# Be the first crowdsourced millionaire **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 20, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-the-first-crowdsourced-millionaire/613382 "2012-02-20T01:38:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MannyL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MannyL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MannyL)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-the-first-crowdsourced-millionaire/613382/1 "2012-02-20T01:38:18Z")
I have a dream of being the first person (that I’m aware of) to get get one million people to each send a dollar by pay pal. Other than word of mouth to my friends and a youtube video how can I promote this? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-the-first-crowdsourced-millionaire/613382/2 "2012-02-20T01:51:52Z")
I’d suggest you include some nominal reason for them giving you the cash, like a project of some kind, so as to not invite scrutiny. BTW, what are the tax rules on crowdfunding? ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-the-first-crowdsourced-millionaire/613382/3 "2012-02-20T02:05:19Z")
You’d better do it in the [next 38 hours](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/599092525/the-order-of-the-stick-reprint-drive) as of this posting. Once the funding drive ends, the pledges will be applied, and Rich Burlew will receive over a million bucks from Teh Internetz. Granted, his isn’t as spread out as you describe, and he will start spending it almost immediately on printing, shipping, and so forth. For at least a moment, though, he will be a crowdsourced millionaire. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-the-first-crowdsourced-millionaire/613382/4 "2012-02-20T02:05:32Z")
Too late. It has already been done. [The Million Dollar Homepage - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Million_Dollar_Homepage) ---
**Author:** ![MannyL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MannyL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MannyL)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-the-first-crowdsourced-millionaire/613382/5 "2012-02-20T02:23:03Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I’d suggest you include some nominal reason for them giving you the cash, like a project of some kind, so as to not invite scrutiny. > > BTW, what are the tax rules on crowdfunding? I believe it would be considered the same as gifting. The sender would not pay any tax but the receiver would. The reason would be a study on how someone would live their life for one year knowing they would not have to worry about income. Would they donate and take on projects that can improve the life of other people or would they just blow it all. Personally I would use it to cut back on my overtime and enroll in online college classes. > [@AnalogSignal](#): > > Too late. It has already been done. [The Million Dollar Homepage - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Million_Dollar_Homepage) Well that person actually sold something for your dollar I’m giving nothing in return except for knowing you gave money to someone you don’t know to do anything they want with it. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-the-first-crowdsourced-millionaire/613382/6 "2012-02-20T04:50:09Z")
Moved MPSIMS --\> IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![BeaMyra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@BeaMyra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeaMyra)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-the-first-crowdsourced-millionaire/613382/7 "2012-02-20T06:18:06Z")
I remember over ten years ago a woman did this. She held a beg-a-thon and got over $10,000. But she was one of the first to do it. She set up a website and was pretty honest about how she screwed up with credit cards and spent herself into debt. But since she made $10,000, I think anyone trying something similar would get far less today. ---
**Author:** ![Jake\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Jake\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake_Jones)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-the-first-crowdsourced-millionaire/613382/8 "2012-02-20T08:04:05Z")
[QUOTE=MannyL] I believe it would be considered the same as gifting. The sender would not pay any tax but the receiver would. [/QUOTE] You have that that exactly backwards. Cash or equivalent gifts are currently limited to $13k. Any gift that exceeds that amount incurs a tax liability to the person giving the gift, not the recipient. I’m not certain, but my assumption is that any for-profit company or any individual soliciting donations would be required to report any donations received from such an effort as income. ---
**Author:** ![MannyL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MannyL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MannyL)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-the-first-crowdsourced-millionaire/613382/9 "2012-02-20T15:59:10Z")
> [@Jake\_Jones](#): > > You have that that exactly backwards. Cash or equivalent gifts are currently limited to $13k. Any gift that exceeds that amount incurs a tax liability to the person giving the gift, not the recipient. > > I’m not certain, but my assumption is that any for-profit company or any individual soliciting donations would be required to report any donations received from such an effort as income. How do I have that backwards. The person sending the gift would not pay a tax on it but the person who received the gift would pay taxes which is what I said. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-the-first-crowdsourced-millionaire/613382/10 "2012-02-20T16:17:54Z")
Because that’s not how gift tax works in the US. The tax is due on the donor not the recipient. See [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_tax_in_the_United_States) for more of an explanation.