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what are your thoughts on GoFundMe?

Achieve_Bay

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Do you guys support the idea that businesses can use GoFundMe as a means to receive money to reach a certain goal, or do you think it is their responsibility to reach these goals and milestones just purely off their profits and sales alone?

Do you guys feel as if a GoFundMe page is getting in the way of 'economic Evolution'?
 
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Lex DeVille

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Do you guys support the idea?

In what way? Are you asking if we support the idea of their business model? Or are you asking if we support the idea of entrepreneurs funding ventures using crowdfunding?

In any case, I support both. Good for GoFundMe for creating a profitable model that works for them. And good for any entrepreneur who runs a successful (legal and ethical) campaign.

Most of the GoFundMe's that come across my Facebook wall don't have much thought or effort put into them. They're not usually offered by entrepreneurs. They usually go something like this:

"I need money for X so click here to support me! Thanks!"

It's always about what the receiver needs, never about what the donor gets. Although donors may want to feel like contributors to the greater good, that doesn't mean they don't want something in exchange for their hard-earned cash.

The willingness to put in the effort to run a successful campaign is the barrier to entry that holds up most people/entrepreneurs from what I've seen.
 

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LittleWolfie

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It's always about what the receiver needs, never about what the donor gets. Although donors may want to feel like contributors to the greater good, that doesn't mean they don't want something in exchange for their hard-earned cash.

Really? I thought that was the entire point of a donation, money freely given with no expectation of return?

If you get something back in return, that counts as a business, so now taxes are involved. I always thought of gofundme as the charitable version of Kickstarter.


Been seeing lots of quality, well thought-out posts from you lately

Really? I will have to look at OP's ppsrs to see if I can work out what makes them quality and well thought out.
 
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Lex DeVille

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Really? I thought that was the entire point of a donation, money freely given with no expectation of return?

If you get something back in return, that counts as a business, so now taxes are involved.

There is always expectation with donation. Nobody donates without expectation (a thank you, a gift, good feelings, a great story, endorsement etc.).
 

LittleWolfie

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There is always expectation with donation. Nobody donates without expectation (a thank you, a gift, good feelings, a great story, endorsement etc.).
No one tell Her Majesty's revenue and customs /s

Surely you can get the good feeling from the gofundme too?
 
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Lex DeVille

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No one tell Her Majesty's revenue and customs /s

Surely you can get the good feeling from the gofundme too?

I don't donate to causes I don't have a vested interest in. Donation for the sake of donation doesn't make me feel good and wouldn't make sense. So no, I won't get good feelings by donating to most gofundme campaigns and neither will other people.

If the campaign supports a cause I believe in, then I might donate and I might feel good. But then I'm donating because of the expectation that my donation will further the cause. It isn't a selfless act.
 

Entre Eyes

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Traveling to Higher Conciousness
Often if you think about it when we become interested in something like a New Cell Phone, or a New Car we begin to see them everywhere we look. We research we compare, we may find discounts or bonuses for purchase we find out what to stay away from, by the time we make the investment we are mini experts on the topic And that could be a profitable Resource to offer to others interested in the subject.

When I see a question like that in a forum a bell goes off that is how entrepreneurs find opportunities around us all the time.

Speaking of GoFundMe there have been some pretty interesting stories.

Help to fund a ‘spiritual journey’
To prove the Earth is flat
Pay for Disney World
Bums getting $400,000 for being a "good sumaritan" giving $20 and it was a Big Con.
 

ChrisV

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Achieve_Bay

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In what way? Are you asking if we support the idea of their business model? Or are you asking if we support the idea of entrepreneurs funding ventures using crowdfunding?

In any case, I support both. Good for GoFundMe for creating a profitable model that works for them. And good for any entrepreneur who runs a successful (legal and ethical) campaign.

Most of the GoFundMe's that come across my Facebook wall don't have much thought or effort put into them. They're not usually offered by entrepreneurs. They usually go something like this:

"I need money for X so click here to support me! Thanks!"

It's always about what the receiver needs, never about what the donor gets. Although donors may want to feel like contributors to the greater good, that doesn't mean they don't want something in exchange for their hard-earned cash.

The willingness to put in the effort to run a successful campaign is the barrier to entry that holds up most people/entrepreneurs from what I've seen.

sorry I didn't finish my thought I was going to finish writing everything out this morning, must've posted it by accident. What I mean is do you support the idea behind businesses using GoFundMe as a means to ask people to support their business? Or do you guys think it is the business' responsibility to fund themselves through sales and profit?

