Sometimes, you hear, read or think of something and it passes like a fart in the wind.
You hear about it a second time and ponder it a little further.
It comes around a third time and it becomes imperative to post about it.
So, what do you think of donating a grand to me?
Wait, sorry, that did not come out right. Allow me to explain.
Like everyone else, I have heard and read about crowdfunding. I have even read several articles about it as it pertains to my vocation of economic development. Believe it or not, many smaller business projects have launched with the assistance of an economic development incentive program plus some crowdfunding.
I've looked at the sites before, I have pondered them for a few minutes, and then have generally moved on to something else. After all, what do I have to offer on a crowdfunding platform besides my hard-earned dollars?
A few weeks ago, I read about a boy who had been getting bullied and beaten up to the point of being hospitalized. He did not fight back, stating that it is "not the Jedi way."
Being a Star Wars fan as well as the type of mensch who typically roots for the underdog, it nearly brought a tear to my eye as I read some of the stories about ten-year-old Aiden Vazquez, who refrained from fighting back while citing Jedi philosophy. It prompted a shout-out from Mark Hamill as well as being written about numerous times.
I read some of the comments on one of the articles in my Yahoo! feed and read an interesting variety. Many folks wrote that he should learn how to stand up for himself and fight back or he will continue to get bullied. I tend to agree with that, having fought back dozens of times while growing up in the public school system of Evanston. I probably got in two dozen fights over the years by pushing or punching somebody back. I never started a fight that I can recall, but I also cannot recall not striking back.
This is not meant to be any type of commentary but factual, so here I state that out of a good two dozen fights that I was in growing up, I only recall fighting another white guy once. I was attacked and assaulted by a Caucasian male along with a Korean male shortly after high school graduation, but that was not exactly a fight. I was bloodied and beaten temporarily unconscious and hospitalized, but I do not care to relive that. It ended up in court. That was thirty years ago.
I'm talking about fights with fists, kicking, body slamming and headlocks. Those fights were mostly prompted by African Americans, and I always defended myself.
Of course, most commenters noted that in the Star Wars movies, Jedis typically fought back when assaulted by stormtroopers, Siths and other villains.
Now that I am a wiser Prime Age, I see the wisdom in not fighting back. So many kids, teens and young adults escalate minor fights these days into something bigger, resulting in the use of weapons and far worse injuries than black eyes and stitches.
It is a tough call to make, but I respect this ten-year-old kid. I suspect that, despite being the target of some bully as a third grader, he will most certainly become more successful in life than the punk who bullied him.
The story so moved me that I thought donating five or ten bucks to this kid would be a small way to show my appreciation and support for what he is going through. Whatever struggles this child and his family are going through, a thousand dollars of support would certainly help them. Here is the link to a GoFundMe campaign for the kid.
A day or two later, I happened across an article in one of the print publications that I subscribe to, the Daily Herald. The simple and short article was about how crowdfunding is one way to start a job.
The article details how two twenty-somethings launched a small business together mostly by utilizing their savings, but also a GoFundMe campaign that raised $2,680 for them including an anonymous donation of $1,000. I would imagine that the anonymous grand came from one of their parents or relatives, but nonetheless, it helped them launch Your Choice, which recruits foster homes or "host homes" for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Other business fundraising on sites such as GoFundMe and Kickstarter span a spectrum that includes pitches for a comic book store, a yarn shop, a small dairy farm, a bookstore, a media company, a filmmaker, a bee farmer, a flower delivery service, a therapeutic robot business, a political poll app, a doctor, and a vegan van food-delivery service.
That one got me scratching my head a bit.
For a few nights in a row, I perused the crowdfunding sites and thought hard about how they may apply to Yours Truly before arriving at a few sober realizations.
The past few days, I have read about a scumbag couple who lived the high life off of four hundred grand (!) that they had raised on GoFundMe for a homeless veteran who helped the lady out with some gas money. They basically kept and spent most of the money on themselves. $400,000! More than I can save in a quarter century of working and paying for things.
There is a happy ending for this guy. GoFundMe guarantees that the money raised for someone is to be used for their benefit, thus Johnny Bobbitt Jr. will get the cash due to him. As he should.
When it comes to Yours Truly, there are several reasons why this won't work.
First off, nobody really wants to donate to a middle class, middle aged guy who does not have any world-changing ideas. While I do have ideas for mobile apps, eBooks, websites and an e-commerce business that I would like to launch, none of them would help feed starving people, provide services to the needy or help the LGBTQ community, all of which are popular things to receive funding.
