Even in the best cases when crowdfunders are well-intentioned, they often lack the operational and financial expertise necessary to use the donations they receive efficiently or effectively. They also are rarely scrutinized by the government. 'Good intentions mixed with hubris is a dangerous combination,' Styron said."īecause many crowdfunding campaigns are run by individuals or groups of people versus incorporated nonprofit organizations, these campaigns are not subject to the public disclosure rules that would reveal to donors how efficiently their donations were raised and spent. "Laurie Styron, executive director of the American Institute of Philanthropy, described crowdfunding campaigns as the 'Wild West of charity fundraising' and said that influencers should instead urge their followers to support nonprofits with experience and expertise. This computes to expenses of $11,954 per Afghan helped by Flyaway. In all, according to WAPO, it has spent a whopping $5.2 million on flights and ground operations.
Marcus had claimed that "every $1,500 raised represents a seat on one of the planes." Based on this projection, Flyaway should have only spent $652,500 on its rescue efforts thus far. Flyaway claims it has rescued or helped rescue 435 Afghans, according to figures it supplied to WAPO. Exactly zero Afghans have thus far been evacuated on flights chartered by Flyaway, according to an examination by The Washington Post. Sadly, $3.3 million was spent by Flyaway on flights that were canceled, and these costs have yet to be refunded. Marcus and the nonprofit leaders he partnered with on the effort were startled by the windfall of donations, but, according to the WAPO article, Marcus wrote on his Operation Flyaway GoFundMe page that "everything raised will go to either pay for flights, or support these humans through various non-profits," and that the operation "will be running flights until they tell us we can't anymore." The original fundraising goal was only $550,000, intended to pay for two flights meant to rescue at least 300 people. His campaign, "Operation Flyaway," promised to pay for evacuation flights for Afghan civilians fleeing Taliban rule. 'How an Instagram star's $7 million mission to rescue Afghan civilians struggled to get off the ground'Ī Septemarticle in The Washington Post (WAPO) describes recent crowdfunding efforts made by an Instagram star, Tommy Marcus, aka "Quentin Quarantino," who recently crowdfunded over $7.2 million in less than two weeks via the GoFundMe platform.
Unlike registered charities which are subject to formation filings and reporting requirements like articles of incorporation, bylaws, tax exemption applications, annual IRS tax reporting, state solicitation filings, and in many cases, annual audits, crowdfunding campaigns are often conducted by individuals for whom no public financial reporting is required. Donating through a crowdfunding website is not much different than handing cash over to a stranger on the street. While this type of giving may be easy and convenient, donors who contribute to crowdfunding campaigns do have legitimate cause for concern. The majority of donors surveyed expressed concern about the transparency and accountability of this type of giving, but these concerns were seemingly outweighed by the convenience offered by crowdfunding platforms, with 69.1% of crowdfunding donors agreeing with the statement, "Crowdfunding makes it easy for contributors to give and support a project." Of all the crowdfunding dollars given in 2019, 57.6% went to support individuals, including friends, family, acquaintances, and strangers, according to the Lilly School's report. In a survey of 1,535 adults conducted in September 2020 by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy (the Lilly School), roughly 32% reported having donated to a crowdfunding effort. Crowdfunding continues to be a popular way to give.
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