Dear Eric: We have a friend who fancies himself a filmmaker and has made several no-budget films. We have helped him out as performers and crew, and my husband, a professional film editor, spent several years working for no pay cutting and finishing two of them.
In the beginning, our friend started a GoFundMe to help with expenses, for filming and festival entrance fees. This is a common occurrence for projects such as these. Lots of his friends contributed.
Now he is embarking on his fourth film and even before he has shot one day, he is again asking all of his friends to contribute. He states that contributions are tax-deductible. I don’t know for sure about his 501c3 status but I know he doesn’t have a legal entity that he has set up.
We won’t be contributing to his efforts but I am concerned that the same people are contributing money to him that they can ill afford, perhaps using those contributions toward their tax filing.
These people get nothing else for their contributions except a thank you credit at the end of the film. There is never any accounting for the money raised and it bothers me that our friend is at worst a scam artist or at best irresponsible in the use of his friends and their money.
Should I just mind my own business or is there something to be done to warn the GoFundMe folks that their money is just an ongoing grift in support of a “filmmaker” and that he is going to the well too often?
— Calling “Cut”
Dear Cut: You write that this is his fourth film so I don’t think “filmmaker” should be in quotes anymore. He has, by your account, done the thing he said he was going to do. He made the films! If you want an accounting of how he spent the money, ask for it.
I think playing the role of GoFundMe whistleblower is going to be more trouble than it’s worth, though. Your friends and the other donors were reading the same solicitation emails and attending the same screenings that you were. They can make their own judgments.
It’s in every artist’s best interest to continue to widen their donor pool, both as a way of building a fanbase but also so that they don’t burn out their original supporters. That’s what happened here. Your friend has lost you as a donor because he asked too many times for your liking and didn’t do the proper relationship maintenance. It can be an expensive lesson for some artists.
What’s another expensive lesson for artists? Tax fraud! GoFundMe makes it very clear that donations to personal fundraisers are generally considered personal gifts and not tax-deductible. The site has a separate portal for charity fundraisers where those with 501c3 status can register their organizations.
If a donor isn’t getting a tax receipt from a charitable organization — which GoFundMe does not provide — they’re going to have trouble getting it past their accountant.
(Send questions to R. Eric Thomas at eric@askingeric.com or P.O. Box 22474, Philadelphia, PA 19110. Follow him on Instagram and sign up for his weekly newsletter at rericthomas.com.)
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