Second of all, most of the pleas for financial assistance are so pitiful and the people are so needy, it would make me feel like an asshole to ask for money to help fund things that I struggle a bit to pay for our family, like new musical instruments, family trips and the like.
When I typed "self-help" into these sites because I was considering seeking funding to help me with a self-help/financial book that I aspire to self-publish, the pleas for assistance were gut wrenching.
Many were for the families of recently-deceased parents and were asking for help paying for funerals and for their children's college educations. Not the way that most personal finance bloggers, myself included, would advise paying for college.
One is for a sixty-six year old woman named Pam who spells out all her personal and health problems in great detail. I would not take her problems for a million dollars:
When you routinely spend ten or twelve grand in a month, it seems a bit foolish to ask for one grand or so to help put together a nice eBook. But believe me you, an extra thousand bucks would help immensely in my project. I would spend it on producing a better product rather than continually spending more than we take in on my mountain of bills plus Paying Ourselves First.
Finally, to make it even less compelling to contribute, I would be using the stock photo of "Jewish man" that I use for my blog and Twitter photo. NEWS ALERT: That's not me!
I remain behind a thin veil of anonymity, planning to emerge from it a few years from now as I get closer to being able to retire from the ultra-conservative town that I work for that would not appreciate me sharing my thoughts with the world including some negative thoughts about said employer.
Like anyone, I would rather donate money to a person whose name I know than someone who makes up a name.
Before you click off (if you have read this far), I do know of a few people whom I would truly like to help besides those in my immediate family. All members of my immediate family: my wife, my son, my daughter and I could all greatly benefit from some extra funding in a number of ways. Who couldn't?
But I do know two people who would definitely generate a fair amount of funding were I to initiate crowdfunding campaigns for them. Neither one would ever do it for themselves.
I have a neighbor friend lady who loves dogs. When I write "loves," what I really mean is that her life revolves around fostering, adopting and caring for a growing pack of dogs.
We have a running joke, as she has with several other people, that she claims to be "foster parenting" a new dog every few months. The thing is, in the nine years that I have known her, she has only given three dogs back. The rest of them remain with her permanently.
She would not appreciate me drawing any attention to her since we live in a suburb with regulations pertaining to how many dogs, and pets in general, a person may have. Let's just say that she may exceed that amount, and thus does not want photographic evidence that can be used against her in any way.
I have often joked that she would be able to generate a fair amount of money on a crowdfunding platform. She is single, but does have a decent job, but consistently spends more than she earns on taking care of her dogs.
For those of you who are not dog owners, it may be hard to believe how much money it costs to care for them. Besides basic needs, when you take one to a vet, you cannot charge the visit to your Blue Cross health insurance.
She has taken her dog care one step further, recently fostering/adopting a dog that had been abused to the point of losing one of his front legs. It's a long story, but the short version is that she has now taken responsibility for this dog's care.
I swear to you, if I wrote a long (not quite as long as this post) summary of all the care and love that my neighbor/friend has given to mistreated dogs and how she will spend five hundred bucks on food, veterinary care and other items for them while not being able to make her utility payments, I know that thousands of dollars would pour in for her.
I actually snapped a photo of her earlier tonight with five of the dogs (but not all of them) gathered around her for treats. When I said that I was thinking of starting a Kickstarter or GoFundMe campaign on her behalf, she threatened me and made me promise not to.
I just might do one nonetheless, but would do so without making any reference to who she is or where she lives. I would have to make that clear in the description, thus anyone who would contribute would have to put some faith in me that I would pay the money forward.
Striving to be a true mensch, I would certainly pay the money forward. You would not see me spending frivolously on myself like the couple who stole the hundreds of thousands from the homeless veteran.
I would most likely try to raise a thousand and then would give all of it, minus the fees, to our neighbor/friend. It would help her immensely.
Much like the truthfulness involved with asking money for my neighbor/friend who spends all her money on canines, I would most likely make a disclaimer on any plea for funds for this homeless man that the funds would likely be spent on alcohol rather than food or shelter.
I should add that I speak with him frequently during my lunch break, as I am a very avid reader and often sit in a local park and read at that time. Most often, after I walk a loop around the downtown.
This homeless man is about sixty years old if I had to guess, and often sits near me when he sees me.
