In the name of revolutionary etiquette
By which we mean ensuring that social justice work is welcoming, full of integrity, and well-informed, we propose the following set of standards for ethical use of funding platforms like GoFundMe, Indie GoGo, Kickstarter and the like. Additionally, we hope it can be useful for community-based fundraising on a whole.
Three orders of business before the proposed standards:
a.)What the eff do we know? We are two regular users of community fundraising tactics, one of whom is a professional fundraiser for lefty nonprofits. So we have some experience and thoughts (35ish years experience between us) on the subject. But we also know that we don’t know. This is meant to be a working document. We hope this can be a catalyst for wider dialogue about the ethics of fundraising, not a decree by any means. We welcome discussion and amendments. (Different from internet fighting! Dialogue!)
b.)We hope this document can be used in the following way:When you start a funding campaign, post this list and answer each question, preferably as it is phrased. Try it as an experiment. We feel this would clear up a lot of ethical messes we have witnessed in this modern era of crowdfunding.
c.) These ethics are proposed with an understanding that when we ask for money from our communities and social circles, we are asking people with often very little money to support our projects. We also know that people most often donate because of personal relationships, not because of expendable income or even the value of one campaign over another. We believe that this implies an ethical commitment to serve those communities in some meaningful way. In analyzing the many campaigns at which we have balked or been appalled, as well as others of marginal legitimacy we have supported, we have broken the types of project into three different categories that we feel are pertinent uses of community resources.
Without further ado, here is our proposal
We commit to openly provide the following information as for all of our future funding campaigns:
Why is this project communal?
- “I am asking the community for support because it serves the community by _______.”
- This project falls under which category of communal response:
- Personal need/necessary workaround for capitalism: The system should pay for this and doesn’t; i.e. medical expense, supporting children, etc. This serves us all communally because a strong community supports the health and safety of individual members.
- This is a material service to community: A project that will provide infrastructure or actual material things that are available to a community that needs them.
- This is a necessary social service to community: A project that will provide for the community socially/in non-tangible ways. Most likely, these non-tangible benefits provide support, culture, visibility, or dialogue. If an art project is ethically crowdfund-able, it likely fits in this section.
- Why are you crowdfunding this as opposed to other forms of fundraising? Do you have additional forms of fundraising?
Financial transparency:
- Provide a clear budget for the project at the start of the fundraising campaign.
- During and after the campaign, provide transparent accounting of all communally-raised funds. This is often done with a basic accounting spreadsheet displayed on your website, social media, and/or fundraising page. Make sure all income from the campaign and expenditures of said money are accounted for. There should be a zero balance at the end.
- Describe how this project gives back. How is it building community connections, not just using your cultural capital/popularity to make money?
- Are the people most impacted by this project in leadership roles? (Even if this is an art project, if it’s communally-funded, this question should be answerable.)