can be a frustrating and fragmented experience. This is where Donor3 comes in.
What it does
Donor3 is an AI-powered platform that connects donors to trustworthy charities. Just type a message describing how you want to help—no forms, no searching, no manual payments. Donor3 takes care of matching, verification, and payments, making giving effortless.
How I built it
Donor3 uses a modern tech stack, consisting of:
- Next.js, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS for the frontend
- Django for the backend
- SQLite for storing the data in a database
- Google OAuth for secure authentication and session handling
- Google Gemini API to make donor-charity matching possible
Challenges I ran into
Getting AI to understand donor intent: It wasn’t always easy to get clean output from Gemini. I had to experiment with different prompts and add fallback handling when the responses weren't usable.
Connecting everything smoothly: Making the Django backend and Next.js frontend play nicely together took some extra work—especially when dealing with async flows and sending parsed data back and forth.
Making the UX feel effortless: I wanted the donor experience to feel like magic. That meant cutting features that added friction and designing clear flows without overcomplicating things.
Handling edge cases: From weird user messages to empty AI responses, I had to account for a lot more than I expected, especially with limited time.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
I'm proud of myself for building a fully functional end-to-end donation platform in just a weekend. From AI-powered intent parsing to matching donors with verified organizations and supporting real payment options, everything works seamlessly. I'm especially proud of how intuitive the experience feels—it really is as easy as typing a message.
What I learned
I learned how to build and connect a full Django backend with an SQLite database from scratch, including working with models and API routes. On the frontend, I focused on designing a clean, modern UI using Next.js and Tailwind CSS.
What's next for Donor3
Donor3 is just getting started. Next, we plan to let organizations fully onboard themselves—submitting verification documents and securely connecting payout methods like PayPal, Stripe, or crypto wallets.
I also want to integrate Ethereum smart contracts to enable automatic, transparent crypto donations.
On the donor side, I'm exploring a point and reward system to encourage recurring giving and highlight impactful donors, and the option to set up automatic donations.
Long-term, I aim to scale Donor3 into a global donation network where verified organizations and generous individuals can connect instantly—no forms, no friction.
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