I actually used to be a lot friendlier to him, often sharing my lunch with him. I am cognizant of his missing teeth, thus usually offer him something like a banana or yogurt rather than something that requires a lot of chewing.
I do not chat with him as much as I used to, but that has nothing to do with his homelessness or appearance. It is simply that I cherish some "me-time" during my lunch hour and that is often the only time during any given day that I have to myself.
It's not that I do not want to chat with the guy. I don't want to chat with anybody when I am reading outside during my lunch break.
People at work know that I know and speak to this guy, and they sometimes ask me where he sleeps during the sub-zero weather that plagues the Chicago area for about a third of the year.
The truth is that I do not know.
I do know that he used to sleep in the train station, but that has since been locked down during overnight hours to prevent vagrants like him from settling in there. One thing that we all agree on is that, should we become homeless, we would do anything that we could to make it to a warmer climate.
I know that one bar and grill owner who used to "employ" him would let him sleep in the vestibule or storage area, but that place closed years ago and is under new ownership and being remodeled by someone without tolerance for a raggedy-looking homeless man scaring patrons away.
I do not know where he sleeps any given night, nor have I asked.
What I do know is that if I asked for two grand for the guy, I would include a caveat that I would be keeping about ten percent, or two hundred, for myself. Why? I do not know. Perhaps to purchase lunches more often when I sit in the park and read with my homeless associate on a nearby bench asking me questions about what's going on in the town.
This guy does not even have spare clothes, let alone a computer, a smartphone or any way to generate income online.
I also have thought about what type of expectation it may create if I generated that kind of money and handed it to him.
My imaginary conversation goes a little like this. I'll call him William, although that does not even closely resemble his name. He does not recall my name, although I have told him a few times.
"Hey, how ya doin' William?" I ask.
"Oh, okay. What's going on with you?" he asks me. I tell him a bit about a few things, and then proceed to make his year.
"Hey William, I raised a bit of cash for you, figuring that you could probably use some."
By the way, I have never once mentioned his homelessness to him and, likewise, he has never verbalized it to me. He knows that I know, and I know that.
He would thank me as I hand him about a hundred bucks out of the $1,600 or so that I would raise for him. About $200 in fees and about another $200 for myself.
"Thanks," he would say while taking the cash and looking at me wearily. He is a proud man and would, once again, offer to paint my house for me. Despite generally liking him, I do not really want him to come to my home.
"It's not really from me," I would explain. "I raised it on a crowdfunding site called GoFundMe on your behalf."
This is when I realize that I should not even keep $200. It would look horrible for a middle class guy who works in economic development to keep such a small amount that should rightly go to a homeless person who lives in the town. It is not as bad as blowing through hundreds of thousands, but the notion is similar.
"Who's it from?" he would ask, not having the slightest idea what I was talking about.
I suppose that I would be forced to explain the dynamics of how crowdfunding works and that even I do not know everyone who contributed to it.
It would actually be a fairly embarrassing conversation, as William is a proud man and does not seem to want to admit that he has no permanent home or regular employment.
Now the tenuous relationship that we have would be forever changed. Rather than chatting with him man-to-man, as I have done for years, I am now moving beyond claiming to have an "extra" banana or yogurt, but handing him U.S. currency. Something that he can use for several meals, each one with several drinks. With enough left for pouches of wine.
I would say something like "just trying to help," and then would walk away from the guy and find myself a place to read in peace for a while.
I suppose that every time I would see him after that, he would be wondering if I have some of that cash to hand him.
I would dole out about a hundred per week to him rather than the rest of it all at once, but would ask him if he was interested in getting it all at once. After all, I'm not the guy's father or brother or best friend. If he wants to blow it all at once, who am I to stop him? I'm not advising him to invest it in his IRA or child's 529 account like I do every month.
Also, I don't want some other person who sees the campaign to tell him about it and create the feeling in him that I am shorting him or holding out.
Anyway, that is more than enough speculation about a crowdfunding campaign for one homeless guy in the town where I work that I probably will not do, anyway.
Go Fund Mensch
As previously stated, my own campaign would likely be to raise funds for myself to complete one or more eBook projects.
Enough "extra" funding from others to hire good graphic designers for covers and editors to improve upon the words. I feel that I have the writing skills to complete the project, but little else. When it comes to design and editing, I am at a loss.
