GoFundMe-like service for a beneficiary in Jakarta, Indonesia?
May 16, 2024 8:05 PM Subscribe
The leader of my online gaming group just got out of the hospital with a bill he cannot pay. I suggested that he set up a GoFundMe so our group could pitch in, but Indonesia is not one of their supported countries. Is there a similar service that works in Indonesia where multiple people can send him small amounts of money without having to reveal the real names or banking details of the donors or recipients? We all only know each other by our character names in the game and most of us would like to keep it that way.
(I'm 100% confident that his need is legit, despite not knowing anything besides his gaming handle. We've been playing together for a while, I'm the one who asked him if he was okay because he'd missed some major battles, and I'm the one who suggested a group fundraiser. Also, getting to level 37 in our game is such a grind that no one would do it just to scam Americans and Europeans out of a few bucks. There are far easier grifts out of there for the time investment, lol.)
(I'm 100% confident that his need is legit, despite not knowing anything besides his gaming handle. We've been playing together for a while, I'm the one who asked him if he was okay because he'd missed some major battles, and I'm the one who suggested a group fundraiser. Also, getting to level 37 in our game is such a grind that no one would do it just to scam Americans and Europeans out of a few bucks. There are far easier grifts out of there for the time investment, lol.)
Best answer: A number of folks in fan communities from SE Asia use Ko-Fi (its primarily used for paying artists, but its also used for crowdfunding). Totally anonymous and works great.
posted by anastasiav at 8:49 PM on May 16 [1 favorite]
posted by anastasiav at 8:49 PM on May 16 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Ko-Fi is what I would have suggested as well. And, thank you for doing this. I used to play Final Fantasy XI Online, and one of our guild members lost everything in a fire. The guild took up a collection and sent him a fair bit to help him out. At that point, none of us had ever met in person, but the bonds we shared through the shared trials and triumphs of our gaming journey made it feel like we were helping family. I get it. :) Thanks for having a kind heart.
posted by xedrik at 8:52 AM on May 17
posted by xedrik at 8:52 AM on May 17
Best answer: Ko-fi is linked to PayPal so there's definitely a point where the actual name will be known, if that's a concern. The transfer to the local account also gets a hit there in local charges. I don't know how Indonesia paypal will process it but I can 'lose' up to 10% of the total. The main issue I think is the fact that banking culture in Southeast Asia is different in that bank transfers are a lot easier that pooling funds via a separate account is seldom thought about (that is to say, if locals wanted to help the guy, all they do is just enter his bank account details via qr code or ewallet or phone number and it goes straight there).
For your European friends it's probably easy enough to just get his bank account details plus his bank's SWIFT codes and just transfer a sum once you collect as a group or as individuals. It's the American side that's a bit of a headache, because to date I rarely hear of an easy individual civilian way to do interbank. But if you are already anticipating the PayPal charges then Ko-fi may be a good enough option for now. (I'll have a think if there are better ways )
posted by cendawanita at 9:33 AM on May 17
For your European friends it's probably easy enough to just get his bank account details plus his bank's SWIFT codes and just transfer a sum once you collect as a group or as individuals. It's the American side that's a bit of a headache, because to date I rarely hear of an easy individual civilian way to do interbank. But if you are already anticipating the PayPal charges then Ko-fi may be a good enough option for now. (I'll have a think if there are better ways )
posted by cendawanita at 9:33 AM on May 17
Response by poster: Thanks, everyone. He is going to set up PayPal and Ko-Fi accounts and I will write the fundraising text in English for him.
The total bill is around 10 million Rupiah, which is about 626 USD, so we won't need very many of our group's 140 members to donate very much per person to pay it off.
It's also one of those free-to-play/pay-to-win games, so based on the loot boxes everyone in the group gets whenever someone in the group spends real money, I can tell that the spenders in our group are probably spending a few hundred dollars a week in aggregate. So if I can get them to consider a donation as part of their gaming budget, it should be an easy sell.
I'm also going to point out that in addition to being our friend, his leadership is what allowed our team to capture so many prizes in the game (we're seriously smoking everyone else on our server, it's ridiculous) and the rewards we got for that would have cost us all a lot of money and/or time to get via other means. If I do a little research, I may even be able to put a dollar amount on how many extra rewards we got for being on his team compared to other teams. Like he's such a brilliant map strategist that every other experienced player who came into our group with their own ideas of how we should do things all decided within 24 hours to just shut up and let him drive because his plans are so effective. I don't think I've ever seen that many egotistical gamers all go "never mind, we're just going to do whatever this guy tells us to do" like that before.
posted by Jacqueline at 8:10 PM on May 18 [2 favorites]
The total bill is around 10 million Rupiah, which is about 626 USD, so we won't need very many of our group's 140 members to donate very much per person to pay it off.
It's also one of those free-to-play/pay-to-win games, so based on the loot boxes everyone in the group gets whenever someone in the group spends real money, I can tell that the spenders in our group are probably spending a few hundred dollars a week in aggregate. So if I can get them to consider a donation as part of their gaming budget, it should be an easy sell.
I'm also going to point out that in addition to being our friend, his leadership is what allowed our team to capture so many prizes in the game (we're seriously smoking everyone else on our server, it's ridiculous) and the rewards we got for that would have cost us all a lot of money and/or time to get via other means. If I do a little research, I may even be able to put a dollar amount on how many extra rewards we got for being on his team compared to other teams. Like he's such a brilliant map strategist that every other experienced player who came into our group with their own ideas of how we should do things all decided within 24 hours to just shut up and let him drive because his plans are so effective. I don't think I've ever seen that many egotistical gamers all go "never mind, we're just going to do whatever this guy tells us to do" like that before.
posted by Jacqueline at 8:10 PM on May 18 [2 favorites]
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posted by dpx.mfx at 8:45 PM on May 16