What do you guys think of fundraising with BTC?

[commandrix]

I suppose I could have asked before writing this blog post, but what do you think of using Bitcoin to raise money for charity? I think it can work, if people who want to donate are absolutely sure that the Bitcoin raised is going to get to the nonprofit in question.

[keithers]

I suppose I could have asked before writing this blog post, but what do you think of using Bitcoin to raise money for charity? I think it can work, if people who want to donate are absolutely sure that the Bitcoin raised is going to get to the nonprofit in question.

I think it can be great since people can donate small amounts of money per person, that they typically could not with credit cards, etc.   The problem right now however I think is that more people would be willing to part with their fiat and not their BTC

[Ilsk]

Bitcoin are better to finance small project in some remote part of the world, transaction cost are cheaper and money arrive faster.

[jeffersonairplane]

I suppose I could have asked before writing this blog post, but what do you think of using Bitcoin to raise money for charity? I think it can work, if people who want to donate are absolutely sure that the Bitcoin raised is going to get to the nonprofit in question.

Well one of the main things advertised with Bitcoin is the charity benefits because of it. The reason is it is fast, easy, nonrefundable, with minimal fees. Basically 30 cents or below of a fee for the average transaction. The only problem is not many people have it.

[Ron~Popeil]

Just a shameless plug for Sean's Outpost. They are a fully bit coin funded charity that feeds homeless people.

http://seansoutpost.com/donate/


Charity is a great application for bit coin. The transparency of it allows you to trace how your donation is being used.

[franky1]

I suppose I could have asked before writing this blog post, but what do you think of using Bitcoin to raise money for charity? I think it can work, if people who want to donate are absolutely sure that the Bitcoin raised is going to get to the nonprofit in question.

it can be truly great.
the 2 prime examples are:
seans outpost
dorian nakamoto

unless the end charity shows how they will honestly use the funds, and show they want bitcoin to gain trust in the charity. then there would need to be trust in the middleman, but apart from the 2 examples above. these middle men never Doxx themselves fully or reveal a direct link to the charity, thus no one will trust a middleman causing people to get frustrated at the middleman and the charity which has not shown any desire for bitcoin.

making the fundraiser look like a scammer, (which most are)

so what is needed as hinted before, the charity itself needs to show a desire for bitcoin and the middle man cannot act shady or hide behind persona's

[fryarminer]

I have actually thought a lot about using bitcoin for fundraisers on a larger scale - I've had to do some fundraising for certain projects. I think it is a good idea simply because most of the accounting is done for you, and it is public. Donors can see where their bitcoin was deposited, and also when the bitcoin was spent.
I would do something like have a limit needed to be raised, and then tell the donors "OK, we are going to spend all the bitcoin when we have reached this amount, on this project." Then they could look at the address in the blockchain and see that indeed their funds were used for the intended purpose.

Another thing is that oftentimes charitable organizations take a cut of the funds to pay for fundraising or to go to other people's pockets. With the blockchain it would be absolutely transparent, that the funds were used for the donor's intentions.

The questions of "How much needs to be raised, how much do we still need to raise, and how was the money spent" is a major issue in a fundraiser - and rightly so, this is the donor's hard earned money. Those questions are automatically answered in the blockchain.

[Harley997]

I suppose I could have asked before writing this blog post, but what do you think of using Bitcoin to raise money for charity? I think it can work, if people who want to donate are absolutely sure that the Bitcoin raised is going to get to the nonprofit in question.

It needs to be something Bitcoin related that people that own BTC care about.

A good example of this is when "satachi" was outed, only it was not the person who created Bitcoin

[fryarminer]

I suppose I could have asked before writing this blog post, but what do you think of using Bitcoin to raise money for charity? I think it can work, if people who want to donate are absolutely sure that the Bitcoin raised is going to get to the nonprofit in question.

It needs to be something Bitcoin related that people that own BTC care about.

A good example of this is when "satachi" was outed, only it was not the person who created Bitcoin

Good point. And at this stage in BTC history there are still only specific interests that the community has. As bitcoin usage grows so will the interests of the users.

Another good thing about using BTC for fundraising is that you can leave memos with the transactions. This is good for naming opportunities - you can have your benefactors write a note when sending the donation as to how they want their donation remembered. "In honor of my son Billy" or "From Jane", or so on.

[LiteCoinGuy]

its a good idea. i guess many people would like to donate some btc

[skottiejay]

I think this is a good idea in concept, however crowdfunding and fundraising these days comes with a serious skeptical price. I'm well aware that people need to be clued in on where their money is going and how it's being used, but for instance if I were to set up shop and say I need xBTC because I'm basically a wandering gypsy through no fault of my own and need help getting my life rebooted, not many people would understand and a lot would be skeptical that I'm not just going to dump whatever into a gambling addiction.

