#btw the reason i am like this about crowdfunding is ive seen how rife with problems domestic fundraising can be on gfm

[wild-at-mind]

I just saw someone saying that people only label GFMs scams because it makes them less uncomfortable about genocide. I actually think it's the opposite: people avoid thinking too hard about the practicalities of these GFMs (assuming for the purposes of this that they are all real) because it makes them feel better to think that the horrors of war could be alleviated with a gofundme. A GFM allows you to see the name and face of a person, rather than a faceless aid organisation. That feels better.

It is much less comforting to think that large swaths of the world who are in difficulty are completely outside the scope of the Western model of crowdfunding. I discovered this many years ago when I was trying to help someone in Nigeria. I asked him if he could set up a crowdfunder like GFM and he said they weren't supported in Nigeria. I looked it up and found that while technically there are Nigeria specific crowdfunding sites with real looking campaigns on, none of them had any donations and the website gave you malware. I don't know what that was about, but it made me realise oh wait, this is not really an option for most people in the world.

The people in Gaza are technically outside the scope of Western crowdfunding too. GFM discourages fundraising outside of the supported countries, of which there are about 15, and makes it clear that all the responsibilities for handling the vast sum of money involved goes to the organiser. If the organiser is a trusted friend or relative of the family involved, this is not such a problem. If the organiser is a helpful randomer, then it's much more of a problem. Money transferring becomes much harder in warzones. I've never seen anyone post about successful transfers after a closed campaign.

I don't know. It makes me sad to see, honestly. I'm happy for the families and individuals who do have that trusted connection in a country that's supported by GFM who can handle their funds in a responsible way and reliably get every penny to them minus transfer fees and GFM's cut, but you have to understand that most people in Gaza don't have a connection like this. It's great if you can find campaigns like that to donate to but when it comes to the ones run by randomers, I think we should try to donate to an aid organisation instead.