https://github.com/robmcelhinney/donatelo
A pairwise ranking tool that turns your cause preferences into a personalised donation allocation.
https://github.com/robmcelhinney/donatelo
donate elo ranking
Last synced: 6 days ago
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A pairwise ranking tool that turns your cause preferences into a personalised donation allocation.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/robmcelhinney/donatelo
- Owner: robmcelhinney
- License: mit
- Created: 2026-05-31T22:08:18.000Z (about 2 months ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2026-06-24T21:43:06.000Z (24 days ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-07-13T17:33:28.883Z (6 days ago)
- Topics: donate, elo, ranking
- Language: JavaScript
- Homepage: https://donatelo.robmcelhinney.com
- Size: 1.63 MB
- Stars: 0
- Watchers: 0
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
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README
# Donatelo
Donatelo is a small, self-hostable web app that helps people decide how to split a donation across cause areas.
Instead of asking users to assign percentages from scratch, it presents two causes at a time. The resulting pairwise preferences are converted into a 100% allocation that can be adjusted, reviewed, and shared.
**Live site:** [donatelo.robmcelhinney.com](https://donatelo.robmcelhinney.com)
## Features
- Rank cause areas through simple pairwise comparisons
- Mark two causes as equally important or skip a comparison
- Add, edit, and remove custom cause areas
- Adjust the final allocation from more balanced to more decisive
- Edit or remove earlier answers and replay the ranking history
- Share a saved session or export the result as an image
- Continue comparing causes after the initial result
- Delete a saved session from the server
- Follow an external effective-giving guide for organisation recommendations
Donatelo does not recommend individual charities itself. Its result represents the user's preferences between broad cause areas; it is not an assessment of objective need or charity effectiveness.
## How it works
Each choice updates the two causes using an Elo-style rating. An equal choice is recorded as a draw, while a skipped comparison does not affect the ratings or progress.
The ratings are converted into positive weights and normalised to total 100%. An allocation-style control blends that result with an even split, allowing the user to make the final allocation flatter or sharper. See the in-app methodology page for more detail.
## Tech stack
- React 18
- Vite 5
- Node.js HTTP server
- JSON-backed session storage
The Node server provides the API, persists sessions, and serves the Vite build in production. No database or third-party service is required.
## Local development
Requirements: a current Node.js LTS release and npm.
```bash
git clone https://github.com/robmcelhinney/donatelo.git
cd donatelo
npm ci
npm run dev
```
Open [http://localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000).
Session data is written to `.donatelo/sessions.json`, which is excluded from Git.
## Docker Compose
Build and start the production app:
```bash
docker compose up -d --build
```
The included Compose file publishes the app at `http://localhost:3003`. Change the left side of the port mapping if another host port is required:
```yaml
ports:
- "3003:3000"
```
Sessions are stored in the `donatelo-data` named volume and survive container replacement. To inspect the service:
```bash
docker compose ps
docker compose logs -f donatelo
curl http://localhost:3003/api/health
```
For a public deployment, place the container behind a TLS-terminating reverse proxy such as Nginx or Caddy. Only the reverse proxy needs to be exposed to the internet.
## Privacy and data
A session contains a random identifier, selected and custom causes, comparison answers, ratings, allocation settings, and timestamps. Donatelo does not ask for a name, email address, or payment details, and the application contains no analytics or advertising trackers.
Sessions are stored on the server until deleted. Anyone with a session URL can view its answers and results, so shared links should be treated as private. This repository's JSON store is suitable for a small single-instance deployment; larger or multi-instance deployments should replace it with a transactional data store and define an explicit retention policy.
## Contributing
Issues and pull requests are welcome.
## Licence
Donatelo is available under the [MIT License](LICENSE).