FAQ
- Who are we giving the money to?
You're giving it to me, Mark Goodge. I'm a web author and programmer, currently living in Stoke-on-Trent, England.
- What will you do with the money?
That depends entirely on how much I get! We have a baby daughter, and my wife currently doesn't work, so any extra cash will come in handy. And we'd like to redecorate the kitchen, and maybe the spare bedroom as well. Then there are several charities I'm involved with that could do with a donation or two, so that would be good. Paying off the credit cards would probably be fairly high on my priorities. And it would be nice to have some to spare for my friends and family as well.
If I set any intermediate or specific targets, I'll mention them on the news page.
- Can't you be a bit more specific? I'd like to know what I'm giving to!
I can't be more specific, because I don't know how much I'm going to get - it might be anything from the cost of a sandwich to enough to endow a trust fund. And I don't want to be more specific, because I don't want you to give with any particular expectations of where the money will go. All I'm asking is for a lot of people to give one unit of any of three major currencies to a total stranger. You'll just have to trust me that I'll use it for positive purposes.
- How can we be sure we can trust you?
You can't. But hey, it's only a dollar (or a pound, or a Euro). If it turns out that I'm a con-artist, then what have you really lost? And, if I was going to try and fleece you, then don't you think I'd be promising to spend the money on more interesting things than a new coat of paint for the kitchen?
- How much are you expecting to raise?
I have absolutely no idea. Really. This website could change my life, or it might not even cover the cost of registering the domain name. Realistically, it will be somewhere in between, but exactly where in between is totally unknown.
- What do we get out of it?
Nothing more than a sense of having contributed to an interesting social experiment. This isn't the the Million Dollar Homepage - I'm not selling pixels, or anything else. (Although I do like Alex Tew's idea of buying socks with the money - I need some new socks, so I'll definitely do that, too). Nor am I trying to raise money to get me through university (my formal education ended a long time ago!), or get enough hits to earn a threesome or anything tacky like that. It's just about a social experiment, to see how many people will give money to a total stranger. Oh, and it's about the money, of course.
- Why has the site got adverts on it?
In the (possibly vain) hope that the income from the adverts will help cover the costs of running the site even if no-one gives me one.
- What payment processor are you using?
PayPal.
- Who owns the PayPal account that the donations are going to?
I do. It's an additional email address on my personal account. I did originally set this up on my business account, so that people could give me one without needing a Paypal account, but after the first donations came in I realised that the Paypal charges meant that you were giving me considerably less than one after fees were deducted!
- I'd like to give you one, but I don't have a PayPal account and I don't want to sign up for one. What can I do?
You can donate to my business account by using this form:
I've left the amount unfilled in this, as it would be nice if you could add a little extra to cover the PayPal fees. But if you want to make it just the one, that's fine too!
- I'd like to give you more than one. Is that possible?
Of course (although I can't imagine why you'd want to). Just use the form above to give an amount of your choice in the currency of your choice.
- I don't want to give you one, but I'd like to help in other ways. Is that possible?
Well, yes. For this to work, it needs publicity. So email all your friends about it (but don't spam them!). If you've got a blog, then link to me. Name your cat after my website, if you want. Just get the word out, somehow.
- What are those "Offsite links" at the bottom of the page?
Those are all sites that I've worked on. The links are just there to give them a bit of extra publicity.
- I've got a question that isn't answered here. How can I get in touch with you?
You can email me, if you really want to. "Mark {at} pleasegivemeone dot com" should reach me. You'll need to demunge that address yourself in order to use it, of course.