To feel like a "real" writer, I would want to take a few days off of work next spring to spend hours poring over the project. Perhaps at a Starbucks or local pub. Now who wouldn't want to help a guy do that?
If you have read any previous posts, you may know that I am just a regular middle class guy who has worked at government jobs for a quarter century. I have written about how my brother works smarter, while one of my brothers-in-law works harder. To prove that point, my brother settled a case just this week in which his commission will be about a quarter mil!
I am not in that realm. I probably cannot produce a decent eBook without some further financial support.
Thus, my own thousand dollar campaign budget would be something along the lines of:
You hear about it a second time and ponder it a little further.
It comes around a third time and it becomes imperative to post about it.
So, what do you think of donating a grand to me?
Wait, sorry, that did not come out right. Allow me to explain.
Like everyone else, I have heard and read about crowdfunding. I have even read several articles about it as it pertains to my vocation of economic development. Believe it or not, many smaller business projects have launched with the assistance of an economic development incentive program plus some crowdfunding.
I've looked at the sites before, I have pondered them for a few minutes, and then have generally moved on to something else. After all, what do I have to offer on a crowdfunding platform besides my hard-earned dollars?
A few weeks ago, I read about a boy who had been getting bullied and beaten up to the point of being hospitalized. He did not fight back, stating that it is "not the Jedi way."
Being a Star Wars fan as well as the type of mensch who typically roots for the underdog, it nearly brought a tear to my eye as I read some of the stories about ten-year-old Aiden Vazquez, who refrained from fighting back while citing Jedi philosophy. It prompted a shout-out from Mark Hamill as well as being written about numerous times.
 |
| Young Aiden and the Jedi that he emulated. |
This is not meant to be any type of commentary but factual, so here I state that out of a good two dozen fights that I was in growing up, I only recall fighting another white guy once. I was attacked and assaulted by a Caucasian male along with a Korean male shortly after high school graduation, but that was not exactly a fight. I was bloodied and beaten temporarily unconscious and hospitalized, but I do not care to relive that. It ended up in court. That was thirty years ago.
I'm talking about fights with fists, kicking, body slamming and headlocks. Those fights were mostly prompted by African Americans, and I always defended myself.
Of course, most commenters noted that in the Star Wars movies, Jedis typically fought back when assaulted by stormtroopers, Siths and other villains.
Now that I am a wiser Prime Age, I see the wisdom in not fighting back. So many kids, teens and young adults escalate minor fights these days into something bigger, resulting in the use of weapons and far worse injuries than black eyes and stitches.
It is a tough call to make, but I respect this ten-year-old kid. I suspect that, despite being the target of some bully as a third grader, he will most certainly become more successful in life than the punk who bullied him.
The story so moved me that I thought donating five or ten bucks to this kid would be a small way to show my appreciation and support for what he is going through. Whatever struggles this child and his family are going through, a thousand dollars of support would certainly help them. Here is the link to a GoFundMe campaign for the kid.
A day or two later, I happened across an article in one of the print publications that I subscribe to, the Daily Herald. The simple and short article was about how crowdfunding is one way to start a job.
The article details how two twenty-somethings launched a small business together mostly by utilizing their savings, but also a GoFundMe campaign that raised $2,680 for them including an anonymous donation of $1,000. I would imagine that the anonymous grand came from one of their parents or relatives, but nonetheless, it helped them launch Your Choice, which recruits foster homes or "host homes" for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Other business fundraising on sites such as GoFundMe and Kickstarter span a spectrum that includes pitches for a comic book store, a yarn shop, a small dairy farm, a bookstore, a media company, a filmmaker, a bee farmer, a flower delivery service, a therapeutic robot business, a political poll app, a doctor, and a vegan van food-delivery service.
That one got me scratching my head a bit.
For a few nights in a row, I perused the crowdfunding sites and thought hard about how they may apply to Yours Truly before arriving at a few sober realizations.
The past few days, I have read about a scumbag couple who lived the high life off of four hundred grand (!) that they had raised on GoFundMe for a homeless veteran who helped the lady out with some gas money. They basically kept and spent most of the money on themselves. $400,000! More than I can save in a quarter century of working and paying for things.
There is a happy ending for this guy. GoFundMe guarantees that the money raised for someone is to be used for their benefit, thus Johnny Bobbitt Jr. will get the cash due to him. As he should.
When it comes to Yours Truly, there are several reasons why this won't work.
