Launchgood is a money making enterprise. On their site they claim not to charge platform fees, yet to hold a campaign on their site, they charge initially $10,000 and this amount continues to increase if the charity is interested in "boosting" their presence. The more money you pay, the more pronounced the campaign. An utter and complete scam that the AG of MI should investigate.
I stumbled upon this article while researching the zakat collecting institutes and given the current situation of donation collection for the earthquake in Syria and Turkey. I love all the due diligence that's done in the other articles that talk about different organizations in the US. I always donated to IRUSA but always thought I should do more research about what they do. It was great to discover that they have tax filing that we can check some facts from.
I love this article about how LaunchGood is actually not vetting their campaigns properly because I always had this doubt when I saw some of their campaigns.
Please continue revisiting these issues around Ramadan time as most of muslims get prepared to donate for zakat especially if you get any new information. It's always great to read your insights and keep these organizations in check.
I’m late to the party. Just happened to stumble upon your articles on Launchgood yesterday. So what do you think about the alternatives like sadaqah.io? What about if someone were to create another platform with more transparency?
I see a great deal of 'things people think they know' on this post. Launchgood did not charge us $10,000 to start a campaign. From my interactions with the website, i have to assume the person is referencing marketing packages, which gives campaigns visibility on the homepage. However these packages generate a good amount of traffic an donations, and a 1 to 1 ROI is all but promised to be surpassed.
I/we are not an organization, we were family trying to raise funds for a life saving surgery. we raised over 15k, and launchgood's fee was $500, further more they matched contributions during a promotional period so they contributed $600, which negated the fee.
When we started our campaign, we had to submit documentation from hospitals and doctors that proved this was not a scam, we had to submit documentation from the hospitals involved to verify the cause was legit.
I can't speak to what launchgood offers for organizations/companies, but i can tell you as a muslim trying to raise funds for a life saving surgery this platform was incredibly helpful.
On a final note, be wary about finding an excuse to do nothing. Many people see the homeless and tell themselves 'if i give them any cash, they will buy drugs or alcohol' however, you can offer to buy them a water and a sandwich, if they say no they want money you can move on.
What was painful to see during our attempts to raise funds to save a life was how many people used 'everything is a scam' to justify not helping at all.
Some of the links you shared don't show Zakat Eligible. Have you reached out to them directly and they refused to respond? You don't mention any attempt to allow them to explain (or correct) themselves. Also, could you share the email discussions with Sh Birjas? Would appreciate the same transparency you're critiquing the lack of in this article. JAK.
Launchgood is a money making enterprise. On their site they claim not to charge platform fees, yet to hold a campaign on their site, they charge initially $10,000 and this amount continues to increase if the charity is interested in "boosting" their presence. The more money you pay, the more pronounced the campaign. An utter and complete scam that the AG of MI should investigate.
I stumbled upon this article while researching the zakat collecting institutes and given the current situation of donation collection for the earthquake in Syria and Turkey. I love all the due diligence that's done in the other articles that talk about different organizations in the US. I always donated to IRUSA but always thought I should do more research about what they do. It was great to discover that they have tax filing that we can check some facts from.
I love this article about how LaunchGood is actually not vetting their campaigns properly because I always had this doubt when I saw some of their campaigns.
Please continue revisiting these issues around Ramadan time as most of muslims get prepared to donate for zakat especially if you get any new information. It's always great to read your insights and keep these organizations in check.
Unfortunately I and skme of my relatives fell trap to this scoundrel.
solid investigative journalism
Great article, confirming what I suspect by default about many sites, unfortunately. Thanks.
Great investigation work! May Allah bless you!
I’m late to the party. Just happened to stumble upon your articles on Launchgood yesterday. So what do you think about the alternatives like sadaqah.io? What about if someone were to create another platform with more transparency?
I see a great deal of 'things people think they know' on this post. Launchgood did not charge us $10,000 to start a campaign. From my interactions with the website, i have to assume the person is referencing marketing packages, which gives campaigns visibility on the homepage. However these packages generate a good amount of traffic an donations, and a 1 to 1 ROI is all but promised to be surpassed.
I/we are not an organization, we were family trying to raise funds for a life saving surgery. we raised over 15k, and launchgood's fee was $500, further more they matched contributions during a promotional period so they contributed $600, which negated the fee.
When we started our campaign, we had to submit documentation from hospitals and doctors that proved this was not a scam, we had to submit documentation from the hospitals involved to verify the cause was legit.
I can't speak to what launchgood offers for organizations/companies, but i can tell you as a muslim trying to raise funds for a life saving surgery this platform was incredibly helpful.
On a final note, be wary about finding an excuse to do nothing. Many people see the homeless and tell themselves 'if i give them any cash, they will buy drugs or alcohol' however, you can offer to buy them a water and a sandwich, if they say no they want money you can move on.
What was painful to see during our attempts to raise funds to save a life was how many people used 'everything is a scam' to justify not helping at all.
Overall good work, the only thing I want to mention is that the YouTube channel does not seem to mention Zakat? Did they change that?
I always wondered the same - how is any of this verified ?
Some of the links you shared don't show Zakat Eligible. Have you reached out to them directly and they refused to respond? You don't mention any attempt to allow them to explain (or correct) themselves. Also, could you share the email discussions with Sh Birjas? Would appreciate the same transparency you're critiquing the lack of in this article. JAK.