Let’s unstigmatise GoFundMe
There is an undercurrent of concern
and stigma accompanying the use of GoFundMe to attract funding for whatever
cause or issue you might have. It is probably that concern and fear of stigma
that meant I did not resort to this model of making people aware of a situation
I need some help with.
I can appreciate that GoFundMe seems
like a mendicant shaking a begging bowl on the sidewalk (properly a pavement
in English), but that is to misconstrue the value of social networking and
seeking the friendship, the support, and the generosity of other people towards
something you have limited resources to finance.
Utilising my social media network
It need not be that way, as I have
benefitted immensely from the use of my social media networks to first inform
and then gain support. My blog has been prominent in that regard where a doctoral student in Canada sponsored my blog for a year, soon after I ran out of funds
when I had cancer.
Then, I had a World Bank executive
contact me on reading a pertinent blog I wrote in 2012; after a conversation, they
wired $5,000 to me, no strings attached, just something to support my
endeavours. Obviously, I have not monetised my blog, that is not the purpose
of my blog. Rather, I write stories; stories about me, what I see, how I am
affected, or just to proffer an opinion.
On LinkedIn, I have had jobs offered
without having to interview, again, it is not that all these things happen
always, but to ignore a social media following on the many platforms that you
engage when things are going well but go quiet in adverse conditions is to forget
the amazing usefulness of networking for all sorts of life situations.
GoFundMe is open for all causes
One look at the GoFundMe Fundraiser start page,
there are many categories of fundraising, all to varying degrees of criticality
and importance, but we should be careful that we do not determine to rate one
need more than another as if it is a competition to suckle on the milk of human
kindness better than the other person.
Yes, Funeral and Medical needs could
speak to life and death issues, but people can also fundraise for others or themselves, for causes or interests in as varied areas as Emergency, Charity,
Financial Emergency, Animals, Environment, Business, Community, Competition,
Creative, Event, Faith, Family, Sports, Travel, Volunteer, or Wishes.
Crowdfunding is not criminal
GoFundMe is simply another crowdfunding
platform, primarily a donation-based crowdfunding with charitable to a wide
range of funding requirements for which there is neither financial nor material
return to the donor apart from the satisfaction of helping someone else in some
need of help or support.
I published a GoFundMe page to address
a simple issue, I need to take some time to study and gain some new vendor
certifications to give me better job opportunities for which I have extensive
background experience, but have recently been quite lacking in confidence. I
seek to do this in a comfortable supportive environment, and that is preferably
Cape Town. I need to reboot things, I believe that is a purposeful and
well-considered activity that would yield results.
We should embrace fundraising
In closing, no one should be ashamed
when they have determined what they want to and have to do, to resort to raising
funds for their projects. Whilst on the GoFundMe platform, many might think
fundraising is just for desperate life-threatening situations, the fact is
every endeavour involves a form of fundraising from personal projects and concerns,
through startups seeking capital from venture capital firms to big businesses
raising finance from banks, on the stock markets, or through the trade of equity.
GoFundMe simply brings the facility to
raise funding for personal and community causes. To stigmatise it is to fail to
understand the democratisation of fundraising brought to the lowest common
denominator. I am persuaded that my GoFundMe drive is going to be extremely
beneficial to changing my circumstances, no one need be concerned or ashamed by
the use of it. Thank you.
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