Which by the way is a real thing I need to do, but that's another story.

I think it would be a great idea, but I'm not so sure about people who would go all "fund my life" about it.

[jeffersonairplane]

I think this is a good idea in concept, however crowdfunding and fundraising these days comes with a serious skeptical price. I'm well aware that people need to be clued in on where their money is going and how it's being used, but for instance if I were to set up shop and say I need xBTC because I'm basically a wandering gypsy through no fault of my own and need help getting my life rebooted, not many people would understand and a lot would be skeptical that I'm not just going to dump whatever into a gambling addiction.

Which by the way is a real thing I need to do, but that's another story.

I think it would be a great idea, but I'm not so sure about people who would go all "fund my life" about it.

The same goes with any fundraising. It's not the medium they are accepting it is the actual charity or company itself. Some fundraisers won't actually spend money strictly on the event while others may. Accepting Bitcoin wouldn't be the root of the problem. It may make it easier, but still it is the company not the money.

[skottiejay]

That's very true, look at all the indie games that have come out and have used indiegogo or kickstarter and then ended up bailing on the idea, or not getting the work done while millions of people have contributed. A lot of people look at that kind of stuff like it's a free money ride when it's supposed to be helping get a product out, or service.

[ShakyhandsBTCer]

its a good idea. i guess many people would like to donate some btc

Many people are willing to donate their bitcoin, assuming it is for the right cause. Any charity that accepts bitcoin must tailor their cause to bitcoin users.

[cccarnation]

It'd be good to accept BTC donations for Wikipedia for example. Have they opened it yet?

[skottiejay]

I'd be nice if I could set up a fundraising event to get my life back on track, so I could start trading, and start getting involved in my future and even start thinking about it. Right now I have no credit, no job, and basically I'm living on scraps, but people don't want to see that kind of thing. They want to see that it's going towards some new kind of technology. Even if I spent hours and hours going over how I ended up in the position I'm in, people would ask me questions like "why don't u have job" and such and they wouldn't understand. It's the nuances of my condition, panic and PTSD and anxiety don't register very high on the list of "diseases" that people generally care about. I can't work, I'm declared disabled but I can't collect on it because the state doesn't feel the same way. So I'm nearly out of everything and trying to make it. I know bitcoin isn't supposed to be used as a get rich quick scheme, but my plan is to be able to gather enough that I can have a future, that I can start looking for something to do in the mean time until I start collecting on my SSI (I have to fight for it sometime this fall, I have a hearing coming up).

But it's just not worth people thinking I'm just running away with bitcoins without anything to show for it.

[ljudotina]

I dont understand question to be honest.
Fundrasing with BTC is identical to fundrasing with fiat, it is only more convenient, and easyer to do if it's "across the border" thing.
It's same as asking : "What do you guys think about fundrasing". If you have goal, and you think that ppl will be willing to help, give it a try!

[skottiejay]

But recently more people are more skeptical of "the goal" then others, and they have every right to be skeptical about it. There are a ton of people online that would do anything just to feed an addiction or just to make a quick buck, so they set up some sob story and bam people donate. Meanwhile there are genuine people out there that just need a break in their lives and would like to get ahead for once.

I guess the days of fundraising and crowdsourcing are over, I don't know. There are so many extra hoops to jump through now that I'd think it'd be near impossible to get any kind of funds.

[commandrix]

I guess the days of fundraising and crowdsourcing are over, I don't know. There are so many extra hoops to jump through now that I'd think it'd be near impossible to get any kind of funds.

That could be. Kickstarter is a success because you can do "incentives" to donate so people feel like they get something out of it. But even then, they've gotten kinda rocked by scammers using their site to make a good pitch, get some funds and disappear. It can be tough to tell the difference on a well-run scam too. I've seen one of the scams and knew not to donate only because they were so obviously ripping off Mars One that I gave the Mars One concept artist a heads-up that they were using some of his material without permission.

It's not so much that power and easy money corrupt people, as power and easy money attract the corruptible.

[skottiejay]

Your last quote is definitely true, I fell for it through twitter a couple of years ago a dude begged people to help him out for months because he was in a bad relationship and needed out and needed to move, and wanted everyone to help him restart his life, get a car etc. After a couple of months people started to get suspicious and decided to start questioning his motives. Long story short he ended up disappearing from twitter and social networks altogether and nobody knows what happened to him. He could have just taken the money and ran, that's an extreme example but it definitely makes it harder for people like me who have similar stories but desperately need the funds to pay bills and what not.