A dollar or a thousand for your cause

There are initiatives and causes that may be close to your heart and lack the financial backing needed for execution. Relatives and friends were often the first point of contact for such endeavors, but this tight-knit circle may not be able to achieve targets at the speed and volume required. Crowdfunding is the internet’s revolutionary answer to raising money to finance great ideas and humanitarian causes. At no cost to users, crowdfunding allows you to tell your story to millions of people who have the financial power to realize your dreams.

Gofundme.com is one of the most popular crowdfunding websites out there. It is famous for creating fundraising campaigns for humanitarian causes, medical procedures, bucket lists, memorials, educational opportunities, and much more. “Empowering people to help other people” is the organization’s tagline. Even though Nigeria is not on the list of GoFundMe’s supported countries, there are currently more than 3,361 causes from the region. How is that possible? Many of the campaigns are created on behalf of others.

With thousands of campaigns currently on GoFundMe’s site, kind and willing donors may find it a constant challenge to identify which cause should get their money. Would it be the Nigerian Women’s Bobsled Team who need $150,000 to represent the country at the 2018 Winter Olympics? Or Nail Technician, Mary Negron who wants to raise $500 to fit clothes in suitcases for children at the Obalende Police Barracks? How does one gather the right amount of traction to convince others about why they should donate to your cause? It starts with your story.

Yes, this crowdfunding site is a prime example of the best and most shared story wins. Words and pictures when succinctly crafted and targeted at the right audience rake in funds. Take for example, the Send Vita Meal to IDP camps campaign organized in January, 2017. $10,000 was the target set to provide containers of food and feed 900,000 internally displaced persons in Nigeria. The pictures presented were heartbreaking. A woman holding a malnourished child. Sunken cheeks, matchstick like bones visible from head to quashed thighs. His looks being more alien than human. The goal was surpassed in 3 months after 465 shares across social media platforms.

The credibility of campaigns are not tested by the site, but prospective donors need not be dissuaded. If a campaign turns out to be questionable, GoFundMe has a guarantee to provide a full refund of donations given. #SaveMayowa was a campaign that trended in 2016 to raise $100,000 for a young Nigerian woman who was battling Stage 4 ovarian cancer. After more than 2,500 shares spurred on by celebrities and regular people, the target was once again surpassed in a few days. Sadly, she passed away before the planned procedure could be carried out. After several red flags were raised and more controversies cropped up, donors were refunded donated funds over a period.

It is not all campaigns that are able to surpass or even reach the targeted sum. Some targets are unrealistically large such as this $50 million campaign to build a Cancer Treatment Center in Africa. $3400 has been raised so far in 8 months and it is hard to imagine that this goal will ever be achieved. Esther Badejo is another GoFundMe user who is nowhere close to the $64,000 she needs to cover expenses for her son’s heart surgery. Despite the fact that there are no penalties levied against users who are not able to attain fundraising goals, it becomes a nearly impossible task for donors to derive the satisfaction of following the stories of campaigns requesting huge sums to the end.

Without a doubt, online fundraising websites such as GoFundMe.com are helping individuals, groups, and organizations achieve goals that were previously unattainable. The fact that no cause or campaign is considered frivolous widens the bracket of people such campaigns can accommodate. For reasons ranging from legal to tax implications, this popular site may continue to support a select few countries in Europe and North America. Regardless of this limitation, it is incredible to see the good that can come from the benevolence of individuals who want to see others happy.