Do I support crowdfunding?
I won't lie; I'm always skeptical whenever it comes to crowdfunding, especially when it involves contributing to a cause and the management (platform) does not have "the fear of God." Is that being religious? No. I'm just saying that my instincts don't always go along with how most of these platforms "spread" the money raised. If not joining a notable charity crowdfunding campaign will prevent me from getting to heaven, I'll accept going to hell, and I'll be very okay with that.
Many times, I've come across rains of fire and brimstone on the internet about how money raised through crowdfunding, which is supposed to be channelled towards something good as stated in the beginning, was being mishandled. There's nothing the crowd that contributed to the cause could do because the crowdfunding platform or the management, per se, appeared to be "smarter" than the masses. The management will always come out with evidence showing how the money was spent, and they expect the masses to believe the rubbish. A typical example is a recent trend in the Nigerian internet world, where a man who opened a crowdfunding scheme to help the poor masses in Nigeria came out with a breakdown of how the money raised was spent. He said he used 50 million naira to produce a mural on the wall of a renovated school. Hold on, we are talking about a whole 50 million naira for just an artistic painting on the wall. I know what a mural is because I studied and produced one during secondary school. If I had participated in that crowdfunding campaign, I would have been hurt to my bones. Do you know the craziest thing? The manager of the crowdfunding scheme boldly presented the expense records and felt that the people couldn't do anything to him because he had the final say over the money. Guess what? Nothing has been done to him?
So, yeah, I don't go around joining crowdfunding schemes. The only time I did was for a small-scale project, and I was the one who managed the money until everything was transferred to the designated account for the intended purpose.
Can I source for money through crowdfunding?
No!
I haven't found myself in that situation, and I'm still hoping that God won't allow me to find myself in a position where I'll need to source for money through crowdfunding. It's not that I'm saying it's totally wrong to source for money through crowdfunding; no. Crowdfunding can be used to establish a business, and people can also benefit from it through partnerships. But for now, I don't see myself going down that route.
Photo: Chatgpt