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Micro-Just-In-Time-Individualized-Financial-Aid
"Supporting friends who help friends to
help themselves - all with a few clicks of the mouse"
“The greatest help you can provide people is to help them help themselves.”
“The greatest help you can provide people is to help them help themselves.”
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a
day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
"Making a big difference with a few clicks of your mouse"
“Giving dignity to the needy by enabling them to raise funds themselves to pay for their needs.”
"Making a big difference with a few clicks of your mouse"
“Giving dignity to the needy by enabling them to raise funds themselves to pay for their needs.”
"Use the power of the internet to help people
cooperate in helping other people."
"Friends helping friends to help friends help themselves."
Abstract
Micro-JITIFA projects are written, published and managed by the initiators themselves. Initiators learn IT skills, writing, and managing by publishing projects whether their projects succeed or not. Trust is acquired by starting small projects that are easily verified and by being transparent and maintaining contact via internet on a personal basis. Friends vouch for the initiators and promote their projects to their own circle of friends who then collaborate to help fund small projects by each donating small amounts. With time, enough friendship and trust is acquired to make subsequent projects easier to succeed.
When I saw the amount of young children begging to be helped from internet cafes, I set up a Micro-JITIFA concept that offered students the free platform to solicit their own aid from their Social Media friends. Alasana was the first who had the determination and the will to publish a Micro-JITIFA project which was a success. Now he is promoting his second project. He has learned a great deal by doing this.
Achieving trust in a trustless environment was the biggest hurdle that was overcome using the “Proof of Work” solution used by Bitcoin.
The Mico-JITIFA concept is not limited to individuals. It can be used also for schools. In this case, the “friends” of the school would include entire schools in foreign lands.
I feel that all agree with me that Gambia and many other countries need more such schools catering to the disabled but otherwise clever children who could be trained to be productive adults. IT skills are their best way to achieve this. I envision that Mr Hydara`s Skill Center will become a pioneer endeavor that other such schools will follow and be successfully run- with a little help of concerned people who can ”with a few clicks of their mouse from the comforts of their homes can become involved to make a big difference to some of their unfortunate Social Network friends.
Micro-JITIFA proposes to deal with the following problems of conventional charities:
- "Trust" in a trustless environment is achieved by using the "proof of work" concepts used to keep Bitcoin networks "honest" and "know your customers" requirement used by banks.
- "Money transfers of small amounts to people without banks" is achieved by using Bitcoin.
- "Collaboration of friends to help friends" is achieved by having trust in your friends and having the right mind and heart for helping.
With the free platforms of
"Facebook", "Blogs" and "Bitcoin", and with
internet cafes available to the poor in poor countries, it become possible for
the first time to "help people help themselves on a personal level by
collaborating to donate small amounts to their
immediate needs."
The power of giving “with a push of a few buttons”.
- It is claimed that despite the fact that both giving and getting make people smile and feel happy, it is much better to give than to get.
- Most of us have experienced the power we get when we make a difference in someone`s life by “giving” – even if it only giving a smile or a nice wish. When the “givers” see the difference they have made, then they become happy and smile and their self-confidence and self-worth increases.
- But more and more “givers” who donate money to various causes are disillusioned by the increase in cases of popular charities being found to be frauds and scams. How can you trust that your donation has actually reached the people you intended to help, thru the depth of bureaucracy,?
Would it not be empowering to be able to have an app on your smart phone that you use “to call an angel” for someone who needs one with a “push of a few buttons.”?
Would it not be empowering to be able to, with a “push of a few buttons,” call angels to help you ?
- Free services such as Google, Facebook and Bitcoin all available over the internet from internet cafes allow you to do just that.
- This greatly empowers the “givers” in all of us to give and to personally benefit by giving. Giving can be more personalized, more efficient, more immediate, and in cooperation with others givers for a common cause – all from the comfort of living rooms with a “push of a few buttons.”
- This greatly empowers the "needy" who can promote their needs and solicit help on a personal level - all from the comfort of internet cafes with a "push of a few buttons".
Collaborate with Facebook
friends to make a one-time donation of as little as a few cents for offering
Just-In-Time Individualized Financial Aid to individuals needing immediate aid
for immediate needs.
Use Facebook, Google and Bitcoin, all freely available on the internet, to solicit donations if you have a needy cause or to donate if you wish to help someone in need.
