In response to viewer questions, 13WHAM News is taking a closer look at the fundraising effort, which is listed on the parent website Indiegogo. Indiegogo has been around for four years now and is a legitimate way for people touting all kinds of projects to receive funding from strangers.
“I can’t say this is average,” says CEO Slava Rubin of the huge response for Karen Klein.
“This is special because it’s really captivated people. “This is a 60-year-old woman who’s very honest (with) high integrity. A very good person just trying to do her job,”
Anyone can start a fundraising thread on the website. But there are checks and balances and constant monitoring for fraud.
“We’ve verified everything necessary to make sure this money will wind up in her (Klein’s) hands at the end of the day,” says Rubin.
Max Sidorov says he has received lots of questions because initial contributors had trouble with PayPal – a payment option. He says he wanted to do something immediately and started the fundraiser in his own name until he could reach Klein and her family.
