[ExI] gofundme question

[BillK]

On Wed, 9 Feb 2022 at 23:49, spike jones via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> BillK, if they can freeze funds to the intended recipient, and instead donate it to a charity of their choice, that is exactly equivalent to keeping the money.  Looks to me that is what they did.
>
> spike
> _______________________________________________


I don't think your interpretation is quite correct.
I think normally donations are held by a payments processor company
while GoFundMe checks that the intended recipient is genuine, legal
and correct. If it all checks out, the recipient can receive the
donation. In the case of the Truckers, after law enforcement said that
donations to the Truckers would be against GoFundMe terms of service,
GoFundMe stopped the process.  Initially GoFundMe asked the Truckers
to select alternative charities for the funds to go to, but then
changed their mind and decided that refunding the donations would be
easier.
I don't see any problem with that option. Whether law enforcement
should have stopped the donations process is a different discussion.

BillK

The exact GoFundMe statement is --
The update we issued earlier (below) enabled all donors to get a
refund and outlined a plan to distribute remaining funds to verified
charities selected by the Freedom Convoy organizers. However, due to
donor feedback, we are simplifying the process. We will automatically
refund all contributions directly — donors do not need to submit a
request. You can expect to see your refund within 7–10 business days.
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