Grassroots Fundraising with Social Media: The Downside

Yesterday, I talked about the successes of grassroots fundraising with social media, and while it's true that there are inspiring stories of Web 2.0 denizens coming to the aid of others in one form or another, the successes aren't always the case, unfortunately. There are plenty of times when fundraising online isn't fundraising at all, or comes with a heaping side of negativity.

When Connie Reece was talking about the success that she's seen with the Frozen Pea Fund at BlogHer in Second Life, she also alluded to another story that exposes the number of people who are willing to use that same community spirit found in social media to take advantage of people. On her blog, she recounts the story of a Twitter and Plurk user who leveraged social connections on multiple services to bilk "friends" out of money, claiming that she needed money to pay for medical expenses. And while Connie admits that she was duped into both donating money as well as helping to some extent with the fundraising efforts with suggestions for how to go about it, she also reveals that she was glad that she donated the money, because the donation enabled her to file fraud charges, which aren't often filed when someone violates trust online by faking a story to raise funds for a fraudulent cause. As Connie says:

"Just as social networks can be used for good, they can also be abused and used for nefarious purposes. When that happens — whether for good or evil — our reaction as a community is important. Think about what it means to be a good community citizen. Should we let angry accusations of being “self-appointed police” stop us from speaking out? Or do we take a stand against bad behavior?"

Of course, the more we read these horror stories, the more we fear reaching out and being one of those people who are taken advantage of, some to the extreme. Just ask Lisa from Clusterfook, who has faced her share of doubters. Lisa has been diagnosed with cancer for the third time. Like a lot of families dealing with a catastrophic medical crisis, she's lost her job, has rising medical costs to pay, and has two young children. She's made and sold jewelry to earn some money, and has admitted how difficult it is to ask for help and to accept donations. Having seen some of the people online like Connie described, I know that those people usually hide. They don't shoot vlogs with their sister shaving their heads before chemo, and they don't attend local meet-ups, yet she regularly faces doubters and those accusing her of making up a story that's often so painful it's hard to read, much less imagine living.

There is a light and a dark side to everything online, and social media fundraising has both. I like to think that the good outweighs the negative more often than not.