Author Topic: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns  (Read 80344 times)

MMM98

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Re: Go fund me!
« Reply #50 on: January 09, 2016, 06:56:14 AM »
We live in the age of entitlement.

Papa Mustache

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Re: Go fund me!
« Reply #51 on: January 09, 2016, 08:37:37 AM »
Do people not have any shame anymore about having to ask people for money for things that they should be paying for themselves?  I am thinking mostly about the kayak!

This! Not sure people were ever really "right".

iris lily

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #52 on: January 09, 2016, 05:39:34 PM »
I confess to have read,  off and on, GoFundMe  campaigns.And rolling me eyes.

And now I will confess that I Actually sent some money, I think  it was $50, to a random stranger here in my city. I Have never done this but I'll tell ya, the story was compelling.

Young couple answered ad for free dog. They took the dog, a photogenic Great Dane. 9 months later, original owner wanted dog back, couple said hell no he is OUR dog.

One day back fence of young couple was broken and dog disappeared.

Cops taking no action. court action ensues.

Oy vey, I may be indifferent to the illnesses of tiny children and the funeral needs of poor dead people, but by god I can relate  to someone stealing my dog. They need to hang.
« Last Edit: January 09, 2016, 05:44:00 PM by iris lily »

CindyBS

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #53 on: January 09, 2016, 06:55:56 PM »
We know a family who is terrible with money and is all about keeping up with the Jones'.  The wife has frequently looked down on my frugal ways and used to bug me all the time to have more kids.  They have a go fund me for $80K.  They do have a lot of medical expenses b/c they have a son that is disabled, but they also just declared bankruptcy a couple years ago and still spend money on crap.  Of course the page is all about the son's disability, but the truth is stuff like the $5K swingset and $5K deck may have something to do with it. 

We refuse to donate, but so many people feel sorry for them that they have raised $14K. 

My son goes to the same school as one of their kids and he told me tonight that their son has Chipotle for lunch 3x per week.  Even if it is from his allowance, shouldn't allowances be cut if they are in severe financial distress? 

tj

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #54 on: January 11, 2016, 07:57:07 PM »
One of my Facebook friends launched a GoFundMe to fund a European cruise later this year. It seemed tacky to me. I've never felt comfortable asking my buddies for money, even if it's just digitally.

Quote
We are taking this trip to reset our passion for teaching. This will not only help us, it will benefit our students. What we learn and experience can be brought back to our classrooms through stories and photographs. This trip will aid in our teaching of science, social studies, math, language arts, and humanities.

Our plan is to visit Barcelona, Provence, Pisa, Florence, Naples, Rome, Pompeii, Crete, Rhodes, Turkey, and Athens. Many of our students may never get the opportunity to travel outside of this state and will be able experience these places in the classroom through our eyes.

We know our students and both of us will be forever grateful.

This journey will renew our love for educating and broadening the minds of our students.  Thank you!

nnls

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #55 on: January 11, 2016, 08:03:59 PM »
One of my Facebook friends launched a GoFundMe to fund a European cruise later this year. It seemed tacky to me. I've never felt comfortable asking my buddies for money, even if it's just digitally.

Quote
We are taking this trip to reset our passion for teaching. This will not only help us, it will benefit our students. What we learn and experience can be brought back to our classrooms through stories and photographs. This trip will aid in our teaching of science, social studies, math, language arts, and humanities.

Our plan is to visit Barcelona, Provence, Pisa, Florence, Naples, Rome, Pompeii, Crete, Rhodes, Turkey, and Athens. Many of our students may never get the opportunity to travel outside of this state and will be able experience these places in the classroom through our eyes.

We know our students and both of us will be forever grateful.

This journey will renew our love for educating and broadening the minds of our students.  Thank you!

I would be more inclined to donate if it was money for a school trip so the students could experience it themselves. No students are going to want to listen to their teachers holiday stories.

MishMash

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #56 on: January 12, 2016, 10:20:42 AM »
I'll throw in the one I posted on Overheard on Facebook.  Old high school friend, cheated on husband, they split, she moves in with boy toy, ex has custody of the kids, she hasn't worked in..well...ever and is only working part time as a receptionist at a vet office now so she is 100% broke and has been begging for money and food for about a year now on FB.  Right before Christmas she posts a go fund me to buy presents for the kids (she was one of those that had a small mountain of presents, so much so that you couldn't see the tree, every year prior to this), and to fix her broken car so she could get to her part time job (though this only garnered half of one line on the go fund me). 

Fast foward to the next day  and she says thanks for all the requests for what to buy the kids, here is an Amazon wish list (instead of donating cash).  I click on the list and the first three pages are crap for her and her boy toy, $100 Keratin hair treatments, multiple North face jackets at 200 a pop, games etc.  The next 5 pages were all name brand toys and clothes for the kids, and the last page was full of stuff...for her pets.

golden1

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #57 on: January 12, 2016, 12:25:44 PM »
Just like people are more likely to say inappropriate or confrontational things on the internet because of the anonymity, they are also more likely to beg for things to strangers that they normally would not ask a friend or family for.