First off, nobody really wants to donate to a middle class, middle aged guy who does not have any world-changing ideas. While I do have ideas for mobile apps, eBooks, websites and an e-commerce business that I would like to launch, none of them would help feed starving people, provide services to the needy or help the LGBTQ community, all of which are popular things to receive funding.
Second of all, most of the pleas for financial assistance are so pitiful and the people are so needy, it would make me feel like an asshole to ask for money to help fund things that I struggle a bit to pay for our family, like new musical instruments, family trips and the like.
When I typed "self-help" into these sites because I was considering seeking funding to help me with a self-help/financial book that I aspire to self-publish, the pleas for assistance were gut wrenching.
Many were for the families of recently-deceased parents and were asking for help paying for funerals and for their children's college educations. Not the way that most personal finance bloggers, myself included, would advise paying for college.
One is for a sixty-six year old woman named Pam who spells out all her personal and health problems in great detail. I would not take her problems for a million dollars:
I have sold pretty much all my possessions that are worth anything, and continue with what little there still is, so I am still trying to raise money that way, too, but don't expect much. No good jewelry, the clothes I have, although are nice, and some hardly worn, they are not stylish now. I have some comics from the 80s, but the good ones are pretty much gone now. I am even growing avocado seeds to sell from the small avos I eat for my cholesterol..so I am trying. I am even looking into crafts..but that takes money. I shop cheap, buying day old bread, marked down meat and produce, store brands, etc.
So now I am in your hands. I want to again be that lady that contributes, rather than be a burden. I have been told that because of my age, I am now irrelavent [sic] to society. I don't want to believe that's true. I want to be financially, physically and mentally healthy again. Getting off this hamster wheel, I could maybe get those shoes, get back to being able to breathe again, and maybe expand my world back out a little bit. If you need more info about me, I am on Facebook, Pam Wellner...not the famous scientist..the other one and you can message me if you like. My stupid pride got me into this, I know, but now, next month, there will not be enough to pay all the bills, and none for food and meds. I am absolutely terrified right now, but I also have faith and hope.Thirdly, while I could certainly use the money to help fund a project that I have wanted to do for quite some time, it really does not cost anything to write words on a laptop, design a crappy eBook cover on a free template or pay someone $25 on Fiverr to do it, and then self-publish it on Amazon. I have already done that once, but it certainly was not done well.
When you routinely spend ten or twelve grand in a month, it seems a bit foolish to ask for one grand or so to help put together a nice eBook. But believe me you, an extra thousand bucks would help immensely in my project. I would spend it on producing a better product rather than continually spending more than we take in on my mountain of bills plus Paying Ourselves First.
Finally, to make it even less compelling to contribute, I would be using the stock photo of "Jewish man" that I use for my blog and Twitter photo. NEWS ALERT: That's not me!
 |
| A shutterstock photo of "Jewish man on street" |
Like anyone, I would rather donate money to a person whose name I know than someone who makes up a name.
Two Worth Candidates
Before you click off (if you have read this far), I do know of a few people whom I would truly like to help besides those in my immediate family. All members of my immediate family: my wife, my son, my daughter and I could all greatly benefit from some extra funding in a number of ways. Who couldn't?
But I do know two people who would definitely generate a fair amount of funding were I to initiate crowdfunding campaigns for them. Neither one would ever do it for themselves.
I have a neighbor friend lady who loves dogs. When I write "loves," what I really mean is that her life revolves around fostering, adopting and caring for a growing pack of dogs.
We have a running joke, as she has with several other people, that she claims to be "foster parenting" a new dog every few months. The thing is, in the nine years that I have known her, she has only given three dogs back. The rest of them remain with her permanently.
She would not appreciate me drawing any attention to her since we live in a suburb with regulations pertaining to how many dogs, and pets in general, a person may have. Let's just say that she may exceed that amount, and thus does not want photographic evidence that can be used against her in any way.
I have often joked that she would be able to generate a fair amount of money on a crowdfunding platform. She is single, but does have a decent job, but consistently spends more than she earns on taking care of her dogs.
For those of you who are not dog owners, it may be hard to believe how much money it costs to care for them. Besides basic needs, when you take one to a vet, you cannot charge the visit to your Blue Cross health insurance.
She has taken her dog care one step further, recently fostering/adopting a dog that had been abused to the point of losing one of his front legs. It's a long story, but the short version is that she has now taken responsibility for this dog's care.
