GoFailMe : The Unfulfilled Promise of Digital Crowdfunding

Author / Creator

Schneiderhan, Erik

Available as

Online

Summary

"The gaping holes in the U.S. and Canadian safety nets at a federal level mean that most people live in a state of financial precarity that can instantly become untenable in the face of another big...

"The gaping holes in the U.S. and Canadian safety nets at a federal level mean that most people live in a state of financial precarity that can instantly become untenable in the face of another big expense, such as a large medical bill or damaged property. Historically and today, people have turned to their communities, neighbors, families, and loved ones, for help in these situations. Today, digital crowdfunding is the most popular medium for seeking and donating charity, and for-profit enterprises realized that tapping into this instinct for seeking help would be extremely good business. This book reveals how these sites, like GoFundMe, are enjoying massive revenue, without providing the help they promise. They fail their users while using sneaky tactics to obscure that reality. With unprecedented access to hundreds of thousands of cases across North America, Erik Schneiderhan and Martin Lukk take on pressing questions with critical insight: When do we turn to others for help? Who succeeds and who fails in the digital crowd? Who do these sites target? Ultimately, the failure of GoFundMe is emblematic of the inability of the for-profit sector and Big Tech to engineer an end to social inequality"--

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