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New restrictions on crowd sourcing websites are being met with mixed reactions
Piper Sloan, Staff Reporter
Originally published October 27, 2017
Ian Davino
The School Board has a new policy restricting the use of online crowd funding websites to raise money for classrooms, clubs and ASB. No clubs organized through ASB, or through the school, are allowed to use crowd sourcing sites such as SnapRaise, GoFundMe, Indiegogo, Kickstarter or any other cash donation website. Despite the change there is still some gray area concerning the extent to which students can be involved in these activities.
The gray area comes from confusion over who is doing the work for fundraising. If students are simply making an ad and letting the funds roll in then they’re likely doing less than 50 percent of the work to get funds. Since the rule is still new the regulation is relatively general, meaning that for now the rule remains that no ASB fundraising can be done through crowdsourcing websites, not until more specific regulations are introduced.
Booster clubs on the other hand are a whole new story; “They [booster clubs] can use [crowd sourcing websites] as long as the money is being deposited into their accounts because that’s not dictated by the school district policy and procedures,” Principal Keven Wynkoop said, “But if you are specifically a club, most likely your only account is through the ASB so then that does directly get impacted by this.”
These new restrictions are being met with mixed reactions. Clubs like Key Club, who do a lot of fundraising, are not too happy with the loss of a significant source funds.
“I don’t understand why it was enacted because it makes it a lot harder for people in clubs. It’s a lot easier for us to use online funding,” President of Key Club Hannah Weaver, sophomore, said, “Especially with Key Club we have to raise funds to fundraise for other things it’s already hard enough and then add on another layer of having to do it in a new way.”
On the other hand, ASB in itself seems to be relatively indifferent on the issue. ASB is more involved with other methods of fundraising meaning these new restrictions aren’t overly worrisome.
“The ASB never uses crowd sourcing for fundraising; only dances, ASB cards and other things sponsored by ASB,” Secretary/Treasurer of the sophomore class Kaya Edwards said.
Since this policy only affects ASB and groups organized through ASB, crowd sourcing websites aren’t entirely ruled out as a way to raise money for schools. Booster clubs and other private organizations are still able to use this websites to initiate funds.
“It’s a little bit complicated but it’s really this idea of who’s doing the majority of the work,” Wynkoop said, “If students do it; it goes in ASB. If parents do it they have a choice; it can go into the private organizations, like the booster clubs, or it can go into ASB.”
It’s a complicated issue to navigate since these websites are still quite new and we don’t know that much about them and how they work. The use of websites was creating a loophole situation where teachers and clubs could receive donations of things that don’t meet the District’s standards. These regulations stem from the need for more control over these situations.
