GoFundMe is a profit-aiming platform that enables individuals and organizations to raise money for specific purposes. The purpose of raising money may be to acquire funds for celebratory events such as graduations or weddings or to fund handling undesirable situations such as natural disasters or illness. Since its inception in 2010, the company has been able to help raise a total of more than 25 billion dollars. More than 200 million individual donations have been made on the platform, with statistics on the company’s site showing that at least one donation is made every second.
Brad Damphousse and Andrew Ballester founded the platform on May 10 2010, and its head office is in California. The company has grown and spread worldwide, opening offices in several countries such as France, Italy, Germany, Spain and the UK. To start a fundraiser on GoFundMe, one needs to create an account on the platform. The next step is setting a fundraiser goal defining the amount of money the fundraiser targets. The next step is telling your story, which involves informing contributors why the money is needed and how helpful it will be. If it is a challenging situation, for example, an illness, it is essential to let the potential contributors know the extent of the illness. Pictures and videos are used to enhance the explanation of the situation. After that, the next step involves sharing the fundraiser with friends and family through emails, texts or social media (gofundme.com, 2022). This is aimed at promoting and spreading the word about the campaign. When a sufficient amount of money is raised, the person raising funds accepts the donations, thanks those who donated and then withdrew the donation. The makes earnings by charging a fee of 0.3% for each donation.
Core Values
The core values of GoFundMe are:
- Impatient to be great
- Find a way
- Earn Trust every day
- Fueled by purpose
Mission Statement
Changing the way the world gives
Vision Statement
To be and stay the world’s largest social media fundraising platform
Solutions to Challenges – Virtue Theory
The firm should use the virtue theory approach to solve ethical challenges concerning the protests’ funding. Virtue theory involves the creation and development of positive character traits in the firm hence will help GoFundMe nurture virtues in all areas of operations. This approach will be crucial to GoFundMe by helping the firm approach the ethical challenges with the purpose of upholding virtues (Hursthouse & Pettigrove, 2022). The approach will help the company reject the protests’ funding due to their negative effect on the people and government of Canada. The approach also helps the firm maintain integrity in its operations when handling other people’s money.
On the issue of holding the funds of the freedom convoy, GoFundMe needs to come up and clarify to the convoy and its stakeholders the issues that are not clear. The Freedom convoy believed that the contributed funds were wrongly held and that the company was opaque with its dealings. GoFundMe needs to use the virtue of transparency and honesty to avoid contradictions which might tarnish its image. Coming out and clarifying a highly publicized issue like this will improve the firm’s public image and relations.
GoFundMe should use the virtue of responsibility in deciding whether to freeze or not freeze the campaign funds. As a reputable firm, GoFundMe is responsible for protecting the members of society from harm by any means. The controversy surrounding the protests involved allegations of using violence to pass their message. Violent protests usually involve the destruction of property and injuring of innocent persons. Hence aiding the funding of protests will promote the harmful effects of the protests. The protests are also alleged to be aiming to topple the legally imposed government of Canada. The firm is responsible for preventing this by freezing the contributions for the sake of society and the country at large.
Suppose GoFundMe applies virtue theory to reject the aiding of protests. In that case, the firm’s public relations and image will be enhanced, and its relationship with important stakeholders such as the government, customers and shareholders will be promoted. The protests have been allegedly violent and are planning to overthrow the Canadian government. Since the organizers of the protests have not made it clear what they plan to do with the collected funds, the company’s shareholders will not be impressed by the aiding of funds for unknown uses. Aiding the collection of funds for the protests will also be against the government due to the allegations about plans to overturn the government. Freezing the funding of the protests and reluctance to aid the funding will improve the company’s public image and public relations. Enhanced public relations will attract customers and promote brand awareness (PRLab_Hub, 2021).
Having virtue ethics in the firm will create a culture that encourages everyone to have virtues such as honesty, responsibility and empathy. When the company’s employees are virtuous, they perform their responsibilities with consistency and competence in a way that seeks to achieve the goals and objectives of the company (Valentine, 2017). When the firm emphasizes virtuous principles, the contribution of every employee is appreciated and valued. When an employee feels valued by the company, his morale is boosted, and loyalty to the company is promoted. This leads to the production of high-quality work. The management of GoFundMe will also have an easier time because the employees will perform their duties well with minimal supervision.
Code of Ethics
Putting the Society and Country First
This statement of principle states that the firm must consider the interests of society and the nation at large before its interests. Society includes customers, non-customers and environmental considerations. Putting the interests of society first means that the firm strives to give society a conducive environment while avoiding activities that negatively affect society. Some activities include promoting and raising funds for activities that harm society, such as anti-government protests. This statement of principle will address the public relations of the firm. Prioritizing the interests of society over its interests will help the firm avoid conflicts of interest while enhancing the public relation of the firm.
Adopting the principle will help the firm promote its brand awareness due to enhanced public image. For example, the reluctance to aid the funding of anti-government protests will attract media attention (Meng & Berger, 2019). Many people will want to know this firm that prioritizes the country’s interests over its profit-making interests. People who hitherto did not know about the firm will know about it and consider working with the firm in the future. Increased brand awareness enlarges the customer base and increases the market share compared to the competitors.
Furthermore, this principle will help the firm attract investors. This is because investors prefer associating with reputable firms with good public relations. An excellent public relations strategy can enhance securing funds from investors. For example, when GoFundMe refuses to aid the funding of the protests, the media attention makes potential investors aware of what the company offers. An excellent public image makes investors believe that investing in the firm is a highly profitable opportunity (PRLab_Hub, 2021).
References
gofundme.com. (2022, November 16). How gofundme works. GoFundMe. Retrieved March 30, 2023, from https://www.gofundme.com/c/how-it-works
Hursthouse, R., & Pettigrove, G. (2022, October 11). Virtue ethics. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved March 30, 2023, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-virtue/
Meng, J., & Berger, B. K. (2019). The impact of organizational culture and leadership performance on PR professionals’ job satisfaction: Testing the joint mediating effects of engagement and Trust. Public Relations Review, 45(1), 64–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2018.11.002
PRLab_Hub. (2021, October 31). 9 benefits of PR (advantages & disadvantages). PRLab. Retrieved March 30, 2023, from https://prlab.co/blog/pr-benefits-advantages-and-disadvantages/
Valentine, S. (2017, January 4). The case for considering virtue ethics in organizational ethics and Human Resource Management. SpringerLink. Retrieved March 31, 2023, from https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-94-007-6510-8_119
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