I tend to be more empathetic towards those GFM who are started by family. friends or neighbors who are trying to help someone they care about, but most of the time if someone starts it themselves, it isn't worth reading.

elaine amj

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #58 on: January 12, 2016, 01:06:02 PM »
One of my Facebook friends launched a GoFundMe to fund a European cruise later this year. It seemed tacky to me. I've never felt comfortable asking my buddies for money, even if it's just digitally.

Quote
We are taking this trip to reset our passion for teaching. This will not only help us, it will benefit our students. What we learn and experience can be brought back to our classrooms through stories and photographs. This trip will aid in our teaching of science, social studies, math, language arts, and humanities.

Our plan is to visit Barcelona, Provence, Pisa, Florence, Naples, Rome, Pompeii, Crete, Rhodes, Turkey, and Athens. Many of our students may never get the opportunity to travel outside of this state and will be able experience these places in the classroom through our eyes.

We know our students and both of us will be forever grateful.

This journey will renew our love for educating and broadening the minds of our students.  Thank you!

UGH - insanely tacky.

Alenzia

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #59 on: January 12, 2016, 02:37:07 PM »
One of my Facebook friends launched a GoFundMe to fund a European cruise later this year. It seemed tacky to me. I've never felt comfortable asking my buddies for money, even if it's just digitally.

Quote
We are taking this trip to reset our passion for teaching. This will not only help us, it will benefit our students. What we learn and experience can be brought back to our classrooms through stories and photographs. This trip will aid in our teaching of science, social studies, math, language arts, and humanities.

Our plan is to visit Barcelona, Provence, Pisa, Florence, Naples, Rome, Pompeii, Crete, Rhodes, Turkey, and Athens. Many of our students may never get the opportunity to travel outside of this state and will be able experience these places in the classroom through our eyes.

We know our students and both of us will be forever grateful.

This journey will renew our love for educating and broadening the minds of our students.  Thank you!

I would be more inclined to donate if it was money for a school trip so the students could experience it themselves. No students are going to want to listen to their teachers holiday stories.

That exactly!!! I remember we had a teacher like that in high school - whenever her travel stories came out, we zoned, and then we'd be behind on the things we were actually supposed to be learning.

fitfrugalfab

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #60 on: January 14, 2016, 07:37:28 PM »
I set up a GFM campaign for my DH. Only married a couple of months he became extremely ill and we couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. One month later he's in the ER almost dying and ended up having to to stay at the hospital for 16 days and having several surgeries with only a 50% success rate. One year later (today) he's still on chemo and has to go every 6 weeks. We have great insurance but due to his age a TON of our bill isn't covered.  So yes, we resorted to asking for an extra hand and yes I took a second job.

steviesterno

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #61 on: January 15, 2016, 05:27:27 AM »
I just saw one today for some dumbass who spent $800 on powerball tickets because they were sure they were going to win. and now they didn't, so they are broke. oh yeah, and the page is set up for them to get more money to spend on more tickets. anyone that contributes to that doesn't deserve to have any money of their own.

elaine amj

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #62 on: January 15, 2016, 08:18:18 AM »
I set up a GFM campaign for my DH. Only married a couple of months he became extremely ill and we couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. One month later he's in the ER almost dying and ended up having to to stay at the hospital for 16 days and having several surgeries with only a 50% success rate. One year later (today) he's still on chemo and has to go every 6 weeks. We have great insurance but due to his age a TON of our bill isn't covered.  So yes, we resorted to asking for an extra hand and yes I took a second job.

That's the type of situation I am happy to contribute to.

The only thing is that I find it often invites a lot of nosy people prying into how you spend your money. I was part of a group once some years ago that did a ton of fundraising, brought over dinners, etc for one mom who's baby daughter had serious health issues. I even took her two older girls in for 2 weeks so they could be at the hospital (2 hours away) with their baby. It all became a giant mess several months later when people started questioning why she had fresh manicures, etc etc. Eventually, everyone stopped speaking to her. For myself, I felt that I chose to give with an open heart and from then on, I really didn't want to start getting nitpicky. Still, it was a sad conclusion to the whole thing.

johnclauson

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #63 on: January 15, 2016, 08:47:06 AM »
How about the lovely Cinnamon Nicole who spent every dollar she had on the powerball...

https://www.yahoo.com/music/powerball-reimbursement-fund-page-created-235504618.html

autumn1962

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #64 on: January 17, 2016, 05:11:28 PM »
I recently gave a long time friend $20.00 on a GFM. Her goats were being attacked by Mountain Lions and Coyotes. She needed an electric fence and repairs to the stalls. Why not?

