(edit for clarity: I’m not asking for money - I’ve just never set up a crowdfunding campaign and looking for advice)
One of my Mom’s closest friends has passed away quite unexpectedly. She and her wife live in Barcelona and I don’t think they had any arrangements in place. Mom wants to set up a crowd-fund for their friends to chip in for getting them both home to the US for the funeral and to help the surviving friend close things down in Spain and move back to the US. Their circle of friends can handle it, I think my Mom just wants to feel useful and find a way for everyone to chip into a “pot” for them. And my Mom asked me because well, I’m the nerd in the family. I gots no clue.
Go Fund Me is the only one I’ve ever donated to - are there any pitfalls to watch out for? Or better sites?
I would suggest just doing a Paypal Account with a link to payment if you are only reaching out to a group of close friends. No reason to mix gofundme into this as they will control the money and charge processing fees. This means she won’t get all the money and if GoFundMe suspects fraud, which is common in these kinds of setups, they can freeze all accounts and make getting the money very difficult.
With Paypal you can make a “Money Pool”. Once you’ve made the “Money Pool,” you can send a link to all of the friends, they can click the link and make a money transfer as a friend/family at no charge. You then just link that paypal account to the friend’s banking account and transfer the money. That way the bereaved get 100% of the funds and you are not broadcasting to the rest the internet.
This is a more personal and private way of handling this kind of an issue.
I’m going to say some stuff. I hope some of it’s useful.
Gofundme, Paypal, and myriad others offer “free” crowdfunding for “personal”, “memorial”, or various other possibly applicable purposes. I have not found one yet which:
offers credit card processessing and
doesn’t charge at least a percentage and/or per transaction fee.
While this is not technically despicable, it’s not technically “free”, either.
Here is gofundme’s “free” fundraising information
(Note, 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction processing fee)
Here is PayPal’s personal fundraising platform page
(Note, 2.9% + $0.030 per transaction processing fee)
These 2 are typical, it appears to me, with others trending higher.
Here is a recentish top 6 list https://doublethedonation.com/tips/gofundme-alternatives/
Fundly, because it seems most appropriate to this particular scenario: https://fundly.com/pricing
(Note, 4.9% + 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for everyone, regardless of “reason”)
At the end of the day, if you can get folks to do so, everyone will come out ahead if you just ask for cash and promise to use it as intended (and so do). 0% transaction/process/hosting/platform/whatever fees.
This is part of why I’m jaded and hate with a capital H gofundme and other such “crowdfunding” resources. It’s not that their position is not justifiable. It’s that I find it distasteful. YMMV.
Good luck to you and yours getting the most bang for your buck and your mission accomplished.
Another alternative to Paypal is Venmo. They charge a 3% fee on credit cards (which it looks like is comparable with Paypal, although I don’t really use Paypal so I’m not 100% sure), but not for other transaction methods.
When you send money using your Venmo balance, bank account, debit card or prepaid card, we waive fees so it’s free. Our standard 3% fee applies to credit cards. Receiving money and making purchases in other apps is always free.
I’ve never personally used it, but have heard very good things about it.
Thanks @Nick, @jast and @BarkingChicken! I heard from my Mom last night and her friend has vetoed any crowdfunding “campaign” for the time being. Probably more of a case of my mom being on the other side of the ocean from her friend in need and wanting to “do something.”
I agree though - their circle of friends is probably small enough that PayPal or Venmo would work.