We are asked this question a lot, by supporters, members and partners, so thought it would be important to address this directly in the Beam Blog.

Joe (Beam member) with Seb (Member Manager)

Our guiding principles

We knew when we started Beam that the often complex and long-standing personal challenges faced by our members would lead on some occasions to a campaign being withdrawn. In these situations, we are guided by three core principles that we would like to share with you:

  1. Act in the best interests of the member
  2. Respect the member’s wishes and concerns
  3. Preserve supporter donations

The members

At Beam, we do everything we can to make sure our members are ready and able to train and work before they join the platform. We also work closely with our charity partners to reduce the chaos and instability that can exist in our members’ lives.

There are lots of checks and balances in our onboarding process before someone can become a Beam member. This includes a referral from one of our charity partners (who advise that the individual is ready and able to work), our own risk assessment, multiple in-person meetings, and gathering references from two or more people in positions of responsibility (this could be a GP, a hostel manager or support worker, for example).

However, the reality is that we are working with vulnerable individuals in complex situations and with multiple needs. Long term personal issues persist for many, meaning in some cases campaigns are withdrawn.

This has been the case for only one member so far. If a campaign is withdrawn, we aim to ensure the member has the right support around them including of course the charity that referred them to Beam. The door is always open for members to return to Beam once they have reached a better place.

The Supporters

When a campaign is withdrawn, the supporters are notified and given three options:

  1. They can reallocate their donation to another member of their choice
  2. They can receive a full refund from Beam
  3. If they do nothing, their donation is automatically and equally split by Beam between all other live campaigns

If you have any other questions for the Beam Team, please send them over to [email protected] or give us a tweet. We’ll try to answer them in our next “You Asked” blog section.