Your opinion on gofundme.com?

[rszdtrvl]

My brother, for the second time, has posted a link on Facebook to a "gofundme" account.

The first time was when he was trying to get people to donate money so he could get dental work done.

Yesterday, it was so people could donate money to pay for his son's uniform for an extra-curricular activity.

I just rolled my eyes, because that is just how he is.

But I was wondering what everyone thought about the internet being an opportunity to try to raise money for various items.

I totally get raising money from friends/family for a funeral or extreme medical emergency. But for a school uniform or dental care?? To me, that is similar to online panhandling.

 

[NaLisa]

My brother, for the second time, has posted a link on Facebook to a "gofundme" account.

The first time was when he was trying to get people to donate money so he could get dental work done.

Yesterday, it was so people could donate money to pay for his son's uniform for an extra-curricular activity.

I just rolled my eyes, because that is just how he is.

But I was wondering what everyone thought about the internet being an opportunity to try to raise money for various items.

I totally get raising money from friends/family for a funeral or extreme medical emergency. But for a school uniform or dental care?? To me, that is similar to online panhandling.

I have a teacher relative who used it to request funds for her inner-city, low-income kindergarten classroom. No problem at all with that.

But I would completely ignore a funding request for someone's dental work or school uniform.

 

[HM]

I agree that your brother isn't using the site correctly.

I think the idea to fund a business that is just starting out or to help pay for cancer treatments seem to be a much better use of the program. To pay for expenses that you should expect in the life of your household is not.

BTW, did folks fund his dental work?

 

[JanaDee]

My opinion is not complimentary. I'll leave it at that.

 

[rszdtrvl]

I totally agree. That is why I rolled my eyes when he requested help for dental care due to him not taking care of his teeth earlier in his life, or asking for help for his son's uniform.

I have no issues in other requests. But requesting help with things like child support, school uniforms, etc. is ridiculous, IMO.

 

[Patch'sD]

Social Media Pan Handling, Still has at least a smart phone with a data plan and wants people to give him money.

 

[Pakey]

We were talking about this site at work yesterday. I particularly enjoyed one I saw where someone was trying to fund a European vacation.

 

[cabanafrau]

Social Media Pan Handling, Still has at least a smart phone with a data plan and wants people to give him money.

Social Media Panhandling, very spot on description.

I haven't experienced this personally, but I have no tolerance for this type of thing.

 

[DisDance]

An organization I am apart of wants us all to make a page like that to fundraise, I just do not feel comfortable soliciting people like that, I don't like when people do it to me either. If I want, I will ask people I am extremely close to to donate

I think it's obnoxious seeing it in Facebook day after day, people creating these long posts to get people to donate. It's not for me

 

[okeydokey]

I think it is super tacky for personal things. If you want your kid to participate in extracurriculars, then they can work for it.

I have donated through the site before for actual ventures. I helped fund a jazz band trying to get an album made and will receive a copy of the CD when finished.

 

[ebtbmom]

One was started for a close friend recently (took some arm twisting for her to agree) to raise funds for her and her husband to travel to a cancer center out of state. She was seriously considering going alone so they wouldn't have his expense to deal with. I'm glad someone talked her into it because they were both able to go together to see if she needs a bone marrow transplant. I think it's intended to be used for this type of situation.

 

[MIGrandma]

My brother, for the second time, has posted a link on Facebook to a "gofundme" account.

The first time was when he was trying to get people to donate money so he could get dental work done.

Yesterday, it was so people could donate money to pay for his son's uniform for an extra-curricular activity.

I just rolled my eyes, because that is just how he is.

But I was wondering what everyone thought about the internet being an opportunity to try to raise money for various items.

I totally get raising money from friends/family for a funeral or extreme medical emergency. But for a school uniform or dental care?? To me, that is similar to online panhandling.

