Donors have expressed concerns after Givealittle shut down multiple pages designed to raise relief aid money for Gaza.
Givealittle has confirmed it's required to assess the risks amid concerns surrounding money laundering.
ReliefAid founder Mike Seawright says Givealittle can't determine where the money is going in a peer-to-peer donation situation.
"There are other issues of course, there's legal compliance issues that also go with that - but ultimately, giving is good and giving responsibly is also a critical part of that action."
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now Give a Little says it has shut down multiple
fundraising pages for gars and citizens because of money laundering concerns.
Tens of thousands of dollars that are meant for Palestinian
aid and are locked with at least four pages shut
down due to operational risk. Mike see Wright is the
founder of Relief eight. He still has an act of
Give a Little fundraiser for Gaza and he's with us. Hey, Mike, Hi, Heather,
(00:20):
how are you very well? Thank you? Why have these
pages been shut down?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, we're only looking at this from an external perspective, Heather,
but it looks like Give a Little a concerned about
where the end use of the funds will be. And
while I wouldn't like to comment on the individual cases
itself because we haven't been following those in many respects,
that's a good question and a question certainly we ask ourselves.
(00:45):
If you look at it from a charity perspective, what's
important to us and what's important to our donors is
that when they give to us, we know exactly what's
happening to that money. And we do this in our
case by making sure in the case of Gaza, that
when our trucks roll out with water. Our teams are
sitting on those trucks and making sure it gets to
the people that we actually intend it to get. And
(01:07):
it is our team.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
You are actually you're taking the money from New Zealand
you're putting it into the water. The water is getting
to people in Gaza.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Exactly, and that's I think this is one of the
fundamental questions that Give a Little has is how can
if we're doing peer to peer giving, how can you
guarantee that what you're giving is being received in the
right way at the other end? And there are other issues,
of course, there's legal and compliance issues that also go
with that, but ultimately giving is good and giving responsibly
(01:38):
is also a critical part of that action.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
So I'm a little bit confused though, as to what
their reasons are for locking these pages. I don't want
to cast any aspersions on these pages, but are they
concerned about money laundering? Are they concerned about people being scammed?
Are they concerned that some of the money is making
its way to come asked?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
You know, well, I don't know, to be completely honest.
As a charity, this is a question I think that
Give a Little can answer, But as a charity. These
are questions that we raise in our own space when
we're dealing with our banks, for example, who ask us
questions like can you control your money? Do you have
(02:16):
systems and processes that ensure it gets to where it's intended?
Do you know what's happening on the ground? Both the problem,
but are you managing the solution? And I guess I
go back to this idea that our team are sitting
on the trucks delivering aid where it's needed most, so
that when people ask us donors, banks or otherwise, when
(02:37):
they ask us where did our money go? How did
you make sure that what we intended happen, we say, well,
we physically saw it. And I'm guessing when give a
little looks at these pages, they are asking first of all,
that question, you know, is it helping in the right way?
They're also asking questions around are you being swindled? Is
there some you know dodgy cause how do you validate that?
(03:00):
And asking some questions around that. I'm only reading between
the lines looking at the public commentary on this, and
then they're also fulfilling their legal requirements. And this is
not to defend give a little, but Nonetheless, they are
operating in a very similar space to us and saying, look,
we've got legal responsibilities here that we're not funding terrorism
(03:22):
or any other element.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Mike, how are you getting water? And if the borders
shut as tightly sealed as they are in the idea
is controlling things to the extent that they are.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, this was one of the big changes we made
through as the war in Gaza progressed. We had initially
brought food across the border from Egypt. This became very difficult,
in fact very long as well. It took us seven
weeks to get our first truck of food across the border.
At the same time, we were doing water distributions in Gaza,
(03:52):
sourcing water from inside Gaza. So this means we take
the water out of boreholes where we get the money
the water, I should say out of boreholes. It goes
into our trucks and goes out to families inside Gaza.
So we're not crossing any borders. So what did this
allow us to do? Even when the borders are closed
as they are right now, Really, Fade's able to turn
(04:13):
a dollar in New Zealand into water, to a dollar
in New Zealand today into water in Gaza tomorrow, because
everything happens within Gaza itself.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Mike, I appreciate you taking the time to talk to us.
