Indiegogo

This weekend marks the start of what is typically called the “Season of Giving.” It’s the first weekend where we, as a North American society, start to reflect back on the year and look at our impending tax bills and decide how much to give and to which charities.

 

We have all heard the phrases shared by the organizations that solicit us -

“A flat gift is a decreased gift as a result of inflation.”

“You can donate securities and receive additional tax credits so it is like your donation only costs you half of much.”

“If you donate a life insurance policy now, you can write off your premiums against your taxes.”

 

All of these comments speak to the fact that we have incentivized giving to the point of making it purely a financial planning and wealth management transaction.  What if, at this point in time, we started to not just look at our charitable activities as a way to manage our taxes, but also as a way to really illicit change in our communities?

Guest Blogger: Meghan Somers

What: Viral Philanthropy, also known as Crowdfunding, is the collective cooperation of people to pool their resources via the internet to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations

Who: Anyone can start a crowdfunding campaign, and anyone can donate to a crowdfunding campaign.

Where: Crowdfunding gives an international platform to local issues. Popular websites for crowdfunding include Indiegogo and Kickstarter.

When: Most often crowdfunding for a particular cause pops up when a certain issue is ‘hot’ or trendy. A recent example is when bus monitor Karen Klein became famous when a video of her being bullied went viral on YouTube, an Indiegogo campaign was started to send her on vacation. The campaign was extremely successful beating its goal of $5000 within five hours and eventually surpassing $700,000 by the time it was finished.

Why: Crowdfunding appeals to the growing need for immediacy in today’s society. By giving people a platform to instantaneously support causes that they are close too people are more likely to ‘impulse’ donate. Both Kickstarter and Indiegogo espouse the idea that anyone should have the opportunity to raise money. They maintain that an online community can support your campaign into success.