logo
Donate
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
    • Glossary
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Magazine
  • Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

A GoFundMe Campaign for the Border Wall?

Ruth McCambridge
December 19, 2018
Avaaz [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

December 17, 2018; Arizona Republic

President Trump is reported to have backed off his threat to shut down the federal government in response to the refusal from Congress to organize the votes to pay for the border wall. In fact, congressional leaders even balked at supporting the funding of a $1 billion “slush fund” to support general security upgrades at the border of the president’s choice.

His retreat may have saved us all from national embarrassment. New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin wrote a column floating the notion of a national crowdfunding campaign on Saturday, one presumably in the range of $8 billion to $67 billion.

Later, he told Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade he believed the idea had legs: one reader, he said, wrote in to say, “If the 63 million people who voted for Donald Trump each contributed $80, that would get you near the $5 billion mark.” Another enthusiastic commenter said, “All someone has to do is start, and I guarantee money will flow in like the thousands of illegal immigrants bum rushing the border.”

But, cautions Laurie Roberts of the Arizona Republic, Arizona has traversed this ground before. Back in 2011, Governor Jan Brewer and the state’s Republican-controlled legislature declared that if the Feds wouldn’t build a 372-mile fence, then they’d raise the money—then estimated at $50 million—from donors to do so themselves. Six years later, the fund was closed having raised $270,000. At the time the failed effort launched, then-Rep. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, said, “I call this Extreme Home Makeover: Border Security Edition. Instead of a family in need, it’s a country in need, and people are willing to step up to help.”

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Goodwin is carrying this dream forward. “I think that’s the kind of thing that needs to happen,” he said, suggesting that one might even sell advertising on it. “It could be a People’s Wall.” “The important thing is,” Goodwin says, “the public could step in and effectively do this thing that the president wants.”

Roberts writes, in response, “I can see it now. Advertisers lining up to put their logo on a wall along Arizona’s remote rugged desert stretches, especially if their target audiences are rattlesnakes or drug mules.”

One thing is for sure: None of the $1.75 million that remains from the Trump Foundation would be directed to that campaign.—Ruth McCambridge

NPQ is an independent nonprofit organization that has been serving nonprofit leaders for more than 15 years. Please donate today.

About the author
Ruth McCambridge

Ruth is Editor Emerita of the Nonprofit Quarterly. Her background includes forty-five years of experience in nonprofits, primarily in organizations that mix grassroots community work with policy change. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Ruth spent a decade at the Boston Foundation, developing and implementing capacity building programs and advocating for grantmaking attention to constituent involvement.

More about: CrowdfundingNonprofit NewsPolicy

Our Voices Are Our Power.

Journalism, nonprofits, and multiracial democracy are under attack. At NPQ, we fight back by sharing stories and essential insights from nonprofit leaders and workers—and we pay every contributor.

Can you help us protect nonprofit voices?

Your support keeps truth alive when it matters most.
Every single dollar makes a difference.

Donate now
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

You might also like
Cancer Research in the US Is World Class Because of Its Broad Base of Funding—with the Government Pulling Out, Its Future Is Uncertain
Jeffrey MacKeigan
Endowments Aren’t Blank Checks—but Universities Can Rely on Them More Heavily in Turbulent Times
Ellen P. Aprill
US Colleges and Universities Have Billions Stashed Away in Endowments—a Higher Ed Finance Expert Explains What They Are
Todd L. Ely
Nonprofits Under Fire: How the IRS Can—and Cannot—Revoke Federal Tax-Exempt Status
Jeffrey S. Tenenbaum, Esq.
Providence Nonprofits Reeling from Funding Cuts and Threats (And, Organizations—What You Can Do!)
Cynthia M. Gibson
Supreme Court Considers Whether States May Prevent People Covered by Medicaid from Choosing Planned Parenthood as Their Healthcare Provider
Naomi Cahn and Sonia Suter

Upcoming Webinars

Group Created with Sketch.
May 27th, 2:00 pm ET

Ask the Nonprofit Lawyer

Register
Group Created with Sketch.
June 26th, 2:00 pm ET

From Performance Management to Mutual Commitment

Fostering a Culture of Joyful Accountability

Register

    
You might also like
US Capitol Building
Tax Provision Would Give Trump Administration Unilateral...
Rebekah Barber and Isaiah Thompson
A female scientist wearing a turquoise protective hair cap, yellow safety goggles, blue gloves, and a blue protective gown peers intently into a black microscope while carefully holding a pipette.
Cancer Research in the US Is World Class Because of Its...
Jeffrey MacKeigan
A piggy bank wearing a graduation hat and standing on a pile of cash, symbolizing how endowments for academic institutions can be accessed in difficult times.
Endowments Aren’t Blank Checks—but Universities Can Rely...
Ellen P. Aprill

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright
  • Donate
  • Editorial Policy
  • Funders

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.