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Go Fund Me Campaigns and Insurance
#146810
10/20/2017 10:59 AM
10/20/2017 10:59 AM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 82,916 Central Florida!
Carol_Hill
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OP
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Posts: 82,916
Central Florida!
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This topic came up in the Potter’s thread and I wanted to make a new note here, to emphasize that I’m not speaking about Potter’s in particular and certainly nothing against Walker. This is an issue on all of the islands that have seen devastated by Irma, etc., as well as here in the US. I have several concerns about this whole thing.
1) The latest rage seems to be Go Fund Me campaigns for everything, including baby showers and sending people on their honeymoon. I personally do not agree with the general concept of people in effect begging for money, which is my perception of these things, if posted by the person wanting the money. I know that many or most of them are posted by OTHER people on behalf of someone else, but one ‘assumes’ that the person for whom the money is being raised has at least consented to the campaign. So I don’t know that I agree with the whole concept. If you really know someone, you know whether they are in need, and you don't have to have them ASK for it.
2) In the context of raising money for a BUSINESS, as compared to for, say the EMPLOYEES of that same business, as a business owner myself, the concept of personal responsibility and carrying insurance on your business resonates with me. Some people choose to self-insure and that’s fine, but that to me is a business decision. And I realize that many people can't afford insurance, but again, to me, it's a cost of doing business. If someone falls at a business and is injured, is that a good reason why the business shouldn't be responsible, that they can't 'afford' insurance?
3) Please understand that Go Fund Me is a business itself. They get 7.8% of all contributions, plus .30 per donation. I’m not saying that they don’t provide a service, but Go Fund Me is a business.
4) Go Fund Me does NOT investigate any of the campaigns and makes no guarantees that the campaigns are not just scams. There have been several scams uncovered in Go Fund Me campaigns in St. Maarten, where there are literally HUNDREDS of such campaigns. Taken from the Go Fund Me website “With hundreds of thousands of campaigns, it's not feasible for GoFundMe to investigate the claims stated by each Campaign Organizer. Rather, we provide visitors with the tools to make an informed decision as to who they choose to support. While GoFundMe and its payment partners do provide a number of safeguards to deter fraud, we must insist that visitors follow the advice stated on each and every campaign. "Only donate to people you personally know & trust."
5) Even if the campaigns itself is not an outright scam, all money donated to Go Fund Me campaigns go to the campaign organizer outright. If you donate money to them, you have only your trust in the good of mankind or the integrity of the particular person that you are donating it to, that the money will actually GET where you think it will go. AND as to what that particular person thinks is a proper use of those funds. Is it a proper use of those funds for the campaign organizer to go the islands with a plane ticket purchased with those funds? What about paying for a hotel room or a rental car while they are there? I don't know what the right answer to that is, but understand that, even if the campaign literature says otherwise, that money goes to the campaign organizer and what they do with it is up to them. Issues...
As I said, in ST. Maarten/ST. Martin, there are LITERALLY hundreds of these campaigns going, including one by a business owner in Simpson Bay who is living in the states, wanting funds to rebuild his business. In the meantime, he seems to be in no hurry to go down to the islands to see for himself what the damage is to his business and what he personally can do to rebuild.
Because of the problems with so MANY of these things, it seems literally for EVERY business on SXM, we don’t even allow them to be posted on the SXM board. We haven’t taken that route here on the BVI board, but a word of caution is in order here. Donate to particular established organizations that you know. If you don’t have prior dealings with the organization or the individuals involved, be careful.
It’s your money, donate to whoever you want. But do it with your eyes wide open and don’t be a rube, because of emotion.
Carol Hill
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Re: Go Fund Me Campaigns and Insurance
[Re: Eriesailor]
#146812
10/20/2017 12:53 PM
10/20/2017 12:53 PM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 82,916 Central Florida!
Carol_Hill
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Posts: 82,916
Central Florida!
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Here in Florida, we also have separate hurricane deductibles, which routinely is about 3-5%. You're right though, business interruption insurance could kick in, in these situations, if they had it. Our business interruption insurance here on our office didn't pay because we didn't have any actual damage here at the office and we were 'only' out of electric for 7 days..
Carol Hill
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Re: Go Fund Me Campaigns and Insurance
[Re: bvilovercgb]
#146819
10/20/2017 04:17 PM
10/20/2017 04:17 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 4,597 Cow Wreck Beach
wmangum
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Traveler
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Posts: 4,597
Cow Wreck Beach
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Potter's fund is a GoFundMe fund, started and managed by his son. I agree that GoFundMe is a poor fund base because they take so much right off the top. If I had set that one up, I would have used YouCaring.
The fund that I created for Anegada Relief is a YouCaring fund. YouCaring keeps nothing unless you add a "tip" with the donation. The only charge is the standard 0.30 + 2.9% credit card fee, which is unavoidable. To date, contributions to this fund total $76,435, and the total fees to credit card processing are $2,303.18, which is 3.1%.
Walker Mangum Cow Wreck Beach, Anegada
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Re: Go Fund Me Campaigns and Insurance
[Re: GeorgeC1]
#146820
10/20/2017 04:54 PM
10/20/2017 04:54 PM
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 5,678 An island state of mind
tradewinds
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 5,678
An island state of mind
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GeorgeC1 said: I have avoided most funds and sent money via moneygram to friends I have made in the BVI over the years. I know exactly where the money is going. G We've done the same. We consider them family.
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Re: Go Fund Me Campaigns and Insurance
[Re: Eriesailor]
#146821
10/21/2017 12:09 PM
10/21/2017 12:09 PM
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 4,557 Toronto, Ontario
gordaguy2
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Traveler
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Posts: 4,557
Toronto, Ontario
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Don't you mean the deductible is 5% of what ever the damage is. cheers
GordaGuy2
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Re: Go Fund Me Campaigns and Insurance
[Re: Eriesailor]
#146823
10/21/2017 02:37 PM
10/21/2017 02:37 PM
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,674 Memphis, BVI, CT
RatmansWife
Traveler
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,674
Memphis, BVI, CT
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Carol, thank you for posting this. You captured perfectly what I had been thinking. We have Lloyds through CIL. As Erie said, the deductible is 5% of insured value for a named storm, which is a fraction of our damage. The coverage is not cheap, but as Carol said, it is a cost of doing business. And they have collected our premiums for over 40 years without a claim.
Someone asked how many people are insured. I have spoken with two neighbors who are self insured. Everyone else who has spoken up has insurance, although I suspect a few don't and will be in a bind.
As to the locals, my guess is many generally rely on family in a crisis and, likewise, tend to support family members, often in lieu of building savings. We have supported the people who work for us and on whom we depend, and they, in turn, are going above and beyond to help us recover.
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