Use Facebook, Google and Bitcoin, all freely available on the internet, to solicit donations if you have a needy cause or to donate if you wish to help someone in need.
- Use Facebook to advertise your Google Blog.
- Use your Google Blog to advertise your need and to allow potential donors to pledge and pay donations to you.
- Use Bitcoin to allow donors to transfer funds to you.
Most of the poor people in
this world do not have a bank account, but they have internet access via
Internet Cafes. They can only receive funds via Western Union money transfers
which are which are expensive and not possible for small amounts.
Most of the more fortunate
people have bank accounts and internet access from the comfort of their homes.
Many would love to be able to help poor people in need with a spontaneous one
time small donation, especially if they are informed as to how their donation
is used.
Micro-JITIFA allows people
with bank accounts to buy Bitcoins and send small amounts to people without
bank accounts for free and from the comforts of their homes.
Micro-JITIFA
project initiators: You can combine and use Google, Facebook and
Bitcoin to get personal help from donors donating as little as a few
cents. Donors can collaborate to help people help themselves with a
donation of as little as a few cents.
There are many charities that spend most of the money
they get from donations for salaries, office and advertising expenses and for
recruiting more donors. Much of that money ends up in the bureaucracy and the
donors never see concrete and personalized results of their donations. There
are a few charities that offer the donor personalized feedback of the families
they help. These charities such as “World Vision” offer the donors handwritten
letters and photographs from the recipients of the donations to show the
results of their donations and the acknowledgement of thanks to the families
they donate to. It is like adopting a needy child. These programs demand fixed
monthly donations. Although these monthly donations are only about 50 dollars
per month, they can become a strain on the budgets of some of the donors during
some of the months. This strain can easily cause the donors to opt out of their
donation commitment which causes regrets and bad feelings for the donors, and
disruption to the charities` organizers and the charity recipients.
Bitcoin is a fast and inexpensive way to donate to charity
and could revolutionize the way in which charities operate by cutting
transaction costs and ensuring more money goes to worthwhile causes instead of
banks and administrators. Bitcoin enables to transmit money
person-to-person, across the world, with a mere click of a button. While
small grants are too expensive to send and large grants are too risky to release
to untested partners, by transferring incremental and limited funds,
'just-in-time,' to complete discreet tasks, building trust and accountability
is much easier. Nano-donations could become the way in which people donate in
the future.
Combining Facebook with Bitcoin provides a possibility to
offer decentralized, self-regulating individualized and personalized charity
projects where people in need initiate and manage their own charity projects,
and a group of donors collaborate to contribute small amounts for the project.
Micro-JITIFA can open up donor pools for people with
immediate needs that they would not reach otherwise without international
marketing operations.
The free worldwide social networking made possible with Facebook,
with the free micro payment ease with Bitcoin open up the possibility of
offering “Micro-Just-In-Time-Individualized-Financial-Aid” or Micro-JITIFA.
Micro-JITIFA is a totally self-regulating,
distributed charity without any centralized organization to regulate and
control it. It provides trust in a trustless environment by using proof of
work methods and micro payments. The initiator provides a
personalized detailed explanation of specific needs requiring work to recruit
and build and maintain trust for many donors who work in collaboration and
cooperation to each pledge small amounts of donations without any commitments
or bureaucracy.
The following concept is used by Micro-JITIFA
projects:
- Micro-JITIFA projects are set up, run and maintained by the initiator of the project.
- Facebook is used by the initiator to 1) post a Micro-JITIFA project business plan that outlines project goals, budget and timelines, 2) recruit donor pledges.
- A free blog like one available at www.blogsspot.com is used to 1) keep potential donors informed of pledged donations and 2) offer a personalized relationship to the donors.
- Bitcoin is used by donors to transfer micropayments to the recipients when the pledged donations reach the goals of the project. Donations can be as small as a few cents.
- Verification and approval letters or documents are provided by the recipients from community politicians, leaders of religious organizations, local charities, school principals and class teachers, friends, etc to gain and maintain trust of donors.
- Matching donations are sought out from NGOs when possible.
- Transparency in all the steps are provided by the initiator regarding how much money was collected, and scans of all receipts of payments.
Success of Micro-JITIFA projects can be achieved if
the following steps are followed.
