Would you be more willing to give to charity if you knew exactly where that money was going? WePay’s financial platform has embraced the non-profit world by allowing for incredible transparency in its donations. Any user can create a profile to raise money with the option of making public where and how that money is then spent.
The site fixes onto a universal truth: Giving money to your friends sucks. After you give them the $5 they “really needed for school,” it’s anyone’s guess what actually happened. That same issue applies to non-profits. Almost all non-profits retain some percentage of donations to cover basic costs and so that their staff can pay the rent. It’s often unclear, however, just how big that percentage is. WePay has created a platform that allows any user (including companies and non-profits) to show where its donations are being spent. Users can keep accounts private, invite specific people to join or check a box to make their account open to the public.
It’s a strangely self-policing system: You can misuse your money, but people will see it and stop giving money. While it’s also possible for users to withdraw their money and “say” they used it, Rich Aberman, WePay’s co-founder, banks on the Internet’s finely tuned lie detector. People will stop giving money if a user appears shady or untrustworthy. Aberman said other donors have withheld half their donations until they know their money is going where it’s promised. Each WePay account is hooked up to a credit card so there’s little way to game the system. The only gray area is the absence of line items on the report. Users have to self-report items like if $10 spent at a gas station went to cigarettes or necessities.
There’s definitely an element of the honor system to the site, what Aberman calls the “democratization” of fundraising. It has helped lead to a separate giving section to the site where WePay highlights different charity campaigns. Because the site is self-policed and encourages transparency, it has allowed WePay to open up to organizations that may not be registered as 501(c)(3)s. Donors give at their own risk, but that risk is partly alleviated when they can literally see how their donation was spent.
Is it possible that a platform can help fraternities keep an eye on their treasurer and make a difference in Japan’s relief efforts? So far, it looks like it. Ironically, if WePay flops, it might not be the platform but rather because we can’t trust each other to keep financial promises online. Helping Families in Need, a campaign aimed at getting four families through tough times with a small-scale fundraising effort, is making a good argument that the system does, in fact, work.
What do you make of the digital honor code and online financial transparency? Are you more likely to give if you know where your money is going?
Image courtesy of Flickr, Saucy Salad
More About: charity, helping families in need, non-profit, online giving, social good, social media, transparency, wepay
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