I think the attempt to fake their failure by some companies to gain benefits on such a platform is almost guaranteed. This would be even easier for them to do if the platform was not locally restricted (foreign people intending to help couldn't assess the situation objectively).
The situation might become similar to cases on Kickstarter when people advertise their "legit" project very well, take the money and disappear without realizing the idea. So I think we should brainstorm some ways to prevent this apart from limiting the number of times each business can ask for help on the platform.
Maybe allowing to ask for help only once is a better option than twice, because then the owners would think twice before using their only chance for help just to tease some additional money out.
Companies who are not even real in the first place could still abuse this though. These days a lot of businesses are only virtual or have little physical presence. Would the site be dedicated to those companies who have a substantial physical presence or any company, including entirely virtual ones?
Providing some proof of imminent bankruptcy to the moderators of the site could help. Like legally confirmed documents of income and spendings, etc. The moderators could then decide if the case is legit and worth publishing on the site. It would be best if the moderators had substantial experience in the fields of business or/and law or went through specialized training in order to objectively assess this.
The site and the salaries of the moderators could be sustained by the business model where a certain percentage of the gathered income from the supporters would go to the company owning that website.
Darko Savic Apr 28, 2022
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