Is NOT easy to help! \ stacker news ~bitcoin

6332 sats \ 11 comments \ @criptopanas 13 Sep 2023 bitcoin

I got involve with BTC many years ago, when I was cleaning houses in Australia, you can read a little bit more about my story here

Since then, I've try to orange pill as many friends and family I have and let me tell you that is not an easy task

Now days, I do videos in Spanish for my youtube channel in order to help more people and save me some time...

Many friends and almost all my family holds some SATS.

But, since many years ago I've tried to orange pill some animal shelters in Spain and the success is NONE. I've offer them to go to their place, do a Bitcoin 101, install a wallet, send some SATS, help them to receive donations from Bitcoiners around the world...All this help, I've offered for FREE

Most of the emails that I sent, I don't get any reply, same for the phone calls...I'm sure that in some time, many of then will be very interested on the Bitcoin topic...

Some friends advice to send the same email but charging some money for my services. So the shelter will takes me in a more serius way.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WANT TO HELP THE DOGS SHELTERS IN YOUR CITY?

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405 sats \ 2 replies \ @elvismercury 13 Sep 2023

Thanks for your efforts. That's really admirable.

My sense, from spending a bunch of time in shelters, is that a lot of them are so absolutely gobsmacked with trying to keep their heads above water, that any additional mental load -- even a generous offer like yours -- is too much. The lady who runs the shelter where we just got our cat seems to be barely holding her sanity together. People who run shelters are driven by compassion; the mission is all-consuming. It doesn't surprise me that they don't have time for what probably, to them, seems like some weird scam.

Would it be possible to help setup for btc donations, and also help them convert it to dollars? So you're there for the whole lifecycle of it? I wonder if that message would go over differently, something like:

There are lots of people, all over the world, who could donate bitcoin to you. Bitcoiners love to support institutions that take bitcoin, and principles-driven people. I can set up a thing to take donations, and then every week or two I can come and convert it into dollars and send it to your bank. Or you can have someone else do it, if you don't want it to be me.

Something like that?

50 sats \ 0 replies \ @faradayfedora 13 Sep 2023

You are pretty much spot on. Also congrats on the new cat!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @criptopanas OP 14 Sep 2023

On my last email I explained what could they do with the BTC received, the options were: Buy a gift card from Bitrefill so the shelter can buy food for the dogs at Carrefour for example, buying from another business link to btcmap.org and the last option was to contact me and I'll go there and exchange cash for BTC.

I know the shelters are with plenty of work and learning about BTC is not a priority yet. But I'm sure that it will be a great use case for Bitcoin.

161 sats \ 2 replies \ @faradayfedora 13 Sep 2023

So I can actually give you a bit of insite here. I've been working in the non profit sector for over 20 years, just shy of 10 of that has been with an animal welfare organization and for the last 2 I've run a shelter. My experience is from the other side of the world in western Canada but I think it's a safe bet the shelters over there are dealing with similar issues.

So first off is a current state of the industry and just a macro state of the world. With the pandemic we a few things happen and we are now paying the price. With people being at home we saw the demand for pets go up, alot of people took in dogs because they had time, now we see alot of untrained large breed dogs in shelter with no training, people. Give them up because they can't find a pet friendly rental, they are back at work full time or just straight up they can't afford to feed them. And cats on the other hand, we saw a huge drop off of kittens coming in during 2020, normally people if they cat had kittens they would bring them to us to get them fixed and find them home, instead they gave those kittens to friends and family maybe a few of them got fix. Even if only of those kittens have offspring it compounds quickly, year one it's 12, year 2 it's in the 60s, year 3 it's coming up close to 400 and year 4 it will be over 2000.

Second part is accepting Bitcoin isn't costless with the current state of adoption. If DarthCoin kicks down the door of my shelter today and says he wants to send me 1BTC to help the animals. If I setup a wallet to accept it, the value of it is mostly likely going to be eaten up by accounting to make sure it's all handled properly and its not going to screw us when we get audited at tax season. And you would need a whoooole lot of BTC to make up for that.

But don't loose hope, we are still very very early days of Bitcoin adopt. If you help one shelter/rescue/TNR group with accepting Bitcoin donations that will be a huge success. You are going to be looking the sweet spot of a org big enough that they have someone dedicated to fundraising/accounting but small enough that they are willing to navigate the legal/financial waters with accepting BTC.

The TLDR is shelters are getting slammed right now, fundraising is important but we have to prioritize our animals. Spay/neuter your pets!

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @criptopanas OP 14 Sep 2023

Thanks for your reply and all the info provided. There are problems with dogs & street cats everywhere.

I don't think the accounting issue will be a big problem for the small shelters, most of them accept cash in hand...so I don't think they will declare 100% of that income.

So far, they way that I have helped the most, is adopting a second dog and going as a volunteer to a shelter. But I really would like to see a local shelter accepting BTC.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @faradayfedora 14 Sep 2023

Yeah that's where I'm saying you need to find that sweet spot sized org. If they are small enough that their financial situation is cash donated instantly get used to pay stuff then Bitcoin is just money with extra steps and not worth the hassle in their view. Once adoption is at the point that their vendors are taking Bitcoin it will look a whole lot more attractive to take as donations. Where Bitcoin will have the biggest impact today is organizations looking to save for the future. That actually might be a way to lead it and get a bit more traction. Rather then saying "hey I want to help you accept Bitcoin" say instead "I want to make a small Bitcoin donation that you guys could save for future use." That way they are getting something rather then the possibility of future donations.

110 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin 13 Sep 2023

Many friends and almost all my family holds some SATS.

Just for that I will zap you!

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WANT TO HELP THE DOGS SHELTERS IN YOUR CITY?

Patience is key in Bitcoinlandia... each one will get into Bitcoin when his time will come.

Pain, suffering, death I feel. Something terrible has happened. Young Skywalker is in pain. Terrible pain...

Patience you must have my young padawan...

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @newnym 13 Sep 2023

I think it comes down to the old saying: You can't help those who don't want to be helped. I believe that in the situation you described, the dog shelters must first realize that they can benefit from bitcoin by themselves before they can be helped. Now, how do you make them realize that bitcoin can help them? I don' know.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @PRA3S3NT1A 14 Sep 2023

I know this experience. I always say that people should get out of their way. The do not realise but their biggest barrier is them selfs.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @fm 14 Sep 2023

Suena bien.. Pero vender la idea de btc si ya cuesta con amigos, por mail debe de rozar lo imposible. Yo diria que hagas algo local y presencial. Acércate presencialmente a hacer una presentación primero y si hay interés entonces vas al detalle. Todo lo de btc suena a scam por email aun...

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @purpurato 13 Sep 2023

I think talking to them in person is the way, mails and other electronic means are not how we humans are convinced, that's what I think.

But if you already tried several ways and still don't get any interest, than that's surely not for them. It's the same with women ;)