tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post8492736982873123159..comments2024-02-11T19:28:27.997+11:00Comments on Personal Reflections: The political rise of the bloggertariatJim Belshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-28089030606338690842011-06-13T23:07:46.469+10:002011-06-13T23:07:46.469+10:00KVD, sorry for the delay in responding and for the...KVD, sorry for the delay in responding and for the late appearance of your comment. Spam blocker again!<br /><br />Do please email me the accounts.Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-35545819106413162102011-06-10T16:56:02.572+10:002011-06-10T16:56:02.572+10:00Hi Jim
Back to GetUp – because it interests me. ...Hi Jim<br /><br />Back to GetUp – because it interests me. I’ve spent a few hours (and $50) looking at this organisation, and it is a puzzle – is all I can say. There are three possibilities:<br /><br />1) It is more like an evangelical church than anything else – except replace Jesus with an ever-changing ‘thing’ which “needs your money, right now” and you’ve got the basic business model. Jerry Falwell would be envious.<br />2) Or it is a test bed for internet innovation, the end product being a very saleable, very highly developed internet marketing schema. Look at the mainpage – elements which could be easily adapted and onsold to any “do it now, give me money” web-based business. The site suggests that it could be easily be pre-packaged for “local campaigns”.<br />3) Or it is a cleverly funded grooming school for budding politicians. (Current “MD” is 25 years old. My bet he’s in the Senate in 10 years time – after “years of selfless work, etc. etc.)<br />4) Or it’s a genuine grassroots political movement…. (You will note I suggested three possibilities)<br /><br />Other issues I have:<br /><br />- on the about/disclosure page, very few links actually work – important stuff if you were investigating bona fides<br />- there’s a 24 item list of large donors (which does not add up) noted as representing 22% of GetUp’s donations. But if you consolidate that list by name, you find about 16 entities, being 3 unions, 3 or 4 venture capitalists, and including the founders, variously, of LookSmart, RSVP, Wotif, and Lonely Planet.<br />- This is a public company limited by guarantee. The “members” variously quoted up to 500,000 seem to be people who’ve clicked a button agreeing to receive emails. It also reports that 50,000 of them are actually giving money (donations) to this business. Wish I had their names…<br /><br />I’ll email you the 2010 annual return – cost me $50, told me absolutely nothing – and I’m an accountant by trade, well versed in this sort of stuff. – but only if you are interested.<br /><br />Concluding, if you think this is an interesting development in democracy, then I think I’d like to offer you shares in the Harbour Bridge.<br /><br />kvdAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com