I completely agree about the funeral or extreme medical emergency. But to ask people to pay for dental work or a kid's uniform is ridiculous. People need to pay for those types of things theirselves, or do without. What is even more ridiculous is people (other than a close friend or family) who contribute to these requests.

I have a teacher relative who used it to request funds for her inner-city, low-income kindergarten classroom. No problem at all with that.

But I would completely ignore a funding request for someone's dental work or school uniform.

I agree with the low-income kindergarten class funding, great idea and people who do donate to that are helping an entire group, not just one person.

 

[rszdtrvl]

One was started for a close friend recently (took some arm twisting for her to agree) to raise funds for her and her husband to travel to a cancer center out of state. She was seriously considering going alone so they wouldn't have his expense to deal with. I'm glad someone talked her into it because they were both able to go together to see if she needs a bone marrow transplant. I think it's intended to be used for this type of situation.

This is exactly the situation I would donate to in a heartbeat!

 

[wiigirl]

Social Media Panhandling, very spot on description.

I haven't experienced this personally, but I have no tolerance for this type of thing.

same here...

 

[wiigirl]

Social Media Panhandling, very spot on description.

I haven't experienced this personally, but I have no tolerance for this type of thing.

same here...

 

[TeresaNJ]

My opinion is not complimentary. I'll leave it at that.

Ditto!

 

[barkley]

An organization I am apart of wants us all to make a page like that to fundraise, I just do not feel comfortable soliciting people like that, I don't like when people do it to me either. If I want, I will ask people I am extremely close to to donate

I think it's obnoxious seeing it in Facebook day after day, people creating these long posts to get people to donate. It's not for me

for me-I would rather get an e-mail w/ a link to something like this for funds from a group I'm a part of or support vs. a mass mailing or a phone call solicitation I'm not bothered as much by the mailings, but I sat on the board of a non profit group, and it killed me to see how much we spent on the mailers and the postage as compared to the return in donations (I honestly feel if a person is inclined to make a donation to a group, receiving multiple mailers for donations causes them to question how funds are being managed). if I received an e-mail with a link to a site that I knew was secure, and had a reputation for charging a MINIMAL fee out of proceeds I might be inclined to donate via that route.


as for people trying to get funds for their kid's extracurricular -i'm against it. if there's a need within their extracurricular then the participants can do traditional fundraising where they put forth effort to earn/learn the value of working to meet a WANT (vs. a need). on the other hand-I would again rather get an e-mail w/ a link that I can ignore vs. the flyers and phone calls (from the kids) 'begging' for the money (I still remember getting hit up by a 'friend' who enrolled her kid in one of those overpriced 'you can be a model' scam programs she couldn't afford-she got a relative to pay the outrageous 'tuition' but peppered every friend/neighbor/business contact with flyers and phone calls from the kid for the $$$$$$$ to go to the out of state 'training opportunities'-read 'bogus casting calls'-this was before social media took off so people just stopped taking her phone calls and avoided her).

 

[daughtersrus]

I have a teacher relative who used it to request funds for her inner-city, low-income kindergarten classroom. No problem at all with that..

My DD's have used donorschoose dot org to get supplies for their classrooms. All of the donations were from strangers. All but one were via gift cards. I'm not sure how it works but it sounds like the donors earned gift cards from some type of reward program that can be applied to a donorschoose project. Both of my DD's teach self-contained Special Ed classrooms.

 

[Liberty Belle]

I don't see a problem with it. It would bother me if they came across on facebook or something, but that's a specific site where people can ask for or donate things. I have never and am 99.99% sure I would never do it (on either end), but if someone wants to look it over and donate to someone who may need dental work or classroom supplies or food, I don't see the problem with it.

 

[Tozzie]

I am not a fan of what some people try to get money to pay for things such as a wedding a first home, breast enlargement suegery etc. that said, we held a fundraiser for a fiend who died of multiple myloma when he was 40 and we used the site mostly so people who wanted to donate and couldnt make the fundraiser could donate. It did really help.