Group Funding - Crowd Sourcing FAQ
Basics
What is Group Funding / Crowd Sourcing?
Group Funding is a service to easily collect money through the Internet. It's a way for those who need the help to get it. If you're saying to yourself "I Want To Help" you have come to the right place. People all over the world need help. Net Site's Group Funding platform welcomes all people, from all walks of life, to use our service. You may need money, or you may be able to help someone who really needs your help. Through Crowd Sourcing we can do that today by bringing the users of the Internet to one location to give (Donor) or to receive (Project Creator).
Who can use Group Funding?
Anyone who needs to raise money. Funds raised can be for a group purchase, a charity, a personal Group Funding, a birthday or wedding present, or even to help start a business or pay their bills. All who send money to a project are making a donation. There is no return, this is not an investment or purchase of anything, this is one person helping another by giving. Donations are not tax deductible unless specified by the Project Creator in their description. Most of the time the donations are simply to help out another who really needs it and has nowhere else to turn.
How does Group Funding work?
1. A person or group of people create a Group Funding page
and set the target amount of money they need to raise. This person might
be you.
2. The person or group can send the URL of the Group Funding Page to people
(often friends) to collect money from.
3. People often think 'I want to help' and find this site through search
engines, and view Group Funding Pages to donate money, maybe even yours.
Footnote: Anybody, both Project Creators and visitors, can visit a Group Funding page and initiate Crowd Sourcing. What's this? Crowd Sourcing begins when you visit a page requesting help with funds, and open up the share links such as Twitter, Facebook, etc. - This helps spread the word like wild fire and crowds of people can easily find the page, helping the Group Funding page owner reach their goals faster. You don't have to donate to do this, it's a free service.
Is Group Funding an investment mechanism?
No. All money transfers are Group Fundings and there is no return for contributors. Crowd Sourcing begins, where crowds of people come together making small donations to help out others who are in dire need. This crowd of people contributing funds begins to add up, and that's the Group Funding portion. Help someone today if you can, it really is a great feeling when you do.
Is it secure?
The Group Funding payment process is completely secure. The money transfers and all sensible operations are managed by the secure and popular PayPal service. We never see your financial information since you leave our site and go to theirs to make a donation. Next, they send you back to our site after you complete your donation and at the same time send a signal to our database with the amount of money donated, and which project the money sould be credited to. The signal that is sent is a dollar amount and a number assigned to the project so it gets credited correctly. The signal sent does not contain anything about you, or your transaction.
Do you save my credit card information?
PayPal processes all of the transactions on Group Funding. No one sees your credit card information besides PayPal, not even us.
What fees does Net Site's Group Funding charge?
Currently, the service is 2%. This tiny amount helps us keep the service online. Sometimes our work is paid by donations, but that barely covers anything. It costs a fortune to do all of this, from management to Internet services, hosting, development and more. So why do we do it? To help those who need it.
People who wish to donate to any project send money directly to their account. PayPal, the processor, may charge the receiver processing fees.
Sending Money
Do I have to register with Group Funding to send money?
No, you don’t need to register with Group Funding to send a contribution.
How much can I send?
It depends on the Group Funding. Some Group Funding projects allow free contributions, so you can send any amount you want. Some allow only set amounts of money transfers; for example: $10, $25, or $50. See the project page you want to donate to for amounts that can be sent.
Which payment methods do you accept?
You send money through PayPal, so usually through your credit card which can be Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express. However, you can use any payment method accepted by PayPal including bank transfer or PayPal account balance if you have your own PayPal account with funds in it.
Do I have to be a PayPal customer to send money?
No, you just need a credit card.
If I make a contribution, when will my money be withdrawn?
When you make a contribution, your credit card or PayPal account is charged immediately.
Receiving Money
How much can I raise?
Each Group Funding project can raise up to $1,000,000. (one million dollars)
Can I change the target amount of a Group Funding project once it has started?
Yes, you can change it in your account that you opened, look there for your current projects and edit the project you wish to change.
Is there a maximum number of contributors allowed for a Group Funding?
There is no maximum number of contributors allowed for a Group Funding. If your goal was $500 you could accept even $1.00 from 500 people, or $100 from 5 people. It's up to you how to receive the donations.
What’s the difference between a Public and Private Group Funding?
By default, a Group Funding Page is "private", meaning it is not visible to search engines. This is done via the the HTML Meta robots attribute. Only people who know the URL address can navigate to the Group Funding Page. This protects your privacy. It is entirely up to you to spread the word and share the URL with your friends.
When you create a Group Funding, you can also choose to set it as "public": in this case Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines will index the page and it will show up in their results. Choosing this option will attract even more people and potential contributors.
How can a Public Group Funding succeed?
When you create a Public Group Funding, you have to spread the word over the Internet and convince people to donate. Here are some tips:
- Insert an accurate description. Describe who you are and why people should trust you.
- Insert a link to your website or page outside of this site, so that people can check it out. The site should have more info.
- Insert a custom image.
- Invite your Facebook friends to contribute: you find the command in the My Account page.
- Link your Group Funding page from your website or write a post about it on your blog; prove the Group Funding is really yours. You find some ready-to-use badges for your website on the Group Funding Page.
Group Fundings have duration. How long can a Group Funding last?
The set duration of a Group Funding page is an incentive to people to contribute immediately. A Group Funding can last up to 1 year. The time limit is set by the Group Funding creator when a Group Funding is started . Once the Group Funding is expired, people can’t send you any more money through the Group Funding Page.
What if a Group Funding reaches its target amount before time expires?
If a Group Funding reaches its target amount before its time expires, Group Funding will continue to accept contributions until the full time period expires.
What if a Group Funding doesn't collect its target amount on time?
The Group Funding page remains online, but stops accepting contributions. Of course, the money you raised is still yours! You can use the partial raised amount for what you need. And you can start Crowd Sourcing again by starting a new Group Funding page to try reach your original goal.
How can I see the list and details of contributors?
Since all money transfers are managed by PayPal, you can view the list and details of anyone who donated in your PayPal account. This way you can send them a thank you message. We do not receive their information, just amounts of donations to credit to your account here.
What kind of Group Fundings are acceptable?
PayPal processes all contributions on Group Funding, so Group Fundings must fall under the PayPal Legal Agreement.
Can I cancel my Group Funding account completely, at any time?
Yes, you can. From My Account, choose Delete Account.
PayPal and Money Transfer
What is PayPal and how does it work with Crowd Sourcing for Group Funding?
PayPal is a popular service that allows online transactions to occur instantly and securely. With PayPal, individuals and businesses can send and receive payments via the Internet. Group Funding has integrated its functionality with PayPal's popular service to provide the most efficient and effective means to collect money. For more information on PayPal and to sign up, please click here.
Do I have to be a PayPal customer to use Group Funding?
You do not need to be a PayPal customer in order to send money. However, the only way to receive money is through PayPal. Therefore, Group Funding creators must have PayPal accounts.
What type of PayPal Account (Personal, Premier, or Business) I need?
Group Funding works with any type of PayPal account. You may need to use a Premier or Business account to overcome some limitations of Personal Accounts. More Info
How can I display the Group Funding Logo on the PayPal page?
The Group Funding logo is automatically shown during the PayPal payment process if you use a Premier or Business PayPal account.