Charitable Contributions Meet Tech Frustrations

Recently a friend told me that his daughter’s high school band was trying to raise money. Making a donation was as easy as going to a web site and entering his credit card info. My friend was eager to contribute, tech savvy, and responsible, so he asked his daughter, “How much of my donation will go to the band?” After checking, his daughter reported back that 70% of his donation would make it to the band. At that point he told her he’d be willing to write a check, but that there was no way he would be willing to use the web site. Talk about a Tech Frustration!
 
His story sparked a lively conversation among friends. We later learned that all fund raising for this particular school (or at least most of it) is funneled through the web site. My friend thought that it had to be relatively easy to make such a site and asked if I knew anyone who would be willing to take on the project. A little Internet research showed that a significant number of these sites already exist. And I couldn’t find any that claimed they charged 30% to process the donations (although we know at least one is out there). Some of the sites I found are Classy, crowdrise, FirstGiving, Fundly, FundRazr, Giveforward, gofundme, myevent, razoo and youcaring. 

Have you ever worked with an organization that has used one of these sites or have you ever donated via one of these sites? I’m eager to hear what you think in the comments below or via an email message. Let’s share info to be sure we are maximizing the value of our charitable contributions!


Has technology ever frustrated you?  If so, tell us about it on the Tech Frustrations web site.

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