is a virtual honesty box possible?

HonestyBox

Hello!

I stumbled across your Forum tonight researching a financial conundrum, and was hoping someone reading this might know the answer

My friend would like to set up a virtual honesty box on a blog whereby readers could contribute to the running costs anonymously. She's keen not to know who's making the donations, but would declare any income as sole trader earnings in the UK (i.e. she wouldn't be posing as a charity).

I've looked into PayPal donations for her, and it doesn't look possible to keep transfers anonymous. So far, the only other suggestion I've come up with is to simply put her account, sort code and IBAN number on the blog so readers can make electronic transfers without a reference. Don't know how safe that would be, though?

Any and all suggestions to keep it as simple & legal as possible would be much appreciated!

Thanks

Savvy_Sue

HonestyBox wrote: »

So far, the only other suggestion I've come up with is to simply put her account, sort code and IBAN number on the blog so readers can make electronic transfers without a reference. Don't know how safe that would be, though?

Extremely unsafe, I'd have thought! the ONLY way I can think of to protect herself would be to see if she can set up a bank account which only allows withdrawals in restricted circumstances. It's what charities are advised to do if they publish their bank details online (as most do).

Horace

Another thing your friend could try is to ask local businesses to sponsor the blog - my local friends group is planning to do this to fund the webhosting and will be charging around £100 for 6 months (it is great advertising if your blog is on the first page of google all the time). She could also sign up to Affiliate Window and have a few ads on the site so that when folks click to buy something commission goes to her bank (she would not know who was buying what, she would just see the commission).

Percy1983

HonestyBox wrote: »

Hello!

I stumbled across your Forum tonight researching a financial conundrum, and was hoping someone reading this might know the answer

My friend would like to set up a virtual honesty box on a blog whereby readers could contribute to the running costs anonymously. She's keen not to know who's making the donations, but would declare any income as sole trader earnings in the UK (i.e. she wouldn't be posing as a charity).

I've looked into PayPal donations for her, and it doesn't look possible to keep transfers anonymous. So far, the only other suggestion I've come up with is to simply put her account, sort code and IBAN number on the blog so readers can make electronic transfers without a reference. Don't know how safe that would be, though?

Any and all suggestions to keep it as simple & legal as possible would be much appreciated!

Thanks

Well if you use paypal donations yes names will be listed but you could just move the balance out without looking at the names.

Kayalana99

it does seem a lot of effort just to keep a name hidden from a person you wouldnt know

InsideInsurance

That isnt an honesty box, its a donations box you want. Honesty boxes are for paying for things

You only get limited details of the sender from PayPal donations and its only a copy of what the person puts in. If they say their name is Cookie Monster then thats what you will see. Now obv most will put in their real name, as they are requested to, but there is no way to validate names are correct or not.

Putting bank details online is not sensible and some banks do charge for receiving foreign transfers and so she may find her account suddenly drained by a load of low value donations where the fees exceed the gift.

Theoretically there is a fraud risk but your bank details are on every cheque you write and hence we have the direct debit guarantee etc