Doing good deeds with Bitcoins

[romsek]

On behalf of the users in #bitcoin-charity:

"Hi guys

me and some other bitcoiners just created the irc channel #bitcoin-charity on Freenode. it is intended for people with very immediate financial problems, say like you dont have enaugh money to provide enaugh food for your child, your dog needs immediate surgery and you dont have the money or really need money to continue your education and so on.
We also need people willing to donate a small amount of their Bitcoins to people in need, so if you consider yourself wealthy enough to be able to provide for all your needs we would very much welcome you

Please dont abuse this channel. We are all gentleman, not lawyers. we wont and of course can't check if you tell us the truth. So please think about those people who really need the money and don't cheat on the friendly people in this channel.

Thank you very very much in advance!"

[NghtRppr]

That's wonderful. Libertarians always view charity as part of the free market. I would suggest though that people be able to provide some sort of evidence that they are needy so that the system doesn't get abused.

[LokeRundt]

Might be a thing to add in to blackandyellowpages
Some form of encryption and trust circle (or, dare I say it, trust hierarchies? ) may help to minimize abuse

[MatthewLM]

Yes, there has to be a way to stop people abusing the system because it's bound to happen.

[ErgoOne]

Yes, there has to be a way to stop people abusing the system because it's bound to happen.

A couple of things occur to me....

First, while there is bound to be abuse, that possibility is not a reason not to help people in need.  Don't let the vetting process get cumbersome or you'll undo the good you want to do.

Second, working locally and through people who deal with those in need (such as a local food bank, churches with food pantries, etc.) increases your chances of spotting the leeches and frauds, especially when they talk to each other.  (They do where I've worked with charitable organizations.)

Third, online direct one-to-one help with people that you do not know is more prone to being abused than almost anything else that you could do.  Face to face works *much* better.

We've got a local food bank in my area that is run by this wonderful elderly woman who swore, over a quarter of a century ago after her husband died, that in his memory nobody in this area would go to bed hungry if she could help it.  I work through her. :-)  You might want to find someone like that where you live.  But be warned, respecting people like this and working with them does tend to lead you to become like them.  So don't do it if you want to remain self-centered and ignorant of the needs of people around you.

[LokeRundt]

Yes, there has to be a way to stop people abusing the system because it's bound to happen.

A couple of things occur to me....

That possibility is not a reason not to help people in need.

(emphasis mine)  It  is an inevitability, not a "possibility". 

  Don't let the vetting process get cumbersome or you'll undo the good you want to do.

"Undo" the good work?  Nahhhh, perhaps a cumbersome vetting process will IMPEDE the good, but it won't "undo" the good.

Second, working locally and through people who deal with those in need (such as a local food bank, churches with food pantries, etc.) increases your chances of spotting the leeches and frauds, especially when they talk to each other.  (They do where I've worked with charitable organizations.)

Third, online direct one-to-one help with people that you do not know is more prone to being abused than almost anything else that you could do.  Face to face works *much* better.

We've got a local food bank in my area that is run by this wonderful elderly woman who swore, over a quarter of a century ago after her husband died, that in his memory nobody in this area would go to bed hungry if she could help it.  I work through her. :-)  You might want to find someone like that where you live.  But be warned, respecting people like this and working with them does tend to lead you to become like them.  So don't do it if you want to remain self-centered and ignorant of the needs of people around you.

While I admire the idea of local charity, the OP was about using BTC to facilitate charity/"good deeds", which I'm curious about how that might be accomplished.  Most of the folks I meet that are in need of charity do not have a personal computer, and vendors of daily necessities who accept bitcoin and currently rather thin on the ground