Donating to a good cause becomes complicated
Editorial by Mary P Brooke, West Shore Voice News
August 17, 2018 ~ NATIONAL. Over $15.1 million was raised in a GoFundMe campaign for those injured and killed in the April 6 Humboldt Broncos bus crash.
One of the largest crowd-sourced funds ever gathered in Canada, funds are now under the purview of Saskatchewan’s Informal Public Appeals Act (2015), which outlines court-supervised payouts.
A court hearing can be requested by anyone with sufficient interest in a fund. The Humboldt Broncos Memorial Fund Inc requested a hearing to apparently avoid seeing the $14.7 million (after the half-million GoFundMe admin fee) being tied up in disputes for years.
A committee will decide how the money will be divided. To add a touch of equity, this week they started by issuing $50,000 to each of the 13 injured and to the families of the 16 deceased. The rest (about $13.25 million) will be sorted out by a committee comprised of a retired justice, a NHL sports company chair, an Olympic medalist, a head and neck surgeon, and a trauma response executive.
Likely most of the kind-hearted donors didn’t expect people to fight over it. But good intentions of a significant size will attract those who want to control it. The outcome for the impacted Broncos team members and families will likely be satisfactory. But to those of us who donate to good causes, we’re reminded what happens when there’s the smell of money.
~ MPB
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