tive treatment in New York, with more sessions to go over the next two years. The blog updates donors who follow Charmaine’s progress through the painful procedures and inform donors of the little girl’s step-by-step response including an account of her hair slowly growing back. The Feisty team offers this advice for other non-profits or individuals who are considering using Web2.0 as a platform for fundraising: “Have faith in your fundraising. First degree contacts are the most important in gathering help, then, the network of friends who are willing to help.” Raising funds online had its hazards. Once donations started coming in for ourfeistyprincess beyond their first line of contacts, hostile strangers appeared on the blog questioning its credibility. This jolted the Feisty team into removing the public bank account number posted on the site for interested donors. The team researched the rules governing online fundraising. Fortunately, a media blitz that followed sent donation enquiries flooding in, and to cope with the response, the account information went back up. Alarm bells were triggered again shortly after when the Feisty fundraisers heard that someone armed with a picture of a little girl looking like Charmaine, had been asking for donations around the Buangkok MRT station. The blog quickly posted a warning and a disclaimer, adding a reminder that permits are required for raising funds on the street.
The lack of governance is a two-edged sword. On one hand, it cuts through all the red tape so evident in the “real” world. On the other, it leaves the public susceptible to online hoaxes and scams. 14
ct 2009 • S A LT Sep-Oct
Eventually, interested donors realised the girl in the photo was not Charmaine.
An “open” field: Donor beware While IPCs and charities must comply with a code of governance, this procedure is not always followed by individuals and groups now campaigning on the web. The lack of governance is a two-edged sword. On one hand, it cuts through all the red tape so evident in the “real” world. On the other, it leaves the public susceptible to online hoaxes and scams. An earnest effort is required by site owners to ensure donor confidence. How, then, are they staying accountable? The dog lovers site, doggiesite. com does not handle funds directly, but discussion board administrator Hwee Li, vets the posts that go on its Charity forum. Members who want to solicit funds for animals need her approval before they post their appeals. For the Feisty team, handling donations was new and difficult. “The pressure was tremendous, knowing that if we did not do it right from the first step, it would impede further fundraising for Charmaine,” a spokesperson said. “We made calls to the authorities to check on the process, to see if a license was required for fundraising through the blog.” What the Feisty fundraisers learnt was to be as transparent as possible on the site in order to earn the trust of donors. Every donor to the site is tagged in the account sheets.
To regulate, or not to regulate? Whether more regulation is needed for online fundraising is contentious. Mr Ng Cheng Wei from volunteer group donicethings.org believes that all forms of donation should be regulated, but he is aware that “regulating online donations will only create a barrier for law-abiding individuals, and the only ones dissuaded may well be those with good intentions.” “As long as our intentions are true, we can allow the environment to selfregulate. We handle the funds with integrity; donors put their faith in us,” said the Feisty’s spokesperson. From our exchanges with so many people, we’ve come to realise
that those who truly want to help are not fastidious about how the funds are used,” she added. All parties interviewed made the point that donors must be careful when using the Internet as a donation vehicle. The internet community could benefit from education to instil a pronounced wariness of phishing sites, and to urge users to exercise control over the impulse mentality prevalent in online shopping (or shopping for causes for that matter). For online donation sites, fundraisers recommend donors verify both the source of fund requests and the nature of the cause. Online donors can also ask to view donation account sheets. For many forums and websites, this is often a simple list with every transaction tabulated, so members can track the total tally at every update. Donors preserve some level of anonymity as they are usually known only by their online monikers. Site moderators, or the campaign organiser or administrator, typically post details of how donations were used. As donors and online fundraisers come to grips with the potential – and the inherent drawbacks – of parting with cash through a simple mouse click, security software and mechanisms are only one part of the evolution of more secure online charity. For now, suffice to say to both donors and fundraisers should take advantage of guidelines on informed giving provided by several sites including The President’s Challenge. The operating principle for web donations? Be open – and be smart. ✩
“As long as our intentions are true, we can allow the environment to self-regulate. We handle the funds with integrity; donors put their faith In us.” Ms LOH, OURFEISTYPRINCESS.COM