- Micro-JITIFA project needs, goals, and time requirements are clearly defined, much as in a business plan. Initiators can request help in doing this “business plan” from sources such as community politicians, leaders of religious organizations, local charities, school principals and class teachers, friends, etc.
- Initiators recruit donors by posting their Micro-JITIFA project plans and presenting them to their circle of Facebook friends. They request that the post be shared so that donors can be recruited from friends of friends. This referral from one circle of friends to another circle of friends continues until the initiator has enough donors to reach the goals of his project. To acquire social network frieds, you have to show appreciation and interest in their posts to like, share and comment on their posts.
- Initiators posts pictures and scans of documents to help recruit, build and maintain trust, confidence, and personal feelings of friendship to convince potential donors to pledge micro donations. Donations can be as small as a few cents.
- Once pledges reach the goal of the Micro-JITIFA project, the initiator provides the potential donors with a Bitcoin wallet address so that the donors can send in the donations they have pledged.
- Self-regulation of Micro-JITIFA projects is inherent in that if too many donations are requested for excessively high project goals with too little transparency and too little proof of work, not enough people will be willing to pledge donations.
Facebook is a necessary part of Micro-JITIFA projects as it allows people to post their immediate need for help by posting a link to their Blog page. The initiator`s circle of Facebook friends can recruit Facebook friends for the initiator from their own circle of Facebook friends by SHARING the initiator`s post. SHARING of the initiator`s Micro-JITIFA post propagates the Micro-JITIFA post to other circles of Facebook friends.
Google Blog
A Blog is a necessary part of Micro-JITIFA
projects. Each project should have a separate “post” in the blog. Each “post”
has its unique link to it. The Blog should be named using the name of the
initiator which should be the same name in the initiator`s email address.
For example, if the
initiator`s name is Joe Smith, his Micro-JITIFA Blog`s name would be: https://www.Micro-JITIFA-for-JoeSmith.blogspot.com and the email address would be JoeSmith@gmail.com . This is to make it easier for
potential donors to recognize and feel confident with the initiator of the
Micro-JITIFA project.
The Micro-JITIFA Blog allows
the initiator of a Micro-JITIFA project to:
- Present his project and his need and goals in a permanent web page that is always reachable by everyone from the internet. This is not the case with Facebook posts which eventually get buried deeper and deeper until they are soon lost under the more recent posts.
- Manage his project by 1. Updating information as needed, 2. Answering questions from potential donors, 3. Notifying potential donors when pledges have reached the goals of the project, 4. Terminating the project, 5. Informing donors of how successful the project was, 6. Thanking the donors for donating, 7. Keeping contact with the donors for any future projects.
- Build trust and convince people to help by providing 1. References to validate his needs, 2. Photos and other personal info, 3. Answers to questions from potential donors, 4. Feedback to Inform donors of the success of the project or reasons if the project failed, etc 5. Scans of receipts and photos of what was bought as validation of the termination of his Micro-JITIFA project. This is very important for future Micro-JITIFA projects.
- Provide an archive of past projects and contact info of past donors which is greatly useful for any future Micro-JITIFA projects. The concept of Micro-JITIFA projects is to keep budgets small and to keep and to accumulate the trust of donors for future Micro-JITIFA projects.
Micro-JITIFA projects are managed by the initiators. The
initiators of Micro-JITIFA projects should ensure the following:
- Pledges are acknowledged and sent to the initiators email address.
- Questions from the people pledging donations are adequately answered.
- "Amount pledged" and "amount still needed" are kept up to date for people pledging donations to clearly see.
- People pledging are informed personally when the amount needed for the project are reached
- People pledging are requested to make their donations once the amount needed for the project are reached.
- The points under "transparency" are followed.
Transparency
I agree to inform
those who donated for my Micro-JITIFA project of the success or failure of my
project and include all receipts of funds spent.
If
my Micro-JITIFA project is successful, then I will scan all payment
receipts as confirmation and include it in this post as a closure. I
will not delete this post, but use it as a reference for future
Micro-JITIFA projects.
If
my Micro-JITIFA project failed, I will write a report as to how I
have used the money I received and why my Micro-JITIFA
project failed.
The Micro-JITIFA Blog allows potential to:
- Pledge donations
- Allow potential donors the possibility of communicating with each other and with the initiator.