Ms Terror

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #65 on: January 17, 2016, 06:21:02 PM »
I saw one set up by an acquaintance who recently lost a lot of weight and now needed a tummy tuck to get rid of excess skin! She asked for $10k and I think received quite a lot. Then I saw pictures on Facebook of her in Thailand where she was having the operation showing off her new dresses for after the op, a new tattoo, and then she also decided to have a face lift while she was in there as well, because, YOLO.

Jakejake

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #66 on: February 05, 2016, 06:43:36 PM »
From one I just saw: "My rent has been increased, my cable bill has gone up, and years of low salary has resulted in high credit card debt.  ... 

In the last month, in a last ditch effort to stay afloat, I've had to put my electric bill on a smaller payment plan just to pay off one month's bill and was able to shuffle a student loan bill until after my next paycheck."

Apparently the "last ditch effort to stay afloat" doesn't include cancelling cable. If anyone here wants to donate to his cable bill, he's hoping for $2,500 in donations.

RosieTR

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #67 on: February 05, 2016, 08:33:15 PM »
These are awesome!

I was struck a few days ago by a campaign in which a woman (friend of a friend) was hoping for $10K to go to some place (Croatia, I think) for some last-ditch effort to get pregnant. In her pic, I think she's at LEAST in her 40s, and somewhat overweight(so, double-whammy for conception and smooth pregnancy). I had so many problems with this, I did not even know where to begin. Mostly I thought of two things, though. 1) LOTS of children need a parent in the US. LOTS and LOTS of children around the world would give limbs, eyes, etc to get a shot at growing up in the United States. Adopt. Foster, then adopt. Whatever. If your goal in life is to "be a MOM" as her begging story describes, you do not need to pull all the stops for a pregnancy in your 40s. Especially since the plan was for an entire donor embryo so it wouldn't even be her genetics, anyway. 2) Just what do you think daycare and a normal birth costs? Around $900/mo and $15K last I heard, which may be a few years old. If you can't come up with $10K of savings, how are you going to pay at least that for daycare each year, or potentially more for a birth (dep on health insurance)? Sounded like she was doing this solo, so yeah, there's gonna be daycare. Never mind all the other expenses that come up with bearing and raising a child, even for Mustachians. No, just because you've always WANTED to be pregnant doesn't mean other people should pay for that.

I actually did have sympathy for a local business one of these, however. This was an indie movie theater that had started by purchasing (I think) used equipment. Then after a few years, the film industry announced they were going all-digital and the theater did not have the sudden capital to install the digital players. I understand that a business needs to grow some capital for material improvements, and I think they actually had been planning to upgrade eventually, but the sudden imposed deadline would not have been possible. Then they would have been stuck in a catch-22: with no films available to play on their equipment, they would not be generating any revenue. I believe they ran it like a true fundraiser: donors received a set of free movie tickets and other branded stuff (beer glass, Tshirt etc) depending on their level of gift.

PhysicianOnFIRE

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #68 on: February 05, 2016, 10:11:28 PM »
Yeah, they run the gamut. 

What bothers me about GoFundMe is that even legitimate needs are not set up as charities.  I like giving money to those in need, but I love giving money when I can get a charitable deduction.

I have a donor advised fund, but I can't use it for the types of causes typically seen there.

honeybbq

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #69 on: February 08, 2016, 01:12:32 PM »
I have contributed to one; for volunteer firefighters that died in Washington state fighting the fires near lake Chelan last year. I doubt whatever life insurance or compensation could possibly be enough for those young men's families. I had $50 to spare and didn't think twice about it.

My step-daughter started one a few years ago. She wanted to go to... Jamaica? Costa Rica? On one of those 'volunteer' spring break things... except she needed a couple thousand dollars for the plane tickets and travel money. When we didn't give her the cash, she put up the GFM. Needless to say, she did not end up going.

coolistdude

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #70 on: February 08, 2016, 01:43:55 PM »
My daughter is turning two this year. I am attempting to forgo the typical horde of large presents and instead ask people to donate to her college fund. We are looking to avoid gofundme, but I think we will get more responses if it is as easy as using a credit card.

tj

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #71 on: February 08, 2016, 01:58:53 PM »
My daughter is turning two this year. I am attempting to forgo the typical horde of large presents and instead ask people to donate to her college fund. We are looking to avoid gofundme, but I think we will get more responses if it is as easy as using a credit card.

I wouldn't recommend this. Do it on an individual basis with people who ask, otherwise it just looks like you're asking for money.

arebelspy

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #72 on: February 08, 2016, 02:19:41 PM »
My daughter is turning two this year. I am attempting to forgo the typical horde of large presents and instead ask people to donate to her college fund. We are looking to avoid gofundme, but I think we will get more responses if it is as easy as using a credit card.