I swear to you, if I wrote a long (not quite as long as this post) summary of all the care and love that my neighbor/friend has given to mistreated dogs and how she will spend five hundred bucks on food, veterinary care and other items for them while not being able to make her utility payments, I know that thousands of dollars would pour in for her.
I actually snapped a photo of her earlier tonight with five of the dogs (but not all of them) gathered around her for treats. When I said that I was thinking of starting a Kickstarter or GoFundMe campaign on her behalf, she threatened me and made me promise not to.
I just might do one nonetheless, but would do so without making any reference to who she is or where she lives. I would have to make that clear in the description, thus anyone who would contribute would have to put some faith in me that I would pay the money forward.
Striving to be a true mensch, I would certainly pay the money forward. You would not see me spending frivolously on myself like the couple who stole the hundreds of thousands from the homeless veteran.
I would most likely try to raise a thousand and then would give all of it, minus the fees, to our neighbor/friend. It would help her immensely.
⟷
I know a homeless guy.
Not just someone who is unsteady in his living arrangement. This guy sleeps outside as the weather allows and, truth be told, I do not know where he sleeps during the brutally cold winter months in the Chicago burbs.
This is the one guy who lives outside in the downtown of the community where I work.
Other municipal employees know him, mostly the police. And, no, he is not a trouble-maker. On the contrary. When something happens in the downtown area or there is some vandalism or an assault, the police consult this guy to learn if he saw or heard anything.
He is a good guy. A few of the restaurants in the area allow him to sit in their places of business for hours at a time, and I know of two that pay him in both money and food for him to help out, like cleaning windows or hauling garbage or whatever.
Of course I realize that there are many thousands of homeless people throughout the Chicago area and throughout the entire country and world. But this guy has been around for so long and has been friendly to many people over the years and has looked more and more haggard the past few years, I know that good samaritans would donate a few bucks to the guy.
Now, I would not be looking for anywhere in the vicinity of a hundred grand or even ten grand for this guy.
Because I often see him walking out of a local liquor store with what I can only describe as a "pouch" of wine, I think that it is safe to assume that he would spend a fair amount of any cash that I hand him on alcoholic beverages.
Much like the truthfulness involved with asking money for my neighbor/friend who spends all her money on canines, I would most likely make a disclaimer on any plea for funds for this homeless man that the funds would likely be spent on alcohol rather than food or shelter.
I should add that I speak with him frequently during my lunch break, as I am a very avid reader and often sit in a local park and read at that time. Most often, after I walk a loop around the downtown.
This homeless man is about sixty years old if I had to guess, and often sits near me when he sees me.
I actually used to be a lot friendlier to him, often sharing my lunch with him. I am cognizant of his missing teeth, thus usually offer him something like a banana or yogurt rather than something that requires a lot of chewing.
I do not chat with him as much as I used to, but that has nothing to do with his homelessness or appearance. It is simply that I cherish some "me-time" during my lunch hour and that is often the only time during any given day that I have to myself.
It's not that I do not want to chat with the guy. I don't want to chat with anybody when I am reading outside during my lunch break.
People at work know that I know and speak to this guy, and they sometimes ask me where he sleeps during the sub-zero weather that plagues the Chicago area for about a third of the year.
 |
| "William" sleeps on a bench in a park near where I work during nice weather. |
I do know that he used to sleep in the train station, but that has since been locked down during overnight hours to prevent vagrants like him from settling in there. One thing that we all agree on is that, should we become homeless, we would do anything that we could to make it to a warmer climate.
I know that one bar and grill owner who used to "employ" him would let him sleep in the vestibule or storage area, but that place closed years ago and is under new ownership and being remodeled by someone without tolerance for a raggedy-looking homeless man scaring patrons away.
I do not know where he sleeps any given night, nor have I asked.
What I do know is that if I asked for two grand for the guy, I would include a caveat that I would be keeping about ten percent, or two hundred, for myself. Why? I do not know. Perhaps to purchase lunches more often when I sit in the park and read with my homeless associate on a nearby bench asking me questions about what's going on in the town.
This guy does not even have spare clothes, let alone a computer, a smartphone or any way to generate income online.
I also have thought about what type of expectation it may create if I generated that kind of money and handed it to him.
My imaginary conversation goes a little like this. I'll call him William, although that does not even closely resemble his name. He does not recall my name, although I have told him a few times.
