What do you
think about asking for money over the internet on sites such as Ketto or Go
Fund Me? Is this just a different
(perhaps more directed) means of begging?
Is it a replacement for what should be the role of government or
charities? How do Slovaks compare with
Indians in terms of their philanthropic tendencies?
In my opinion Varun Sheth is a hero because he manages to fill in the gap of the Indian government. The Indian government is supposed to be taking care of its citizens, that is healthcare, employment, salaries etc.. However they are failing miserably and Sheth is just a normal person doing things that should be done to solve problems. In countries like India where the living situation is terrible it is great that Ketto is there to fill in the gap. Thousands need help when a natural disaster occurs or when a family of a “manual scavenger Anil, who had died while cleaning a sewer in Delhi” needs help.
ReplyDeleteLiving in India for the vast majority of its population is miserable and Ketto comes to the rescue. If we compare how the situation was before Ketto and now we can clearly see differences. Ketto is a glimmer of hope in the dire straits of India. Before Ketto India was trying to help its citizens, but there are too many factors in the mix which makes it extremely difficult to do anything, however if you take a look at the problem from the perspective of Ketto, then things seem different. Sheth was a normal person wanting to help people and doing it in an innovative way. He saw that change needs to be made and the government is nowhere near completion, so what he did was exactly what was necessary. Ketto is this light that can bring the solution to poverty and India’s problems.
I am not saying that everything is perfect because of Ketto, however you can clearly see progress. It brings potential and a promising future for India and who knows, maybe even other countries.
Among all the things that the internet has brought us, I think crowdfunding is one of the better ones. Before internet crowdfunding became viable, young companies were stuck with the classic, somewhat outdated methods of obtaining funding for a potentially innovative product - taking risks with loans and investors. Nowadays, it is far more directed (assuming the right crowdfunding platform is chosen) and allows the companies to immediately build up an audience that is interested in the product. I would go as far as to compare it to online dating - why leave everything up to chance when there is a platform designed and optimized for it that allows you to target what you're looking for. I don't think it can be called begging, though. Begging involves making people feel sorry for you, guilt-tripping them into donating. That's not what crowdfunding is. Crowdfunding inspires donations by promising results - an actual product or service that the company is planning, along with special, exclusive rewards for donating more.
ReplyDeleteWe can see the results of crowdfunding in the real world, proving that it really does work as a business strategy. There are many companies out there that started off on Kickstarter, GoFundMe, Indiegogo and saw remarkable success. The company Pebble made their debut on Kickstarter with their affordable smartwatch, raised millions of dollars in donations, and several years later, got acquired by FitBit. Or Oculus with their virtual reality headset that eventually got acquired by Facebook for $2 billion. And the fact that Ketto has taken a turn to include fundraisers for humanitarian tasks (as of writing this, there are campaigns to help a hemophiliac, and help an area after a natural disaster among others) is, I think, just another great way to leverage an effective funding platform.
I definitely agree with Michal when it comes to crowdfunding. I think that it is a new approachable method to obtain needed funds for possibly successful projects or individuals in need. The point about directly choosing what to invest in according to the information provided and potential social usage for the future I do agree with as well. However, I wouldn’t necessarily compare it to online dating. Although there is a similarity in choosing exactly what you’re looking for in both, I still think there is a huge difference in these two platforms. You have exact rules or goals set and provided when investing into a project. Also exact conditions and needs of a person looking for help. Online dating on the other hand is a bit different. People pretend to be different on their online profiles than they are in real life. Other than that, I agree with all other Michal’s points. Crowdfunding really is an amazing platform if used in the right way and can provide success if it catches one’s attention.
DeleteCrowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet. There are several crowdfunding websites, such as Ketto as mentioned in the article and there are also some other crowdfunding websites which are currently very popular for instance, Indiegogo or Kickstarter.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, crowdfunding is more efficient than classical fundraising. Ketto proved that it is manageable to get donations from people who are usually not willing to contribute to such a practice. In countries, such as India where normal fundraising usually does not work online crowdfunding is the solution. Crowdfunding provides for people more clarity and opportunity to choose from hundreds of different projects, therefore they are willing to donate money. The biggest advantage of crowdfunding over fundraising is the convenience of crowdfunding, the only thing you need is smartphone and internet connection.
However, crowdfunding has not made its way to Slovakia just yet. There are several crowdfunding websites in Slovakia but there is only a small part of the population that is aware or believes these websites. I would say that the main reason why Slovakia has not established any super-successful crowdfunding websites is the fact that Slovak citizens are just too conservative. Above all, I believe that with the development of the nation, Slovakia will also come to the development in terms of mind set and people will stop being so shallow in terms of crowdfunding.
In conclusion, there are many benefits to crowdfunding, therefore it is not surprising that many companies, including Ketto, have become successful. Also, crowdfunding resolves many problems that come with classical fundraising and therefore people are willing to contribute money. Unfortunately, in Slovakia, there are not many people who are open-minded enough to support such websites but I strongly believe that this will change with the further development of the country and that we will be witnesses of many success stories, such as are people in India thanks to Ketto.
MATEJ ŠÁNDOR
Matej,
DeleteI too have to say that I thoroughly approve of ideas such as crowdfunding for reasons such as those that you mentioned. But you also wrote that "the main reason why Slovakia has not established any super-successful crowdfunding websites is the fact that Slovak citizens are just too conservative". This, to me, seems to be a bit unjustified claim, since at the same time you wrote that "Ketto proved that it is manageable to get donations from people who are usually not willing to contribute to such a practice". Thus, why should Slovaks be any different? Is it really that Slovaks are not willing to donate, no matter what? In my opinion, the reason why we may not see as much crowdfunding going on in Slovakia is that people are simply unaware of such opportunities. In fact, many people I know have not heard of crowdfunding until quite recently and now are sceptical about it. However, scepticism is something that always comes naturally with any novel idea. Because I believe that Slovaks are actually open-minded, maybe, if such websites were better advertised, the public interest in crowdfunding would rise as well.
Thank you for your reply, Aďo!
DeleteUpon reading it I must say that I agree with you to a certain extent. Also, I am very glad that you agree with the points I stated in my comment. On the other hand, I don’t think that the only problem with crowdfunding in Slovakia is the unawareness of people. In my comment, I mentioned that the unawareness of people may be one of the possible reasons but in my opinion, the main reason why crowdfunding wouldn’t be successful (even if we rose the awareness) is because most people in Slovakia are just too conservative. The biggest problem that Varun was facing when starting with Ketto was the stereotype that Indian people are super-stingy which turned out to be a slander.
In my opinion, crowdfunding is a very good idea. Of course, there are some of the start-ups which are not very useful, but overall, I think it is an effective way how to donate money and be helpful for meaningful and necessary projects. Maybe it is just a dollar or two for an individual, but if there are a few hundreds of people who donate, it can mean a completely new life for someone else.
ReplyDeleteI know a few examples which support the idea of crowdfunding. The most favourite and inspirational for me, as I want to study music abroad is about a girl (actually she is a woman already) from my previous school. She graduated at a music university in London this year and found her husband there – also musician. If she hadn’t set up a campaign on the GoFundMe, it would have been much harder, maybe even impossible to study there. And that would mean not giving the chance to this young jazz flautist to develop her great talent.
I think that charities have their own function as they usually support big projects which need a lot of money, but the main role of crowdfunding is that it gives chances to not just emergent cases, but also to individuals that would never get the money from charities. There is no reason to call this begging, because many people (if we are talking about the meaningful campaigns and not buying pizza) who asks for money at these websites are already doing what they can, but sometimes they are just not in the right place at the right time and the crowdfunding seems like the best solution. And today, everyone is looking at their phones, scrolling through the websites and finding something interesting to read, so why not use it for spreading the ideas that are worth supporting?