HOW CAN CROWD-FUNDING HELP SERBIAN COMMUNITIES IN KOSOVO?

In brief: because it allows us to make tremendous positive changes for our compatriots in there with only $10 a month per Serbian American family.

Let me elaborate.

The 2010 census counted nearly 200,000 Serbian Americans living in about 80,000 households. This might be an underestimation, but any other number might as well be just a wild guess. Let us therefore agree that there are at least 80,000 Serbian Americans households and 200,000 individuals of Serbian ancestry. With a median household income of $70,000 we ranked 41 out of 96 ethnic groups in the 2016 US Community Survey.

This means that, despite our small size and modest individual means, every year we collectively make $5.6 billion – equivalent to 15% of Serbia’s GDP and about 50% of its budget.

How many of us are willing to actually do something for our people in Kosovo? Various polls suggest 3 out of 4 Serbs still consider Kosovo to be a part of Serbia; however, not all of them might be willing to act on it in some way. On the other hand, the fact that the remaining quarter have given up on Kosovo in Serbia does not mean some of them would not help our people on purely humanitarian grounds. There also seems to be a split between the lower and middle class (largely in favor of not giving up on Kosovo) and our upper class (which seems willing to give up but has no courage to do so). The willingness to act further depends on what exactly is to be done. I will make a conservative guess here, and propose that – under reasonable assurance they are not being scammed – a third of all American Serbs could be swayed to engage. That is about 25,000 households.

What changes if each of the 25,000 willing households puts aside $10 every month towards this cause? This is only (12 x $10 / $70,000) ≈ 0.2% of the average household income. And yet

25k households x $10/month x 12 months = $3,000,000 every year. 

This means that in a single year and without an undue financial strain on any single family the Serbian American community could afford to, for example:

-         Erect 60 farms similar to the one we are fundraising for in Gra?anica - roughly 1 in each remaining sustainable Serbian village in Kosovo

-         Purchase 1,000 acres of land in the areas bordering with or surrounding the Serbian villages

-         Buy 1 brand new state-of-the-art MRI machine. Or 1 brand new CT scanner. Or 10 high-end ultrasound machines. Or 60 incubators.

-         Award $1,500 to every Serbian newborn in Kosovo (at the current birth rate). Or $750 to every newborn at a doubled birth rate

-         Build a water treatment facility where needed (water quality has been a problem in Gra?anica for years now)

Now, imagine whatever you think are the most productive ways to invest $3 million. Then multiply that with 20 years (1999 – 2019). Then multiply that with 4 or 5 – because our example would have motivated our much larger European diaspora to engage on their own.

Can you imagine what all could have been done?

Unfortunately, we effectively wasted those 20 years. This is not to say our community did not do anything, or that we did not have good intentions. But the fact is we do not own 20,000 acres of land in Kosovo. There is no water treatment plant in Gra?anica. There are no modern bed frames in the hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica, let alone MRI machines. In fact it is by no means certain we will raise enough money to just build this one small farm. Which is why I use the word “wasted”.

Let us not waste another 20 years. Let us join forces, and gradually make this happen.