USFSP students turn to crowdfunding sites for cash for charities, and personal expenses.
Finding the funds to cover travel expenses, study abroad, or raise money for charity is difficult, and some students at USF St. Petersburg are turning to crowdfunding sites to help with the bill.
According to YouCaring.com, “crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or cause by raising money from a large number of people, typically through the Internet,”
Crowdfunding is “the practice of funding a project or cause by raising money from a large number of people, typically through the internet,” according to YouCaring.com.
Websites like GoFundMe, Kickstarter and YouCaring, are a recent addition to the social media scene. Users can set up a page, explain their cause, and set a fundraising goal. The funding goal can be a small amount of money, but also allows for large donations and fundraising goals.
When the campaigns go public, donations can be made by anyone around the world, anonymous or by name.
David O’Neill, 31, is a student and staff member at USFSP. He is currently using the crowdfunding site YouCaring.com with the Leadership St. Pete (LSP) Class of 2016. His goal is to raise $20,000 for ALPHA House, a local organization that “provides housing and supportive services to homeless pregnant women and teens, new mothers with infants, and families experiencing crisis pregnancies,” according to ONeil’s YouCaring page.
Currently, the group has raised a little over eight thousand dollars from 98 supporters.
O’ Neil said the group chose YouCaring.com as a way to raise money for ALPHA House because of the lower cost. Crowdfunding sites often take a percentage of each donation in order to fund their own expenses.
“I opted for YouCaring because the costs are lower – roughly 3% vs. 8% for GoFundMe. YouCaring does automatically add a percentage to donations, but donors can override that,” said O’ Neil in an email interview.
O’Neil isn’t the only USFSP student using crowdfunding to help those in need.
Crowdfunding isn’t limited to charity fundraising, and can be used to generate extra cash for unexpected personal expenses. Rachel Clemson, 20 used GoFundMe last month to raise money for a trip to Arizona.
Clemson, a graphic design major, was invited as a volunteer to help out at a leadership-training event in Phoenix, but didn’t have the funds to get there. The event trains representatives for World Ventures, a company that sells vacation club memberships, and Clemson was chosen as an volunteer Ambassador for WV.
Clemson, a graphic design major, was invited to volunteer at a leadership-training event in Phoenix, but didn’t have the funds to get there. The event trains representative for World Venture, a company that sells vacation club membership, Clemson was chosen to be a volunteer ambassador.
“When I got my acceptance letter, I didn’t know how I was going to get to Phoenix, Arizona since I didn’t have a ton of money to drop on the flights that were climbing in price everyday.” After talking about her financial situation, a USFSP staff member at The Reef suggested Clemson turn to GoFundMe for help.
“You never know who has the heart to give,” said Clemson. “I had a girl hand me $200 because she saw my GoFundMe campaign and wanted to help me.”
Clemson raised $225, of her $600 goal, and used the money to buy a one-way ticket to Phoenix, and carpooled back to Florida with friends.
According to these students, the sites are user friendly, and simple to set up and use, and they would recommend online crowdfunding to others.
“Very easy to set up and manage. No hiccups. Only negative is the automatic addition YouCaring tacks onto donations to support itself,” said O’Neil in regards to his campaign for ALPHA House.
Although Clemson recommends the site to others, she also has some advice for future GoFundMe users. “Before launching any campaign be sure to check out what other campaigns are doing that are making them successful,” she said.
“Use that information to your advantage.”
Sources:
Rachel Clemson
Email: rachelc2@mail.usf.edu
David O’ Neil
Email: doneill@mail.usf.edu
