Shouldn't you be off, not wasting a single second of your life, researching every last detail of every last holocaust ever perpetrated by man?
Panhandling can be a noble art form. Don't dis the panhandlers. I've spent more than a few afternoons drinking whatever rotgut a panhandler that had got my attention wanted and listened to at first their schtick and hopefully eventually something real. Some of them have refined their personas to such an extent that I imagine they don't even really know themselves anymore. Compulsive liars (story tellers), but sometimes vastly entertaining liars. Others rely more strictly on emotional manipulation. Some of them are sophisticated enough to tailor their approach on the basis of their observations of the chosen mark. Generally it seems a panhandler can only expect very brief contact and so they have to have a hook that grabs you. Some employ a rapid fire strategy, quickly moving from mark to mark.
Some of them have chosen their way of life. But many, probably most, have not. They are on the streets for many reasons, primarily economic dislocation, mental illness, and addiction. It's a downward sprial. I've been close enough to scout out places where I might sleep. Once I started looking I noticed that the best places were already taken.
Of course independent funding of journalism is a fantastic idea.
I assume you looked around on the indiegogo website. When I saw the variety of reasons people were asking for money it got me to thinking of the things I would want to raise money for. Calling it panhanding was just a play on my nick here, well, that and a recognition that crowd source funding is to some extent a high tech form of panhandling, albeit I imagine indiegogo would frown on starting a campaign to fund liquor procurement.