- Help the initiator to solicit potential donors for his Micro-JITIFA project by sharing his Micro-JITIFA Blog with friends and colleagues and to ask them to share it on with their friends and colleagues.
- Ask the initiator questions and leave him with feedback and suggestions etc
The Micro-JITIFA Blog allows donors to:
- Donate to the Bitcoin wallet that the project initiator published on his blog. Because only the initiator can edit his blog, this ensures that the donations will reach the project initiator and not an imposter.
Micro-JITIFA Mentors.
“It is a blessing to be able to help someone help themselves. You can help even if you cannot afford to donate by being a mentor”.
Micro-JITIFA initiators suffer under great poverty and lack many resources. English is usually not their mother tongue and their Facebook friends are unable neither to help them financially nor to promote their projects to those who can. To ensure that their Micro-JITIFA projects are readable, kept to a realistic budget, attractive and convincing, they need help and guidance from a mentor.
Mentors do not have to donate, but they must be familiar with the Micro-JITIFA concept. Mentors of completed projects have limited number of potential donors from their circle of friends and family members, so each new Micro-JITIFA project must have a new Micro-JITIFA mentor.
Micro-JITIFA Mentors have the following responsibilities.
- Get to know the initiator via email correspondence and Facebook friendship.
- Help the initiator write the Micro-JITIFA project and ensure that it follows the Micro-JITIFA guidelines. They must verify all character and school references used in the project.
- Promote the project and vouch for the initiator.
- Set up a GoFundMe campaign, receive donations on behalf of initiator and transfer money donated to the project to the initiator using Western Union facilities or bank transfers.
- Ensure that the initiator properly completes the project with a report before a new project is published.
- Try to find a new mentor for the new project.
Bitcoins
Bitcoins are a necessary part of Micro-JITIFA projects as they allow micro-payments to be conveniently and securely made from the donors to the initiator.
- Donors who already have Bitcoins can send micro payments with Bitcoins to the Bitcoin wallet of the initiator.
- Donors who are not yet familiar with Bitcoins can buy Bitcoins with cash or a credit card from a Bitcoin ATM if one is available near where they live.
- Bitcoins can be bought from friends who already have them. Just open up a free bitcoin wallet, give your Bitcoin-savvy friends some cash and send them via email your bitcoin wallet address and request that they send you Bitcoins. There are many possibilities available and all are described in the links below.
https://blockchain.info/wallet/#/
- Bitcoins can be bought on-line with a credit card from various Bitcoin exchanges listed in the links below
- Once donors have Bitcoins, they can send them to the initiator`s Bitcoin wallet freely and conveniently - like an email.
- Once the initiators have enough Bitcoins to fund their Micro-JITIFA projects, they have to convert or sell their Bitcoins for local currency. They can 1) use a Bitcoin ATM to change Bitcoins to cash, 2) if possible, send the Bitcoins directly to the final destination where the donation funds are to be deposited, 3) ask a Facebook friend involved in their Micro-JITIFA project to convert their Bitcoins and have the funds transferred in their national currency to a bank account, or 4) use a Bitcoin exchange such as one listed below:
- Initiators unable to have Bitcoin wallets to receive donations can designate someone they trust from their circle of Facebook friends .
- QuickCoin is an easy way to buy, send and receive Bitcoin via Facebook. Just go to:
For a description of how it works, go to:
Budgets of Micro-JITIFA projects
- "Micro" in Micro-JITIFA signifies that expected donations are meant to be small - as small as a few cents.
- "JIT" in Micro-JITIFA signifies that the need to raise funds is Just-In-Time or immediate.
- "IFA" in Micro-JITIFA signifies that the Financial Aid is Individualized and personalized.
The success of Micro-JITIFA projects depend on how many
donors can be found and how much money they are willing to donate. The contributions
in turn depend on how convincing Micro-JITIFA project business plans are.
"Small is beautiful" is a key to successful projects. Projects like
paying for monthly school fees, paying for dental work, eye glasses, buying
tools for people to help themselves (camera, sewing machine, chicken coop, etc)
can have relatively small goals in the order of 20 - 40 dollars. Recruiting 20
Facebook friends to donate 1 -2 dollar each would be able to make the projects
successful.The higher the budget of Micro-JITIFA project, the more Facebook
friends are needed to be recruited and convinced to donate more Bitcoins and
the more difficult it is to have a successful project.
