Is donation and charity fund raising becoming the business of the century ?
By topffer
@topffer (42155)
France
January 12, 2011 8:24pm CST
Are not you impressed by the money received by Wikipedia since two months ? The founder was asking for $6 millions in 2008 and for $16 millions in 2010 for Wikipedia to stay free. Wikipedia will "stay free".
I was amazed by a new site advertised at Onbux today. This one was speaking to my ecological conscience : they want me to purchase carbon credits to save a forest somewhere in New-Guinea. States are creating carbon taxes in Europe today, why would not I, poor sinner, make a voluntary donation proportional to my waste of energy ?
This new charity business has an office in Adelaide and a phone and fax... well, after verification phone and fax are in Perth -- let's ring a few hours : there are 2550 km between these two Australian cities --, other phone numbers in UK and Norway, and is starting meetings in Europe : Slovakia, Austria, Belgium...
The main site and the blog have a professional looking, many pages, and they have indeed all the social salad required : facebook, twitter & co. The site is dated of January 1st, but I think that it has launched on Jan 11th.
Preparing something like this needs months, maybe years, and a lot of money. Until today international internet swindlers trying to get millions -- not cents -- were more involved in HYIP -- remember Genius Funds last year ? -- than in charitable organizations.
What do you think about this change ? Is charity fund raising becoming the business of the century ?
3 responses
@mysticalecstasy (472)
• Pakistan
17 Jan 11
Well i must say i am not surprised. Charity fundraisers have always been successful in raising money so it was only a matter of time before the swindlers caught on. however, it is heartening to know there are people who sensibly checkout the credentials before signing on.
1 person likes this
@topffer (42155)
• France
17 Jan 11
It is not a sarcasm to write that when other activities are low due to the economy, charity is in good health.
I checked the credentials when I saw that this new one had only 30 members. If they had 10000, I probably would have not. They can't give a wrong number at the beginning, because of their meetings. The number of members is no more on the site, but there is a slide show of one of their last meeting. The room was small, but they played at full house, and they begin to receive donations : nice for a young start-up 
.
Thank you for your response mysticalecstasy.
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Thank you for your response mysticalecstasy.
!@mysticalecstasy (472)
• Pakistan
18 Jan 11
No sarcasm meant! I think its pathetic and pitiable really!!
1 person likes this
@ScrambledBrains (143)
•
13 Jan 11
$6 million and $16 million - seeing as It's Wikipedia we're talking about, are you absolutely sure those figures are accurate or did someone do a good editing job?
I think the charities have to be careful not to become too greedy or use too much pressure - you've surely come across canvassers, street collectors and others who just WILL NOT leave you alone, or try to get you to set up a regular donation on the spot - as if I'm just going to happily give my bank details to a random bloke on the street?!
Do you think the charities are taking better advantage of new technology to help their appeals, or is this the sector finally catching up in terms of roles being offered (so you'll now have charity bloggers, copywriters, tech. support and so on)?
1 person likes this
@frontvisions101 (16043)
• Philippines
13 Jan 11
Fundraisers are becoming famous these days, indeed. I know some companies using fundraisers to gain money for foundation and probably start from there. It's not a bad idea until they make the whole history of the company being profited buy fundraisers. Now that's a bad reputation for a company.
1 person likes this
@topffer (42155)
• France
13 Jan 11
Hello frontvisions,
I have not given the name, because I am sure that this one, created not as a foundation -- you need funds -- but as a commercial Australian society, is just created for money making. I suppose that the founders are in Europe. This business has a bad reputation, and it is sometimes justified : all of us can share examples of misused money by these organizations. It is the first time that I see a charitable society created from nothing : they have recruited 30 members today ! But with 2 meetings/weeks in large cities -- renting a room for a conference is not free --I am curious to see how many members they will be able to raise... before vanishing in the air.