Mike's c Wright, founder of Relief Faith. For more from
Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news talks. It'd
be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Now Give a Little says it has shut down multiple
fundraising pages for gars and citizens because of money laundering concerns.
Tens of thousands of dollars that are meant for Palestinian
aid and are locked with at least four pages shut
down due to operational risk. Mike see Wright is the
founder of Relief eight. He still has an act of
Give a Little fundraiser for Gaza and he's with us. Hey, Mike, Hi, Heather,
(00:20):
how are you very well? Thank you? Why have these
pages been shut down?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, we're only looking at this from an external perspective, Heather,
but it looks like Give a Little a concerned about
where the end use of the funds will be. And
while I wouldn't like to comment on the individual cases
itself because we haven't been following those in many respects,
that's a good question and a question certainly we ask ourselves.
(00:45):
If you look at it from a charity perspective, what's
important to us and what's important to our donors is
that when they give to us, we know exactly what's
happening to that money. And we do this in our
case by making sure in the case of Gaza, that
when our trucks roll out with water. Our teams are
sitting on those trucks and making sure it gets to
the people that we actually intend it to get. And
(01:07):
it is our team.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
You are actually you're taking the money from New Zealand
you're putting it into the water. The water is getting
to people in Gaza.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Exactly, and that's I think this is one of the
fundamental questions that Give a Little has is how can
if we're doing peer to peer giving, how can you
guarantee that what you're giving is being received in the
right way at the other end? And there are other issues,
of course, there's legal and compliance issues that also go
with that, but ultimately giving is good and giving responsibly
(01:38):
is also a critical part of that action.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
So I'm a little bit confused though, as to what
their reasons are for locking these pages. I don't want
to cast any aspersions on these pages, but are they
concerned about money laundering? Are they concerned about people being scammed?
Are they concerned that some of the money is making
its way to come asked?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
You know, well, I don't know, to be completely honest.
As a charity, this is a question I think that
Give a Little can answer, But as a charity. These
are questions that we raise in our own space when
we're dealing with our banks, for example, who ask us
questions like can you control your money? Do you have
(02:16):
systems and processes that ensure it gets to where it's intended?
Do you know what's happening on the ground? Both the problem,
but are you managing the solution? And I guess I
go back to this idea that our team are sitting
on the trucks delivering aid where it's needed most, so
that when people ask us donors, banks or otherwise, when
(02:37):
they ask us where did our money go? How did
you make sure that what we intended happen, we say, well,
we physically saw it. And I'm guessing when give a
little looks at these pages, they are asking first of all,
that question, you know, is it helping in the right way?
They're also asking questions around are you being swindled? Is
there some you know dodgy cause how do you validate that?
(03:00):
And asking some questions around that. I'm only reading between
the lines looking at the public commentary on this, and
then they're also fulfilling their legal requirements. And this is
not to defend give a little, but Nonetheless, they are
operating in a very similar space to us and saying, look,
we've got legal responsibilities here that we're not funding terrorism
(03:22):
or any other element.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Mike, how are you getting water? And if the borders
shut as tightly sealed as they are in the idea
is controlling things to the extent that they are.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, this was one of the big changes we made
through as the war in Gaza progressed. We had initially
brought food across the border from Egypt. This became very difficult,
in fact very long as well. It took us seven
weeks to get our first truck of food across the border.
At the same time, we were doing water distributions in Gaza,
(03:52):
sourcing water from inside Gaza. So this means we take
the water out of boreholes where we get the money
the water, I should say out of boreholes. It goes
into our trucks and goes out to families inside Gaza.
So we're not crossing any borders. So what did this
allow us to do? Even when the borders are closed
as they are right now, Really, Fade's able to turn
(04:13):
a dollar in New Zealand into water, to a dollar
in New Zealand today into water in Gaza tomorrow, because
everything happens within Gaza itself.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Mike, I appreciate you taking the time to talk to us.
Mike's c Wright, founder of Relief Faith. For more from
Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news talks. It'd
be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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