A direct donation experience means tracking every dollar. Each project profile features a cost breakdown showing how your donations disrupt extreme poverty. Each breakdown shows that we collect 10% of every donation to acheive sustainability. We use this money to improve our technology and cover adminstrative costs (e.g., licensing fees) we incur as a lean startup. None of our US-based staff receives a salary. As shown below, villages receive 80% or more of each donation for direct project costs like building materials. Credit card and money transfer fees account for about 10% (ironically, it takes money to move money).*

Our transparent approach is a vast improvement over the industry standard. Many NGOs report that 85% or 90% of funds go to “programmatic expenses,” an umbrella term for any cost associated with a program or intiative (e.g., SUVs). However, anyone operating in the field knows that only a fraction of that money reaches the ground for direct project costs like cement (exact percentages are unknown because NGOs often don’t make their budgets public). In their seminal book, Why Nations Fail, Professors Daron Acemoglu and James A Robinson write that "[m]any studies estimate that only about 10 or at most 20 percent of aid ever reaches its target." Village X changes that by transfering cash directly from donor to recipient village.