‘The giving layer of the internet’: A critical history of GoFundMe's reputation management,platform governance,and communication strategies in capturing peer-to-peer and charitable giving markets

GoFundMe, founded in 2010, has already profoundly impacted giving practices, introducing many laypersons to the empowering potentials and user-friendly affordances of peer-to-peer fundraising. Overall, GoFundMe's extraordinary success as a for-profit company in traditionally nonprofit charitable giving markets can be attributed to: normalizing their platform as the go-to destination for people seeking help; tasking the beneficiaries themselves with crafting appeals for support; restricting forms of support to money; deferring responsibility to donors to assess the legitimacy of appeals; and dominating the market by acquiring competitors and pursuing growth wherever possible. No charity could plausibly adopt such an operating model and GoFundMe's lean, hands-off, self-policing approach has attracted sharp criticism over the years. Nonetheless, the company has not humbly reined in their ambition but expanded it even further. This paper outlines three broad phases through which GoFundMe has defended their capture of “the giving layer of the internet.” Initially, GoFundMe espoused ideals of utopian disruption and soteriological solutionism, selling their platform as a “take-action button” and user-friendly means of empowering everyday citizens to improve the lives of others. Later, after attracting more divisive causes and criticisms of its revenue model, GoFundMe adopted forms of reputational repair and attempted neutrality, insisting that their for-profit platform could be accommodative to all worldviews and persons willing to embrace “positive precarization.” More recently, as “neutral” stances became untenable and fundraising success rates increasingly grim, GoFundMe pivoted toward strategies of state critique and civic capture. Specifically, GoFundMe have: more pointedly highlighted state failures; actively aligned themselves with social movements; shifted away from relying solely on peer-to-peer fundraising; and instead partnered more with established nonprofits. However, as GoFundMe's expansion inevitably means becoming entangled in sensitive political matters, the company's ambition to become the key intermediary in all charitable giving is facing acute challenges.     

Recasting the “middle man:” the role of charities in the age of disintermediation

The number of people donating to charities is declining at a time when technology is enabling a proliferation of new ways of offering support—from crowdfunding to hacking commercial platforms like AirBnB for novel purposes. There is a risk that charities could lose their traditional position as a trusted intermediary between individuals who want to help and people who need their support. This paper offers some suggestions as to why disintermediated giving may, in some situations, offer a more attractive donor experience than traditional charitable giving and suggests some possible areas for further study.     

“金融脱媒”形势下江苏商业银行发展战略选择

随着我国金融改革的进一步深化发展,金融脱媒即金融非中介化趋势也在不断扩大,资金融通在间接金融与直接金融之间转换,伴随而来的是作为间接金融主要媒介的商业银行在其经营管理上所面临的一系列问题。本文对金融脱媒做了详细的介绍,并分析了金融脱媒趋势给江苏商业银行带来的影响,并对江苏商业银行的发展提出了一些合理化建议。     

金融脱媒趋势下商业银行基于顾客价值的应对策略分析

近几年,金融脱媒在中国已逐渐显现并对传统商业银行利模式带来影响。环境的变化迫使商业银行形成以顾客为导向的营销策略。为了提升顾客价值,商业银行应从开展综合经营、发展个人金融、网络业务、机构业务等方面来积极应对。