Anyone who’s traveled in the 3rd world can’t help but be affected by seeing the conditions a large chunk of the world’s population lives in.
In Peru, I saw people living in accommodation not much better than what the working dogs on my parents’ farm used to live in, and these people were by no means the worst off in their country. Yet they do not feel the world owes them anything – they get on with making the most they can of their lives.
When things like natural disasters, disease, or armed conflict interfere with their lives, it makes survival so much harder for them. This group, Art for Aid, which I’m co-founding with Elaine Stevenson and Melinda Kerr is now accepting works from people willing to donate some or all of their proceeds to charitable organisations that seek to ease the burden carried by those in the 3rd world.
Alex Talmont, 2 months ago
How is the public guaranteed that money raised from the sell of artworks in this group indeed given to charity ?
I’m all for charity but there may be some legal requirements needing to be fulfilled so that any such operation keeps a degree of transparency.
The best solution would be for Redbubble to openly set up a system whereas an individual could have the option to set either a portion or the totality of the sale of an item to be sent automatically to the charity of their choice.
Ben Ryan
in reply to Alex Talmont’s comment,
2 months ago
Good question. It’s on an honour system. I spent a lot of time debating this with Elaine before we applied to run the group, but in the end there’s no way we can monitor it.
The charities will not disclose details of their donors, nor details of the donations received, and the donors will almost certainly find it invasive for us to demand they give us “proof” they are behaving.
The individual members decide how much they donate, and to whom they donate. This is no different to the various members on RedBubble who already donate proceeds to charities – the difference is this group hopefully acts as a central focal point to raise awareness of these efforts.
I’m gonna re-post this in the group forum, if you don’t mind?
Alex Talmont, 2 months ago
Sorry Ben I didn’t mean to pick on your group specifically, I realise that there is at least another group … and possibly some individual members that already do that.
I think if you are associated with a charity site and donations are done there then it is different but I’m not sure that this “honour ” system is entirely legal in Australia.
I’ve been contemplating raising money for another cause “under my own banner” but found the process to be a bit of legal minefield.
I don’t want to discourage you from raising money but you don’t want people taking advantage of the system also you ought to protect yourself from any action that may be taken against you.
It would be easier if Redbubble acted as a facilitator not unlike the following website..
http://www.everydayhero.com.au/
It would also be good PR for Redbubble…everyone loves a site that support charities…
Ben Ryan
in reply to Alex Talmont’s comment,
2 months ago
Well the responsibility is actually on the creator of the work. We’re not collecting any monies from the artists, and they are effectively operating as private donors. It just happens that they are selling artwork to raise the funds they’re going to donate.
If they were claiming to represent the charity in the raising of those funds, that would be a different story.
Alex Talmont, 2 months ago
Ok but my understanding of this, is that you cannot advertise the said charities on this website without their consent…....please see below…
Before you begin fundraising on behalf of any organisation/charity—there are a few practical and legal matters you need to consider.
http://www.actnow.com.au/Tool/Legal_stuff_you_need_to_know_about_fundraising.aspx
Alex Talmont, 2 months ago
Ben,
currently in your group rules you are asking artist to list the charities they are allegedly depositing the proceeds to, to be made public. Those artists need to be made aware of any legal requirement and that they are required to obtain authorisation from the said charity before they are legally able to do some fundraising. This system is in place so that the public can be sure that the funds do indeed go where it is claimed to be going.
At the moment the above hasn’t been clearly stated and some people may be under the impression that Redbubble is directly supporting this initiative…this comes after all under the Redbubble banner, and just as they wouldn’t let people post racist or discriminative comments as it is against the law, they also have a responsibility to potential illegal fundraising taking place on their website.
This is not just for your group but for any group that encourage members to donate on behalf of some charity.
Ben Ryan
in reply to Alex Talmont’s comment,
2 months ago
...and again, I will state this as clearly as I can. Each member of the group is acting as an individual who is donating their own funds to the charity. It just happens that those own funds have come from the sale of their artwork.
The only difference here is that the artists are chosing to make it known who they are donating to.
They are not acting as fundraisers. Volunteer or otherwise. None of the points you’ve raised above apply because they’re not acting on behalf of the organisations.
I will, however, flag it in the group forum as something people need to be sensitive to, as quite often people with good intentions can overstep the mark, and conversely, people with ill intent can spoil it for everyone else.