Raise money for personal expenses! This new step-by-step guide shows you EXACTLY how. Check it out here. It’s all about crowdfunding personal expenses. Get Funding for Education,Travel, Volunteering, Emergencies, Bills, and more.
When it comes to YouCaring vs GoFundMe, or any online fundraising platform for that matter, be sure to do some research before making a decision on which platform to go with. There may be quite a few online fundraising sites, but only several of them have great customer service and the reputation of being a well-run business.
I recommend gathering information about a platform from a few different sources. Basing your opinion only on the platform’s website can be misleading. Look up things like pricing differences, positive reviews, negative reviews, and any other information that will help you make your decision. Below, we’ve compared YouCaring vs GoFundMe.
Update: YouCaring was acquired by GoFundMe
YouCaring
Categories: Medical & healthcare, memorial & funeral, education & tuition, family & adoption, faith-based service projects, pet & animal costs, or raising money for your community or cause.
Cost: The website seems to say there are no platform fees to use YouCaring, only credit card processing fees (typically 2.9% + $.30 per transaction). However, upon closer inspection, the platform fees do exist, it’s just that your donors have the option of covering them.
“Donors who contribute to fundraisers on YouCaring have the option of providing a voluntary tip to support our operations and keep our fundraising campaigns free, easy and effective.”
Granted, YouCaring has been successful with this model up until this point, saying “No fundraiser has ever been charged for using YouCaring.” YouCaring works with PayPal and WePay.
Notable Campaigns:
A lot of the campaigns featured on YouCaring are personal ones asking for help with things like paying medical expenses for a family member or sick pet. Others have to do with memorials or celebrations (like a wedding). One recent campaign has raised over $645K to save a Canadian man with Leukemia, with 27 days to go. YouCaring has seen its share of scammers, with a duplicate account set up to raise money for Alan Barnes, a disabled pensioner who was mugged outside his home last month.
Negative Review:
“I had a very negative experience with YouCaring. A friend of mine had started a fundraiser to help her dog rescue. A few days into the fundraiser, YouCaring shut it down. Weeks later I found out through [Facebook] that the shelter never received any donations … I finally got a refund but no apology or explanation for their terrible business practices … If you shut down a fundraiser you should immediately notify donors and offer them a prompt refund. Aside from the obvious actions they should have taken, they should have addressed my inquiries and apologized for their sloppy response time.” – Source.
Positive Review:
“Setting up the donation page was very easy and intuitive. Adding offline donations has been a great feature, as many people have been donating cash or cheque, and we want to include them in our list of supporters. Adding updates for our supporters to read up on our story has been a great feature to the site as well. We love that 100% of the donation goes to us, other than the percentage PayPal takes. Overall, we have had a very positive view of YouCaring.” – Source.
GoFundMe
Categories: Medical, volunteer, emergencies, education, memorials, sports, animals, business, charity, community, competitions, creative, events, faith, family, national news, newlyweds, other, travel, and wishes.
Cost: GoFundMe takes a 5% feem while the cost of credit card processing depends on your location (2.9% + $0.30 for USA and Canada) or if you are a charity. For information on pricing for other locations see this page.
Update: GoFundMe now has a 0% platform fee (smaller payment processing fee still applies) for personal campaigns in the US and some other countries.
Notable Campaigns:
GoFundMe lets users raise money for a broad range of events and emergencies. A current campaign has raised over $78K to help the family of a 28 year old mother of three who was murdered. GoFundMe has also been a site connected to scams, like a recent one where a woman started a campaign to help a baby whose mother died during childbirth, but kept the money for herself.
Negative Review:
“This company, and their use of WePay is one of the worst experiences of my life. There is no real customer support and they will suspend your campaign with no REAL explanation of why. Their reliance on WePay (which I’ve since researched and now see all the bad reviews) is the biggest detriment. The only real customer service support is emails and chats … Go with a more established brand (Kickstarter) if possible … VERY BAD EXPERIENCE!” – Source.
Positive Review:
“Yes, you will need to have friends on social media for this to work. I didn’t reach my target, but $700 in 3 days from friends all over BC was pretty amazing to see when faced with an eviction notice and a mother who could literally die from that stress from her heart condition I was raising funds for travel and medical expenses. Yes, the fees are a little high, but that mostly goes to the bank and the money that comes when you need it is real. A big thumbs up for me, since my parents are now almost stress free before the holidays! Bottom Line: Yes, I would recommend this to a friend” – Source.
Conclusion
Keep in mind that crowdfunding platforms aren’t all perfect. Many of these are fairly new businesses struggling to keep up with the high demand for their services. The best thing to do is find a company who has a reputation for better customer service and fewer complaints.
Although GoFundMe and YouCaring have been associated with less than satisfactory customer service (mostly frustrating emails), attracting scam projects, and making mistakes (like canceling projects, delaying refunds, and even sending payments to the wrong person), many others have used these sites to help raise money for important life events and appreciate the ease of using these online fundraising platforms to reach out to their networks.
Crowdfunding and online fundraising in general are still a new territories and the risks of donating to a scam or having miss communications is inherent in all platforms.
Feel free to share your experiences in the comments below!
