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Indiegogo will review crowdfunding campaigns before they launch
The company will do more to snuff out scammers and unfeasible projects.
PayPal launches its answer to GoFundMe
The company has set up a community fundraising platform.
Yelp adds a GoFundMe donation button for struggling businesses (update)
Yelp is hoping to help struggling business stay afloat while COVID-19 restrictions are in place by teaming up with GoFundMe. Since a lot of businesses have to shut down unless they're classified as "essential retail," the two companies are making it easier for them receive direct donations from loyal patrons and people in their community who may want to help. Yelp pages for restaurants, nightlife, beauty and fitness, as well as active life businesses can now display GoFundMe fundraisers. Eligible business' pages will show a Donate button right on their profile.
GoFundMe's new platform is just for charities and nonprofits
The GoFundMe platform has been used to crowdfund everything from payments for U.S. government workers during the recent shutdown to back payments of royalties for a classic early hip hop track. Soon, the site will support even more charitable giving, with a new fundraising platform for nonprofit organizations.
PayPal and GoFundMe cut off donations to militia detaining migrants
Crowdfunding and payment companies are no strangers to cutting off access to organizations that violate their policies, but their latest move could be more contentious than usual. PayPal and GoFundMe have confirmed to BuzzFeed News that they've shut down fundraising campaigns for the United Constitutional Patriots, a right-wing militia group in New Mexico that has been detaining migrants at the border with Mexico despite doubts about its legal authority. The sites claim that UCP has violated their policies barring support for hate or violence, in one case allegedly using funds to buy guns.
Instagram will support fundraisers using Story stickers
Facebook's fundraising tool has raised over $1 billion for non-profits and personal causes since its launch, and now it looks like a similar feature will be rolled out to Instagram later this year. As TechCrunch reports, engineers Jane Manchun Wong and Ishan Agarwal have been digging around in the code of Instagram's Android App and have found a donation sticker, which will let users search for non-profits and add a donate button to their Instagram Story.
GoFundMe launches campaign for government workers hit by shutdown
People have frequently used GoFundMe to lend a helping hand to others in need of some help, but the site itself is getting involved in light of the US government shutdown. The company has teamed up with Deepak Chopra to launch a donation campaign for government workers who've been furloughed or are being forced to work without pay. The initiative will donate contributors' money to "several" non-profits providing relief, including #ChefsForFeds (providing food) and the National Diaper Bank Network. More organizations will come onboard as the campaign continues, GoFundMe CEO Rob Solomon said.
Tech CEOs sign letter urging Trump to keep immigrant protections
Hundreds of CEOs have signed an open letter urging President Trump not to dissolve the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Started in 2012 under the Obama administration, DACA allows undocumented immigrants who arrived to the US before they were 16 years old to obtain work permits and protection from deportation. Those with DACA permits have to renew them every two years and nearly 800,000 immigrants have benefited from the program.
Spotify removes ‘hate bands’ from its streaming library
You can add Spotify to the growing list of companies taking a stand against hateful, racist content. In the last few days we've seen Google and GoDaddy cancel a white supremacist website domain, Facebook and Reddit ban hate groups, Discord shut down racist accounts and GoFundMe remove a campaign in support of the man accused of driving a car into protesters this weekend in Charlottesville. Now Billboard reports that Spotify is removing "hate bands" from its streaming service.
GoFundMe shuts down campaigns for Charlottesville suspect
Crowdfunding platforms are taking a no-tolerance approach to campaigns raising money in support of James Fields, the man accused of driving a car into protesters at a white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday. GoFundMe has already removed "multiple" campaigns for Fields. Speaking to Reuters, strategic communications director Bobby Whithorne said: "Those campaigns did not raise any money and they were immediately removed." He added that GoFundMe will delete similar campaigns if more are created.
Snopes needs money to continue fighting fake news
When you want to find out if something on the internet is true, you head to Snopes.com. The venerable fact-checking site, established in 1994 by David Mikkelson, is now part of Poynter's International Fact-Checking Network, the group that Google and Facebook use to deal with the recent rise in fake news. Unfortunately, Snopes is having trouble with revenue and has gone to GoFundMe to stay afloat on while it deals with legal issues around advertising.
Parents lose custody of two kids after abusive YouTube 'pranks'
Once again, what you do online can have devastating real-world consequences. The latest example of that is Heather and Mike Martin, who recently lost custody of two of their five children after the videos on their YouTube channel caught the public eye. The Martins regularly played cruel "pranks" on their kids with a camera rolling, uploading footage at a steady pace and amassing over 760,000 subscribers in the process, the Washington Post reports.
Insomniac holds signed Xbox One auction for injured intern
After losing her leg in a hit-and-run incident, Insomniac Games intern Ana Kessel faces mounting medical bills related to her treatment. In an effort to help Kessel, Insomniac has covered a new, Microsoft-donated Xbox One in signatures and put the console up for auction on eBay. The Xbox One is available for shipment worldwide and also comes with sealed, Day One Edition copies of Forza Motorsport 5 and Ryse: Son of Rome. If you're already set for the new console generation, you can still help by donating to Kessel's GoFundMe page. At the time of this writing, $58,196 has been collected out of a requested $150,000. Epic Games also held auctions to benefit Kessel in November, offering up original, retro and gold-colored models of the Gears of War series' Lancer. The auctions resulted in a total of $3,000 going toward Kessel's medical bills. Here's to hoping Kessel quickly collects the remaining amount for her medical expenses and returns to work in the industry as a graphics artist.
