Today, I came across an interesting article by cruxcrush.com regarding the recent crowdfunding effort by Alex Puccio. It is well known that professional climbing athletes make far less money than in other sports. This ‘lack of funding’ has recently led to a number of athletes (not just Alex Puccio) trying to raise money through crowdfunding on the internet. Is it right to ask for money from your peers as a professional athlete?
‘While crowdfunding may be commonplace amongst start-up businesses, bands, and filmmakers, it has rarely been used by climbers, until last week when Alex Puccio posted a request for donations on the crowdfunding website RallyMe. Setting her goal at $10,000, Alex plans to use the money to fund her 2015 World Cup circuit travel expenses, where she hopes to, once and for all, clinch the title of World Cup Champion. Her request for funding has received a range of responses from the climbing community, from “I couldn’t think of a better cause worth supporting! So honored to be able to donate to see this hero make her mark on the world!” to “I feel insulted that Miss Puccio feels she’s entitled to money that could go to better causes.” With these two opinions and many in between it got us thinking about why the climbing community seems to be so polarized about Alex’s crowdfunding.’
-read the full article here at cruxcrush.com.