I can't believe I accidentally uploaded this forum without writing that I will edit.

Been seeing lots of quality, well thought-out posts from you lately

oof I feel attacked LOL
 

Achieve_Bay

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:rofl:

Well I mean you do post a lot of one-liners lol. I almost thought at first you were trying to boost your post count to get access to the Speedway lol
to be completely honest I have no idea what that is. I just wanted to show support to others' forums especially when I only read other users posting negativity haha I just wanted to tip the scales a little
 
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Ismail941

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Its hard to give answer without a context or at least "This is what happened" & "Now Question"

Question is good
But Context with Question make it easier
 

Ismail941

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GoFundMe = I think its personal like raising money for short term problem, not for business

Crowdfunding, Kickstarter & Indiegogo = These are best for raising money IF you have:
1) Website
2) Email List (Leads)
 

Achieve_Bay

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GoFundMe = I think its personal like raising money for short term problem, not for business

Crowdfunding, Kickstarter & Indiegogo = These are best for raising money IF you have:
1) Website
2) Email List (Leads)
That is really good advice. My company created this goFundMe (Shameless plug link here) a weeks ago and I was thinking if there were other sites. I'll give them a look, thank you.

It does seem a little off to me to ask for money in this sort of manner, but our lead animator proposed the idea and said that it's pretty standard for other businesses to do this sort of thing when there aren't many options left.

Also, yes. We know our team member in the picture has huge eyebrows (he told us to write that lol)
 
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ChrisV

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That is really good advice. My company created this goFundMe (Shameless plug link here) a weeks ago and I was thinking if there were other sites. I'll give them a look, thank you.
I'm sorry, but I don't like this. What are people getting from you? People are just supposed to donate to your business out of the goodness of their hearts? Go fund me is for when your puppy has paw cancer, not for funding a business venture. Sorry to be harsh, but I can almost guarantee you're not going to raise $5500 like that. And even if you do it's all going to go downhill because there's a fundamental misunderstanding of business.

Business is about creating a win/win situation. Both parties are left better off because of the transaction.

In your proposed transaction, you're left better off, but the donor isn't. It's win/lose for them. Have you read MJ's books?


It does seem a little off to me to ask for money in this sort of manner, but our lead animator proposed the idea and said that it's pretty standard for other businesses to do this sort of thing when there aren't many options left.
What lol? That's not standard at all. But I guess that's why he's an animator and not a business person.
 

Achieve_Bay

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I'm sorry, but I don't like this. What are people getting from you? People are just supposed to donate to your business out of the goodness of their hearts? Go fund me is for when your puppy has paw cancer, not for funding a business venture. Sorry to be harsh, but I can almost guarantee you're not going to raise $5500 like that. And even if you do it's all going to go downhill because there's a fundamental misunderstanding of business.

Business is about creating a win/win situation. Both parties are left better off because of the transaction.

no need to apologize, any criticism is always welcome. And I too thought the same as you, which is why I was very hesitant to create the page in the first place. Nobody in our group was very familiar with GoFundMe so we didn't know how these things worked, and as we tried to familiarize ourselves by reading other people's campaigns we didn't notice any pattern of giving anything back to donors (which again I found odd, because I was taken aback by how 'generous' people might be just to give money for nothing).

If I may, what do you think would be a good idea to offer for certain donors? Do you have any suggestions?
 

ChrisV

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no need to apologize, any criticism is always welcome. And I too thought the same as you, which is why I was very hesitant to create the page in the first place. Nobody in our group was very familiar with GoFundMe so we didn't know how these things worked, and as we tried to familiarize ourselves by reading other people's campaigns we didn't notice any pattern of giving anything back to donors (which again I found odd, because I was taken aback by how 'generous' people might be just to give money for nothing).

If I may, what do you think would be a good idea to offer for certain donors? Do you have any suggestions?
What about KickStarter? Kickstarter is a better platform for when you want to offer things to donors. Either that or look up some posts on here (or on Google) about Bootstrapping.

As for what to offer, it depends on what your service is exactly. Look through some other Kickstarter campaigns and see what they're offering. Even better, if you can find successful campaigns similar to yours see what they offered to be successful; then brainstorm.
 
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