"Hey, how ya doin' William?" I ask.
"Oh, okay. What's going on with you?" he asks me. I tell him a bit about a few things, and then proceed to make his year.
"Hey William, I raised a bit of cash for you, figuring that you could probably use some."
By the way, I have never once mentioned his homelessness to him and, likewise, he has never verbalized it to me. He knows that I know, and I know that.
He would thank me as I hand him about a hundred bucks out of the $1,600 or so that I would raise for him. About $200 in fees and about another $200 for myself.
"Thanks," he would say while taking the cash and looking at me wearily. He is a proud man and would, once again, offer to paint my house for me. Despite generally liking him, I do not really want him to come to my home.
"It's not really from me," I would explain. "I raised it on a crowdfunding site called GoFundMe on your behalf."
This is when I realize that I should not even keep $200. It would look horrible for a middle class guy who works in economic development to keep such a small amount that should rightly go to a homeless person who lives in the town. It is not as bad as blowing through hundreds of thousands, but the notion is similar.
"Who's it from?" he would ask, not having the slightest idea what I was talking about.
I suppose that I would be forced to explain the dynamics of how crowdfunding works and that even I do not know everyone who contributed to it.
It would actually be a fairly embarrassing conversation, as William is a proud man and does not seem to want to admit that he has no permanent home or regular employment.
Now the tenuous relationship that we have would be forever changed. Rather than chatting with him man-to-man, as I have done for years, I am now moving beyond claiming to have an "extra" banana or yogurt, but handing him U.S. currency. Something that he can use for several meals, each one with several drinks. With enough left for pouches of wine.
I would say something like "just trying to help," and then would walk away from the guy and find myself a place to read in peace for a while.
I suppose that every time I would see him after that, he would be wondering if I have some of that cash to hand him.
I would dole out about a hundred per week to him rather than the rest of it all at once, but would ask him if he was interested in getting it all at once. After all, I'm not the guy's father or brother or best friend. If he wants to blow it all at once, who am I to stop him? I'm not advising him to invest it in his IRA or child's 529 account like I do every month.
Also, I don't want some other person who sees the campaign to tell him about it and create the feeling in him that I am shorting him or holding out.
Anyway, that is more than enough speculation about a crowdfunding campaign for one homeless guy in the town where I work that I probably will not do, anyway.
Go Fund Mensch
As previously stated, my own campaign would likely be to raise funds for myself to complete one or more eBook projects.
Enough "extra" funding from others to hire good graphic designers for covers and editors to improve upon the words. I feel that I have the writing skills to complete the project, but little else. When it comes to design and editing, I am at a loss.
To feel like a "real" writer, I would want to take a few days off of work next spring to spend hours poring over the project. Perhaps at a Starbucks or local pub. Now who wouldn't want to help a guy do that?
If you have read any previous posts, you may know that I am just a regular middle class guy who has worked at government jobs for a quarter century. I have written about how my brother works smarter, while one of my brothers-in-law works harder. To prove that point, my brother settled a case just this week in which his commission will be about a quarter mil!
I am not in that realm. I probably cannot produce a decent eBook without some further financial support.
Thus, my own thousand dollar campaign budget would be something along the lines of:
- $300 to $400 for proofreading and editing about 300 pages.
- $50 to get a nice eBook cover made.
- $100 for two good lunches out with my son on a couple of Fridays in spring 2019 after I spend the entire day working on the eBook in a park near his college.
- The rest of it used for marketing, whatever that may be. Probably a combination of Facebook and promoting it on various websites.
So... this is over 4,000 words or over eight single-spaced pages. Impressive for about two hours of writing, no?
The upshot of it is that I present myself as a not-very-compelling case for crowdfunding. I make a decent living and the projects that I would seek funding for would ultimately benefit me more than it would others, besides my immediate family.
I do know of two folks who I am confident that I could raise funds for, but one is scared of being outed against local ordinances and the other is just one out of many thousands of homeless people and would spend the funds on cheap wine instead of self-betterment.
Just don't be surprised if one day you are perusing crowdfunding sites and see the stock photo of "Jewish man on street" asking for a grand to produce the first Money Mensch book, or the same guy asking for money to launch an investment that he has been thinking of creating for nine years or asking for help for an anonymous lady who takes care of too many dogs for her to handle or afford or for a homeless guy who just wants to find a cheap pouch of wine and comfortable place to sleep.
Comments
Post a Comment