On the whole, there is a lot to like about the My Community Project scheme.

It is offering each electorate across NSW a pot of money - around $260,000 for each electorate - and offering community groups the chance to apply for a slice of the pie.

The state government is looking for projects that "help improve the wellbeing of the people and communities" in each of the state's 93 electorates, and no one could take issue with that.

What does jar, however, is the government turning to an online poll to decide which local projects should win the funding.

Everyone over the age of 16 has been invited to cast an online vote for between three and five of the projects nominated within their electorate - but only after they create a MyServiceNSW Account.

That's to ensure people only vote once but that's where any sense of equity ends.

The very real danger is that thousands of dollars in My Community Project funding is going to be funnelled to the organisations that generate the most social media engagement rather than projects that might be the most worthy.

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The online vote encourages people to support the projects that benefit those groups with which they have a direct association rather than projects that might offer a benefit for the greater good.

It's "what's in it for me?" in the form of an online poll, and all funded by the state government.

There is no perfect way to distribute public money as it must always come down to a matter of opinion.

But having funding decisions made at arm's length rather than by those set to benefit most directly still seems a much safer and sensible approach.

It is commendable that the government has deigned to give us a say on where our money is spent.

There's no doubt about it, asking the community what they want, and acting on it, is a surefire way to winning respect and possibly even votes - but it does feel very cynical on the government's part.

The other factor worth mentioning is while why we can be cynical about the process there's nothing saying that the community is capable of making the right choice - which we have the opportunity to do now.