Initiators should know the difference between
"wants" and "needs". They should justify their needs by
stating the consequence they face if their needs are not met.
How you can help, pledge and donate
You can
You can
- Pledge a donation. Please email me your pledge to the initiator who will inform you once enough pledges for the project are reached so that you can donate using the various options below.
- Donate with Bitcoin
- Donate with Litecoin
- Donate with PayPal. Please email your PayPal donation to the initiator or to his mentor.
- Donate with Credit Card using a GoFundMe Campaign
- Donate by Western Union money transfer to the initiator.Go to http://www.westernunion.com
- Share and promote this Blog to your circle of friends. Request your friends to pledge, donate, share and promote this Blog to their circle of friends.
Trusting who you donate to.
You can fool some people all the time, and
all people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the
time.
Sometimes it
takes a lifetime to build up trust, but only a moment of a small lie to lose
it.
To slowly build up trust of donors so that they will be willing to make further donations to any additional Micro-JITIFA project you might publish in the future, you should have the following:
1. References from trustworthy people like leaders of your church or community or school who can be contacted.
2. A Facebook page with your real name and correct profile data and personal pictures.
- For Micro-JITIFA initiators without Bitcoin wallets, they need to find a donor they can trust who will take Bitcoin donations on their behalf.
- For Micro-JITIFA initiators without bank accounts, they need to find a donor they can trust who will act on their behalf to sell Bitcoins for currency and send the initiators the donations using money transfer facilities such as Western Union.
- For donors promoting blogs of initiators, they need to build up their trust of the initiators by working with them, and their schools and references to get to know them. If that trust is jeopardized, then they risk themselves of losing the trust of their own friends.
- The chain of trust starts from the initiator -> donor working on behalf of the initiator -> friends of donor working with initiator -> friends of friends. In this way, trust of the initiator spread from one circle of friends to another circle of friends, etc...
Because Micro-JITIFA is a collaboration of many donors
all donating small amounts to one person with one immediate need, and because
there is a personal contact with the person receiving the donations and an
expected transparency and accountability, cheating is greatly mitigated.
Proof-Of-Work
methods, similar to what is used to keep Bitcoin transactions secure are used
to ensure initiators are honest. The initiator must do a lot of work for a
little amount of individual donations in order to convince their Facebook
friends to donate to his Micro-JITIFA project. They must post their business
plans in detail.
This time consuming work of publishing a blog and
managing the pledged donors develops skills in IT, presentation and management.
Even for Micro-JITIFA projects that fail because of in sufficient pledges, the
skills developed are very beneficial to the initiators.
The more information that is posted, the more convincing
it becomes. Photos and references can play a big role in gaining the trust of
potential donors. Documented results at the end of successful Micro-JITIFA
projects with references play also a big role in maintaining the trust of past
donors so they are more likely to become future donors.
Because Micro-JITIFA projects are mean to be small
budgets for JIT needs, the initiator will probably post additional Micro-JITIFA
projects as past projects are completed. The greater the success rates recipients
have for past Micro-JITIFA projects, the easier it becomes to maintain his
circle of accumulated Facebook friends donors.
To thwart cheaters who falsify references and generate
fake receipts for paid bills, initiators should post details such as business
email addresses or contact pages tied to suppliers (e.g., a specific address or
web site for each business they claim to have used). They should also provide
detailed references to attest to the legitimacy of the project; examples
include community, school, and church officials willing to check the legitimacy
of claims for a project.
NOTE: To ensure Bitcoin wallet addresses are not
falsified, the donors must donate only to the Bitcoin wallet address that the
initiator of the Micro-JITIFA project sends out to the donors with his email
address.
Publishing a blog for free is a great way to post photos,
scanned documents and information about yourself and your immediate needs. To
open a blog for free, chose a good name for the blog for example like your own
name and go to:
Working together with established charities and
schools
Winning the trust and confidence of potential donors is a
big challenge that has to be met. Working together with an established charity
or a school can be a great benefit.
Established charities usually do not provide personal
contact between the people they help and the donors donating. Also they do not
provide donors with the possibility of collaborating with other donors who can
only afford to donate small amounts. They do however provide assurance that
donations are properly used. They can
- empower people in need to help themselves solicit their own small time donors using Facebook by promoting this idea and
- help pay for internet access from internet cafés.
