Today I have the pleasure of featuring a good friend of mine and fellow artist Donna Bell. I met Donna about two years ago on facebook but it hasn’t been until very recently that we’ve connected on another level. Let me tell you a little about Donna’s personal story.

Last week I happened across a post Donna made about a contest with a grand prize of a new customized van with a lift. I have entered several of these types of contests in the past with my art and never got close to winning. Internet voting can be very unfair. Regardless, I set out to get Donna some votes. Even with my vast social network over many social media platforms, I was only able to generate approximately 1% of what is needed for one of these vans. That fundraiser is now in effect at gofundme. GoFundMe allows users to create their own website to describe what they are raising money for. During this process, members can enter the fundraising cause, the amount they hope to raise, and even upload photos or video. Once the website is created, GoFundMe allows users to share their project with people through integrated social network links (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and email. People can then donate to a user’s cause through the website and track the progress of their funding. Those who donate can also leave comments on the website in support of the project. GoFundMe generates revenue by automatically deducting a 5% transaction fee from each donation a user receives. If the user receives no donations, then no charge is made.

GoFundMe is unique to crowdfunding in that they are not an incentive-based crowdfunding website. Although they do allow projects that are meant to fund other projects for musicians, inventors, etc., the business model is set up to allow for donations to personal causes and life events such as medical bills. GoFundMe also has a special section dedicated solely to users who are trying to raise money to cover their tuition costs. One of the most notable tuition projects involved helping a user raise $25,000 to pay out of state tuition to a PhD program after that user was selected among 125 applicants into that program. If you are in a position to give to this great cause, please visit: https://www.gofundme.com/25ncckzw which is Donna’s donation page. If you can’t give; this is very important, sharing this post could make a huge difference. Please at least share and tweet this story. We need $60,000.00 to get Donna in a new custom van and power wheelchair.