Briton Starts Crowdfunding to Raise €1.6 Billion for Greece

As Greece makes history by missing their IMF payment, one man is setting out to fix it himself and with the help of others like him. While we all have our own ideas in how to best help Greece, one common man has gone out and done something. Taking matters into his own hands, Thom Feeney, a London shopkeeper, has started an IndieGoGo campaign to help raise €1.6 Billion for the beleaguered country.

With 6 days to go, the campaign has already raised €573,722 which is quite a lot of money for crowdfunding. However, that is still a long ways away from the stated, not yet reaching 1% of the target (that would be about €1.6 million). In his decision to start the fundraiser, Feeney noted that it was time for the people to solve the problem and all the governments dithering over it was boring. Rewards range from €3 for a poster of Greek PM Alex Tsipras, €5 for a Greek Salad and all the way up to an island for €1.6 billion though that reward has now been removed.

Right now the campaign is so popular that the IndieGoGo page that it has become inaccessible for most of the time. Given the current population of the EU, if every person is able to give around €3, the campaign will meet its goal. Counting generous donors outside the EU, it gets even easier. Even with an extra €1.6 billion though, Greece would still fall short of its debt obligations. It will be interesting to see what happens with the campaign and how the Greek government will respond in the run-up to the critical July 5th referendum.