- they can help people develop internet skills to do this effectively and
- assign each person with a Bitcoin wallet to collect donations.
Dear Education
International Administrator.
I am developing a
charity concept where students who must pay monthly school expenses (for
example for fees, uniform, gym shoes, extra study, stationary, text
books), use Facebook to request donations for such payments. The plan is
to use schools to promote this method of solicitation by supporting needy
students with internet access, helping them write effectively Micro-JITIFA
projects, and providing them letters of reference and verification. The charity
concept is described in the blog: http://micro-just-in-time-financial-aid.blogspot.ch/
This form of
charity is not limited to students in need. It can also be used by teachers and
schools who write their own Micro-JITIFA project to request funds for school
equipment or school projects.
"A friend in need is a friend
indeed".
Open Baazar
Micro-JITIFA projects can be for buying things (like
cameras and laptops). Ebay lists many things to but but you need a credit
card. And to have a credit card you need a bank account. In Open Bazzar, all
you need is Bitcoin.
GoFundMe campaigns.
Unlike for GoFundMe campaigns, Micro-JITIFA projects do not depend on a centralized platform. The initiators of projects have to write their own projects, solicit donors for them and manage their own charity.
Micro-JITIFA is mainly meant for people who do not have bank accounts and who need Just-In-Time small amounts of money that they can solicit from many Facebook friends who each donate small amounts. Not having a bank account is a great disadvantage, and Bitcoin is one of the ways to get around this disadvantage. Because Bitcoin is not well known at present, Micro-JITIFA initiators face great limitations. They have to find trusted donors with bank accounts to help them use well known platforms like PayPal and GoFundMe.
Bank accounts are required to have credit cards, which are required to use PayPal and GoFundMe. Without bank accounts, Western Union or a similar service must be used for money transfers which costs about 10% with a minimum of 5%. Donations to GoFundMe cost 8% and donating less than 5$ is not possible. This means that 18% of donation, or 1$ out of every 5$ is lost.
Both Micro-JIFITA projects and GoFundMe campaigns are a collaboration of donors to help personal charities. GoFundMe can be combined with Micro-JITIFA if the initiators of Micro-JITIFA projects without bank accounts find trusted donors with a bank account to act on their behalf.
Unlike for GoFundMe campaigns, Micro-JITIFA projects do not depend on a centralized platform. The initiators of projects have to write their own projects, solicit donors for them and manage their own charity.
Micro-JITIFA is mainly meant for people who do not have bank accounts and who need Just-In-Time small amounts of money that they can solicit from many Facebook friends who each donate small amounts. Not having a bank account is a great disadvantage, and Bitcoin is one of the ways to get around this disadvantage. Because Bitcoin is not well known at present, Micro-JITIFA initiators face great limitations. They have to find trusted donors with bank accounts to help them use well known platforms like PayPal and GoFundMe.
Bank accounts are required to have credit cards, which are required to use PayPal and GoFundMe. Without bank accounts, Western Union or a similar service must be used for money transfers which costs about 10% with a minimum of 5%. Donations to GoFundMe cost 8% and donating less than 5$ is not possible. This means that 18% of donation, or 1$ out of every 5$ is lost.
Both Micro-JIFITA projects and GoFundMe campaigns are a collaboration of donors to help personal charities. GoFundMe can be combined with Micro-JITIFA if the initiators of Micro-JITIFA projects without bank accounts find trusted donors with a bank account to act on their behalf.
Micro-JIFITA
project
|
GoFundMe campaign
|
|
Who can start (initiators)
|
anyone
|
anyone
|
Cost to start
|
free
|
free
|
Who supports (donors)
|
Facebook friends and
Friends, family members, loved ones, coworkers, classmates
and teammates of Facebook friends.
|
Friends, family members, loved ones, coworkers, classmates
and teammates.
