Indiegogo's new service lets you quickly raise funds for personal causes (updated)
Crowdfunding sites are typically meant for companies with bright ideas, but they don't work so well for personal fundraising -- there's a lot of setup involved, and the fees you'll pay could be better spent on the cause in question. Indiegogo wants to make those personal campaigns relatively painless with its new Indiegogo Life site. The service is designed to get you raising funds for medical bills, school and similar causes in a matter of minutes. There also aren't any platform fees, so the money you collect is typically what you'll keep.
The company hasn't said whether or not it verifies Life campaigns. We've reached out for more details, but you'll likely want to be cautious and make sure that you either know the organizers or have proof that they're on the up-and-up -- it's theoretically easy to create a bogus story for personal gain. However, this new page still promises to take a lot of the pain out of private fundraising. If all goes well, you'll spend more time raising awareness and less time bogged down with technicalities.
Update: An Indiegogo spokesperson tells us that the firm has a "stringent verification procedure" for Life campaigns that includes a "dedicated team of experts, automated algorithms and other procedures." You probably won't have to worry about people pulling a fast one, then, although caveat emptor is still a good policy.
