Why I started two personal fundraisers
Jay Nappalli, Founder & Director
In my last reflection, I wrote about armoured vehicles. I’ve thought about it since. The best way would be for someone to donate one, but to be honest, that’s a long shot. There used to be used armoured vehicles for sale in Europe, but when I checked yesterday, there weren’t any. So for now, we would have to aim to buy a new one.
It’s crazy to think about buying something that costs that much money. But if I don’t do it that way, I risk leaving my mother without a child.
How to buy an armoured vehicle is a real issue. A vehicle like this can’t simply be recorded as a legitimate expense in the charity’s accounts, at least not as I understand it, and administrative costs are limited to 20%. So the accounting is a real question, and I will have to research how to reconcile it.
But we can’t wait until every decision is made before we move. So we move, and we correct as we go. As long as the intention is pure and we keep the goal in mind, we’ll do it whatever way works.
In the US, setting up a charity means a board of directors, spending requirements, compliance and much more. If you have the money to pay people to handle all that, donations become tax-deductible. But as a one-man show, that much administration is something I can’t afford. As it is, I work on things like this website from morning until 3 a.m. It’s on version 25 in the two weeks since it went live, and that’s with today’s tools doing much of the work. Imagine it without them.
So we have to draw a line and decide: we want a lean operation with no staff. That is the whole idea behind what I’m doing. It runs contrary to many charities, which are big. Charities with large staffs have a role to play: they have a thousand people doing something, and they serve a purpose. But not every charity needs that many people. This is not a soup kitchen. What we do is turn someone’s goodwill into money, and money into goods that someone else can use. Instead of using great resources to do it, I’m using me. I’m doing it for free for now, because it’s still manageable. If the operation grows and I need to hire someone, that’s a different story. My intention is always to pay my own salary. If I hire someone, I’ll pay them a salary, but never myself from donations.
But to expand what we do, we need funding, and we have no donate button. Goodstack used to provide a widget and a button so people could donate to us. They were very responsive when they were still called Percent, and just after they changed their name. But the widget they gave me doesn’t work, and for three weeks I’ve had no reply to my emails. I can’t even find a way to contact them on their website. I really appreciate their nonprofit verification, and I keep emailing every few days, but so far a donate button that sends money straight into the charity’s account is a no-go.
So what choices do we have? Wait around and do nothing? I can’t start a GoFundMe in Canada, because GoFundMe requires you to start the campaign from Canada, and I’m here in Ukraine. The only option was WhyDonate. So I started two campaigns there: one to fund 20 power stations, and one to fund the armoured SUV.
It’s not ideal. The ideal way is clean and easy: you donate through the charity’s website, Goodstack processes the money into the charity’s account, we buy the power stations, and we distribute them. But life is not clean and easy, and we can’t wait for everything to be perfect before doing something. With the fundraiser, people can give whatever amount they want, and as soon as there’s enough money for one power station, I start buying. The question is whether people will give to a personal campaign. So it’s there. If you want to do something good, please contribute.
The armoured SUV is a big ask: €220,000. But if 220,000 people gave one euro each, it wouldn’t be an issue. Or 110,000 people giving two euros each. It’s not a huge ask per person. The hard part is reaching people, and having them believe in your cause. But I don’t think it’s impossible.
When there was no schooling for girls in Singapore, one of my ancestors decided to start a girls’ school. He just did it, and his endowment still funds that school today. People in my family have always been a bit crazy. Five hundred years ago, sitting in China, we decided to go to what is now Singapore and Malaysia. It wasn’t even Malaya then; it was a city called Malacca. We took a boat and went. That’s just one story; I have a whole list of people in my family doing things because nobody else was doing them, or not doing them well. So I’m following in the same vein. Let’s just do it.
Why can’t the small guy do something good? I can’t do it alone, of course. I have the will and the energy. I just don’t have the money. So it’s up to you.
– Jay