Only after the campaign receives the support of the people
you personally know can it begin to attract the support of others.
|
Bank account needed
|
No
|
Yes
|
Donation payment method
|
Bitcoin or PayPal if the initiator find trusted donors
that have both Bitcoin and PayPal.
|
Credit card
|
Amount of donation
|
Micro-donations.
|
Minimum of 5$
|
Pledges before donations
|
Donations are only made when amount needed for project are
reached.
|
Donations can be withdrawn any time.
|
Managed by
|
Initiator
|
GoFundMe
|
Cost of project/campaign
|
Costs to convert Bitcoins to local currency and/or money
transfers.
|
8% of each donation
|
advantages
|
Micro-payments without banks
|
Professional looking platform
|
disadvantages
|
Bitcoins are needed and trustworthy donors are needed to
accept Bitcoins and PayPal payments and to make money transfers.
|
micro-payments are not allowed and bank accounts are
needed.
|
Trust issues
|
“Only donate if you trust the judgement of your friend
promoting the initiators Blog.”
|
"Only donate to people you personally know &
trust."
|
To read more about how GoFundMe
campaigns work go to
and
How to write a Micro-JITIFA project.
- It is vital to have an email address in addition to a Facebook account when submitting a Micro-JITIFA project business plan with hopes of recruiting donors for projects. An Email address not only provides private email communication with potential donors, but also allows 2-step verification for secure access to Web based Bitcoin wallets, especially from internet cafes and and other public networks. Email is also needed for sending potential donors your Bitcoin wallet address to ensure that it is not changed.
- Email addresses of references and recipients of payments should NOT be private email addresses such as hotmail, gmail, etc but rather work or business email addresses.
- If you do not have a bank account that you need for selling your received bitcoins for local currency, send your bitcoins to a trusted Facebook friends who had donated to your Micro-JITIFA project and who is willing and able to sell them for you and transfer funds to you by Western Union.
- Photos, reports, scans of documents etc greatly help in recruiting donors. Blogs can also greatly help.
As summary
If you would like to make a successful Micro-JITIFA project that can convince many Facebook members to help you, you need to do the following.
If you would like to make a successful Micro-JITIFA project that can convince many Facebook members to help you, you need to do the following.
For example, if the project is for a laptop:
1. Get a free email account.
1. Get a free email account.
2. Get a free blog.
3. Find a second hand laptop.
4. Get a letter of reference from your school that says
that you need a laptop for school.
5. Write a Micro-JITIFA project that includes the above 4
point and in addition the price of the laptop and what you need it for.
Once you have enough pledges, and receive the funds, if
you want to keep the people who have help you for other projects, you have to
scan the receipt bill for the laptop once you buy it and keep the donors informed
as to how you have used the laptop. This is where the blog is important. These
5 points are just the minimum you need to do. Of course the more information
you provide, the better your chances of having success.
Basic guide for writing Micro-JITIFA projects
For those that English is not their native language,
correct grammar and spelling are not essential to write a Micro-JITIFA project.
But it must be easy to read and understand. As a minimum the following rules
should be followed.
Formatting should be consistent throughout the project.
1.
Paragraph headers and text should be consistent
in text, font, size, color.
2.
Paragraphs should be separated by a blank line.
3.
Italics, bold text and underlined
text should be used to highlight and facilitate reading.
4.
Capital letters should be used to start each
sentence, for names, days, months and for using I (me).
5.
Sentences (just like words) should be separated
by a blank space.
6.
There should be a space after a comma in a
sentence. (But it is OK to write 1,2,3,4 and
7.
Sentences should end with a period (.), a question
mark (?), or an exclamation point (!).
Micro-JITIFA projects should have the following
paragraphs in the following order.
1.
A brief explanation of Micro-JITIFA.
2.
A report of the previous Micro-JITIFA project.
3.
A description of the initiator with contact
information.
4.
Character references with contact information.
5.
A detailed budget of the funds needed for the
project.
6.
Information of how people can help promote the
project, make a pledge and make a donation.
7.
A Pledge / Donation COUNTER.
8.
Invitation for people to leave comments.
The Pledge / Donation COUNTER must be regularly updated
to display how much is pledged and how much is donated and how much still needs
to be pledged and donated to meet the project goals. The amounts must be
aligned so that it is easy to check.
- "Funds needed”. Amount needed to reach the project`s goal.
- "Amount pledged". Amount promised to be donated by potential donors who only agree to donate when the project has enough pledges and donations to meet the project`s goal. (ie."Amount still needed" is $0.00 or less).
- "Donated from pledges”. Amount donated by potential donors who have made pledges.
- "Donated directly". Amount donated by donors without making a pledge.
- "TOTAL Donated". Amount "Donated from pledges” plus "Donated directly".
