#i dont think the last part's subtitles (‘much baha’) is correct but i tried searching for 10 min and couldn't find what it may be instead?

[martyrbat]

[ID: a Tiktok by Sim Kern, who's speaking to the camera. They say: “GoFundMe keeps freezing the accounts of people who successfully raised tens of thousands of dollars for people in Gaza, preventing the transfer of money and I want to talk about why and how you can fix it. I have an amazing contact at GoFundMe, Janet, who's been helping four of the campaigns I've boosted that have run into this problem. She's helped us resolve them and she sent me a detailed list of all the reasons these campaigns are getting frozen and how people can protect their campaigns from having that happen. So, if you're an organizer or a beneficiary or someone like me who boosts these fundraisers, please listen to this information. And if you're anyone else, please listen and interact with this video so that we can spread this message far and help more people, cause I'm sure that a lot of people fundraising in Gaza are running into this issue—and yes, my voice is weird, it's because I'm ill.

So, the main reason that GoFundMe accounts get flagged and frozen is when people transfer money to someone who's not named in the GoFundMe campaign. And there's a lot of legitimate reasons for this—very few people in Gaza had international bank accounts set up before this all started—where they could get international wire transfers, like directly to their phone. And so many of them are having to get their money wired through a cousin in Egypt or like a neighbor in their tent city who like, happens to have a bank account set up like that and they're willing to like, get the money and transfer it to them.

You have to put that level of detail into the GoFundMe page, okay everyone? Whoever the money is gonna pass through, if it's going to take 2 to 3 to 4 to 5 people to get to the beneficiary, you have to list out all those people and the process of how the money is going to get to the beneficiary. That's the main, main thing.

Now, if you haven't done that and your accounts get frozen and you get flagged by GoFundMe, then you're going to get an email saying the account's been frozen and they're gonna email you a link. It's just going to be a link somewhere in that email where you have to respond and provide documentation proving that you're legit. It used to be you could just email support at GoFundMe, but now that is an unmonitored mailbox—apparently they got overwhelmed at the support mailbox. So now you can only use that link that was sent to you in your email ticket to get these issues resolved. If that happens, they're gonna want you to send them all your, like, receipts, screenshots, or whatever of your bank transfers and also receipts of how money has been spent. If money has been transferred already from wherever the organizer lives to Gaza, then you need to show how that money has been spent in Gaza and it needs to match what it said in the GoFundMe. So, for example—and this is really tough, right? Because they're like—it's hard to get a receipt, it's impossible to get a receipt in Gaza! But GoFundMe understands that, you know, like Janet said they're flexible—you just have to make an attempt to documentation.

So like, if you raise your money for evacuation funds but then you ended up spending $1,000 on a tent, just write down somewhere or put a note in your phone, ‘spent $1,000 on a tent.’ And then do an update to the GoFundMe saying, you know, ‘Things have changed—I had to spend $1,000 on a tent,’ or, ‘I used some of the money this week to buy formula and diapers and food.’ However you're spending the money, you have to put updates with that information in the GoFundMe itself. And then keep a record for yourself of how you're spending the money, because if your account gets frozen you have to email them and say, ‘I spent this much on this, I spent this much on this, I spent this much on this.’

And then the money has to add up to the total. So let's say you've had $4,000 transferred to you and you spend $1,000 on a tent, right? And you're just saving the $3,000 that's left for future expenses. Well, when you email GoFundMe Accounting for your information, you have to say, ‘I spent a $1,000 on a tent, I'm saving $3,000 for future expenses,’ okay? It has to add up to the $4,000. And it has to add up exactly to the dollars and cents. So like, I used an example that's like, whole numbers—of course it's not gonna be like whole numbers, right? So if the amount you have left over is like 4,392 dollars and 63 cents, you have to say, ‘I'm saving this amount exactly for future expenses.’ ‘Future living expenses,’ actually, is what Janet said to say.

You also have to be specific and provide not just the name of the person but also the city that they're in. And I know this is ridiculous because everyone's been displaced, but you can't just put Gaza if you're sheltering in Rafa or Deir al-Balah or Gaza City. You have to put this specific place where everyone who's going to be touching this money is residing. And apparently, this is because GoFundMe has a list of known [quote] ‘terrorists’ [unquote] that they are checking the fundraisers against. So you have to put the full name and the city in Gaza of each person who's going to touch this money.

Organizers who are actually collecting the money to be, you know, transferred overseas need to know as much detail as possible about the families they're supporting. They should know the full names, cities, and ages of all beneficiaries. So that means not just people who touch the money, but all the people the money is going to from the central family member in Gaza. And the organizer should know the names, emails, phone numbers, and social media for as many of those beneficiaries as possible.

To recap, the best way to prevent your account from getting flagged is to make sure that anyone who is going to be touching the money is named in the GoFundMe itself—with their name and the city that they're in. And then if you do get flagged, the two main things you're gonna have to do to get out of trouble is prove that the money was transferred—so you're going to need proof of the bank transfers, the wire transfers. And then proof that the money was spent on what the fundraiser said you would use it for—so you protect yourself in that case by keeping track of whatever you're spending money on and updating your GoFundMe as the situation changes with what you're spending the money on. And if you haven't spent all of it, if you're saving some of it for future expenses, say that in account for that when you reply to GoFundMe.

I also want to clarify that I'm not an organizer, I get messages all the time from people asking me how do I organize a fundraiser for a family in Gaza, how do I vet them to make sure they're legit. Y'all, I don't know. I don't have personal contacts in Palestine, I don't—I can't do that. I just been boosting the fundraisers that were vetted by Operation Olive Branch or other, you know, Palestinian people I directly know and trust, because I can't do that on my own because I don't have those connections or that savvy. But hopefully these tips from Janet will help all of y'all to resolve any frozen GoFundMe accounts that you run in to.”

The camera shifts so that Sim is in front of a GoFundMe page for Sana Adhab. Sim continues to talk: “And I feel so bad that because I've been sick and my kids are out of school now, I really haven't been able to make as much content over the last week or so to help Sana meet her fundraiser goals. We're almost there—I think it's actually at 86,000 now. I'd really like to help her raise all the money she needs by the end of this week. We are doing another giveaway of assigned first edition author copy of my book, ‘The Free Peoples Village’. You can win this book just by donating at least $5 or as much as you are able to the campaign. That's the first link in the fundraiser tab in my bio. And then you'll send a screenshot of that receipt to t4Gaza at Gmail dot com to be entered to win the book giveaway. There are so many thousands of people who have been, you know, organizing to raise money for people in Gaza and all of you are amazing and I love you and you're my much Baha.” END ID]

Sana Adhab GoFundMe

From the great @sim_bookstagrams_badly on Instagram:

Why people keep landing in GFM jail and how to get out of it. Please spread far and wide!