Go Fund Me ???

[Radicchio]

It seems like at least once a week the local news tells about a new Go Fund Me account that has been set up for someone. Many of the stories do generate much sympathy and I'm touched that people are so willing to help. At times, though, I wonder about the validity of the need. Then there are those like starting an account so someone will pay off their student loans, pay for car repairs that have already been done (and presumably paid for), or, the worst, a dream vacation to another country.

I am usually a generous person who enjoys giving gifts to others, helping when someone is in need, but I am becoming tired of the constant pleas for money. It seems like it's engendering the attitude that someone else can make your problems go away without any effort on your part. I'm not talking about a family who lost everything in a disaster, a newly widowed mother and children, someone facing a life-changing illness, etc. In those cases, it's nice that there is a way to quickly gather funds to help them out. But I also suspect it's being abused. I guess if people are willing to donate to these causes it's their business, not mine. What do you all think?

[kib]

I like to give based on where I feel my money will do the most good toward the things I believe in, which is not usually into the pockets of my peers. (agree, case-by-case, with your hardship examples.)

Basic childhood education for all
Access to birth control
Preservation and restoration of the natural world
Women's empowerment in areas where they are without voice
"voting with my dollars" by buying more expensive food and products I believe are somehow ethically or environmentally better

If someone is crowdsourcing those things, I'm in.

[ToomuchStuff]

I had never heard of Go Fund Me until your post. So let me start with your examples: "I'm not talking about a family who lost everything in a disaster, a newly widowed mother and children, someone facing a life-changing illness"
Could one not just as well argue those people aren't being responsible? (insurance, life insurance, health insurance)
There will always be people in need. I can remember one years ago, that I gave some stuff to after a neighbor told me about them (I didn't have much at all), and the neighbor gave them some furniture for their new place, after their old place was burglarized, and the burglar's lit it on fire when the wife heard someone in the house.
There will also always be someone who takes advantage of the situation. We had a guy come in this week, wanting us to put up fund raising posters, because he has stage 4 cancer. This guy has stolen, multiple times, from the one he was asking for help, from. Certainly makes one doubt him, from the start.
But crowdfunding isn't new. I remember years ago, someone posted an ad, wanting people to send their spare change (that would go in a jar, on the dresser, etc) to them, to help pay for college. The reason I remember it, was he ended up being interviewed by Johnny Carson, as an inventive way to raise money for a good cause.
Even crowfunding for an idea, can have issues. Look at the whole Occulus Rift fiasco. The fundraising, ended up being used as first round financing, going back on their kickstarter promises, then selling the company for big $$$ to Facebook.
We haven't even got into any privacy issues. (anonymous, verses getting your name on a list, where they sell that list, or use it in other ventures) Had a person I knew who was a professional fund raiser/phone solicitor. The organizations would get between one and ten percent of what was raised, while even the one making the call made more.

[Alan]

The organizations would get between one and ten percent of what was raised, while even the one making the call made more.
Was that the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation?

[ToomuchStuff]

There are lots of them that operate that way. The one I had on my mind when I posted that, was operated by someone that I knew, because of all the people we knew together, at the chamber of commerce. (an organization people seem to join to network and try to get money from others, while the chamber itself begs for money)
He ran the business (his own) and like so many I have seen on the news, would change the name every so many months (charity mill). Landline users would constantly get calls from these types of groups, and the ones I used to get would be "law enforcement" or "firefighters" of which I knew the legitimate organizations they were impersonating.

Then you have those candy machine vendors, who get the stickers for giving 1% of their profit to the organization on the sticker. But they don't have to remove the sticker and give anymore after obtaining it.

Now I have Lynyrd Skynyrd on the brain:
I said, "Won't you give me free shi*
Gimme free shi* Mister
Gimme free shi* some more?
Gimme free shi*
Gimme free shi* some more
And hope you never see me no more"

[kib]

The last line's especially good. I remember giving to a charity when I was in my 20s, thinking there, I've done my part and now they'll leave me alone. Hahahahahahaha .....

[rosarugosa]

My favorite was the daughter of someone I know, who realized (apparently belatedly), that her true calling was to be a tattoo artist. She had a wonderful once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in an unpaid 2-year internship with a highly regarded master tattoo artist. Unfortunately, her need to work to support herself & her two children was an obstacle to achieving her fondest dreams, so she was seeking to fund her apprenticeship via Go Fund Me. I believe she raised about $200 (none of it from me).

[iris lilies]

My favorite was the daughter of someone I know, who realized (apparently belatedly), that her true calling was to be a tattoo artist. She had a wonderful once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in an unpaid 2-year internship with a highly regarded master tattoo artist. Unfortunately, her need to work to support herself & her two children was an obstacle to achieving her fondest dreams, so she was seeking to fund her apprenticeship via Go Fund Me. I believe she raised about $200 (none of it from me).

My favorite was the recent funding of a funeral for a small boy. He had serious heart defects, he had had surgery (no doubt paid for by we, the taxpayers) and his family who lived in an area of the city that is pretty much ghetto, took him to the park soon after his surgery. On the way there someone pulled up to his father's car and shot into the car. The boy was killed.

The family, having nothing, put out a plea on Go Fund Me to fund a funeral for about $6,000. They got $34,000.

[Radicchio]

I think I've at least partly figured out what bothers me with so many of these. They fall into two categories. First, those which arouse my suspicions and make me wonder whether there are any controls in place to avoid scamming people and, if so, do they work? Second, the sense of entitlement. Why is someone entitled to an outrageously expensive wedding or trip of a lifetime. In the case of the wedding, if they cannot manage their finances for that how will they manage finances in their marriage?

I will say that when I explored some of the listings on Go Fund Me I did notice a number who started out with phrases like, "As many of you know ... ," so maybe these are aimed at friends and family to let them know what they would most like, for example, for a wedding gift---perhaps just a different take on the wedding registration process---so that doesn't seem so awful. But putting out a plea and expecting people who don't know you to pay for a luxury seems way out there to me.

[Float On]

I don't mind the ones where they are getting ready to go on a mission trip or helping with extra medical expenses....but the most recent one I got was for a lady leaving her husband and moving to Hawaii because she "needs to start over in paradise".

Until I can afford to go to Hawaii for a vacation, I'm not funding someone running away to Hawaii.

[Radicchio]

Until I can afford to go to Hawaii for a vacation, I'm not funding someone running away to Hawaii.

LOL ... That pretty well summarizes up my thinking for those types of requests.