- "Amount still needed". Amount still needed to reach the project`s goal. (ie."Funds needed” - "Amount pledged" - "TOTAL Donated")
When "Amount still needed" = $0.00 or less, the
initiator informs all who have made pledges with an email with the
details of how they can donate.Donations can be made using Bitcoin, PayPal, GoFundMe, Western Union, Bank
Transfers, etc.
Publishing subsequent Micro-JITIFA projects.
The concept of Micro-JITIFA is to accumulate people interested in helping the initiator. This is done by building a personal relationships with the people that have helped with past projects. The Initiator should follow the following guidelines.
- The first project (the first post of the Blog) should be low budget covering an immediate need.
- Develop and build a personal relationship with the people helping by staying in contact using the COMMENT field of the post.
- Edit the post regularly to inform the people helping of the progress of the project.
- A second project (the second post of the Blog) should not be published before the first project is completed and a report as described in the transparency paragraph above is published.
- Subsequent projects (posts) should be built up on the previous projects (posts).
- Projects should be to meet the needs of the initiator. If initiators want to help their families or friends, they should help them publish a separate Blog for them.
Posting your Micro-JITIFA project on your Facebook
timeline and on your Blog.
Follow the example found in:
http://micro-just-in-time-financial-aid.blogspot.ch/
Promoting Micro-JITIFA projects
I am sure many already donate to a NGO or a non-profit charity or church program which anonymously ensured that people in need are helped. By supporting Micro-JITIFA projects, you encouraged people in need to write and manage their own charity programs that they learn so much from doing. In addition you give them the dignity of being able to pay for their needs by themselves. One of the many rewards you get for supporting Micro-JITIFA projects is the possibility of a personal contact with the beneficiary and to see the fruits of your assistance. You also get the opportunity of collaborating with your friends in helping someone in need. And all this with just promoting and/or donating a small amount with a few clicks of your mouse from the comfort of your home.
Promoting is like blowing on a fire to keep it burning. Blowing too hard, there is the danger of blowing the fire out. But by not blowing enough, the fire can just die out by itself. I am also aware that people have other projects that they like to help with and there is just so much blowing that they can do before they are out of breath.
Your support of Micro-JITIFA projects makes a big difference. It encourages Micro-JITIFA initiators to continue to hope that one day they will be able to help others instead of just relying on being helped. This gives your support a great long-term multiplying factor. Join a team collaborating to help a Micro-JITIFA initiator. You can find your team members in the COMMENT area on their Blog. Hope to see you there.
Future prospects of Micro-JITIFA projects
Micro-JITIH projects and the concept can be in future
expanded and developed to use ethereum to start a project with a trustless
crowdsale, with a smart contract and a democratic autonomous organization (DAO)
to manage it. This technology is described in the link https://www.ethereum.org/
This would only make sense for community projects that
require bigger budgets, with longer time spans.
Micro-JITIFA Facebook Group
Interested potential micro-JITIFA initiators and donors can leave comments, ask questions and otherwise share their experiences of successes and failures using the COMMENT fields in this blog.
Micro-JITIFA initiators and Micro-JITIFA donors can join
the Micro-JITIFA Facebook Group by leaving a comment here on this blog, or by
requesting a member of this group to join the Group at
Currently running Micro-JITIFA projects
http://alasanacamara.blogspot.ch/
Micro-JITIFA Projects for schools
Micro-JITIFA projects can be initiated by schools to solicit help from schools in the same way that Micro-JITIFA projects are initiated by students. Schools can acquire internet friends by social network contacts just like students can.
The Micro-JITIFA concept requires a mentor for the initiator to ensure the project published in the blog is convincing and interesting and attractive. Students interested in the project, sociology, foreign cultures, or just plain humanity can volunteer as mentors and present it to others in their school as a school project. Ideal would be having mentors from different countries to make it more interesting not only for the initiator but also for the pledgers and donors to the project.
Alasana is the first to have publishing a successful Micro-JITIFA project to pay for his 2017 school fees, You can see it at https://alasanacamara.blogspot.ch/
Alasana`s school with Alasana`s help can be the first Micro-JITIFA School project. If successful, the school can become an example for other schools to follow and educate and train disabled children with proper skills IT skills so that they could become one day productive citizens who will help others instead of being helped..