I wouldn't recommend this. Do it on an individual basis with people who ask, otherwise it just looks like you're asking for money.

Plus then gfm takes a cut.

And it's all taxable.

Set up a 529, and let them know how to contribute.
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coolistdude

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #73 on: February 08, 2016, 02:25:31 PM »
My daughter is turning two this year. I am attempting to forgo the typical horde of large presents and instead ask people to donate to her college fund. We are looking to avoid gofundme, but I think we will get more responses if it is as easy as using a credit card.

I wouldn't recommend this. Do it on an individual basis with people who ask, otherwise it just looks like you're asking for money.

Plus then gfm takes a cut.

And it's all taxable.

Set up a 529, and let them know how to contribute.

Thanks guys. Will do.

Cassie

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #74 on: February 08, 2016, 06:01:34 PM »
I only have contributed to a few and they were all for people with huge medical bills.  When my friend's daughter got a serious liver disease and needed a transplant at 18 I saw how medical expenses even with decent insurance etc, having to travel out of town for medical care really add up. I held 4 fund raisers during 1 year to help out.  I don't think GFM existed or I didn't know about it since it was 4 years ago.  People asking for $ for vacations, etc-are you kidding me?

coolistdude

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #75 on: February 08, 2016, 09:48:00 PM »
I only have contributed to a few and they were all for people with huge medical bills.  When my friend's daughter got a serious liver disease and needed a transplant at 18 I saw how medical expenses even with decent insurance etc, having to travel out of town for medical care really add up. I held 4 fund raisers during 1 year to help out.  I don't think GFM existed or I didn't know about it since it was 4 years ago.  People asking for $ for vacations, etc-are you kidding me?

Exactly. They are asking you to enable their entitlement.

Ramblin' Ma'am

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #76 on: February 10, 2016, 07:06:35 AM »
I used to get really annoyed by being constantly bombarded with these requests on Facebook, all for personal wants/lifestyle choices. One person was so shameless as to then send out an email, bcc'ing me and presumably lots of other people. "Hey, old friends! I feel like we haven't talked in forever! BTW, I noticed none of you have donated to my campaign yet! Let me tell you more about it!" This person had not contacted me for YEARS before this.

So I came up with a solution. Whenever I get a FB request to donate to a campaign that is for a clear WANT, not a NEED, I don't respond in any way, but I then make a charitable donation for people who actually need it. Just last night, someone posted on FB about needing money to record a CD. This morning I wrote a $25 check to a cancer charity.

This channels my negative feelings about the shameless requests into something positive.

« Last Edit: February 10, 2016, 07:13:41 AM by Laura82 »

Apples

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #77 on: February 10, 2016, 09:13:33 AM »
We donated to a GFM and charitable basketball game to help raise money for my uncle-in-law's family as he was diagnosed with a very severe form of cancer.  He had to travel across the country, with his wife to care for him, for a month for the surgery and recovery.  He's still on chemo almost a year later.  He can't work, and they have the worst luck in the world b/c his wife can't work due to complications from a botched surgery only two years ago.  They got some sort of settlement in court because the surgeon messed up so badly.  Anyway, they have 3 kids still at home, and no income, so the community rallied around them.  We were happy to donate.

Every other week, so the non-chemo week, he spends about an hour or two per day redoing their basement.  He's the type that can't sit around, but isn't actually well enough to work, so this is his "project".  The basement is gorgeous: new floor, new wall color, new bar, newly built table.  I think I know where all of the GFM and fundraiser money went.  We will not be donating in the future.  I understand needing something to focus on during many months at home, but this is ridiculous.

Also:  I don't like donating to Other People's Causes.  Yes, that kids cancer camp is nice, but you see I support x, y, and z charities already and would rather write a few $100 checks than many $20 checks.  Am I just a grump?  I was always uncomfortable in school asking other people to donate to whatever cause my organization supported, b/c I'd rather just donate my own money since it's my cause.  Except school fundraisers, I'll always give $20 to those. 

P.S.  GFMs for people who want to study abroad, take a trip, volunteer somewhere...the only place I've seen it be acceptable to ask for money is for church mission trips, b/c the community of the church is supporting you.  Otherwise, work another job.  Unfortunately in the future I'm guessing I'll be giving a bunch of kids $20 each for trips just to be socially acceptable. 

Homey The Clown

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #78 on: February 10, 2016, 10:27:35 AM »
A friend with a decent job asked others to donate to his son's GFM page to send him from Florida to California to do some bike races. Son is of legal age (19). He may have potential, but I'm not footing the bill. They're looking for $2000.

Papa Mustache

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #79 on: February 11, 2016, 10:39:53 AM »
We donated to a GFM and charitable basketball game to help raise money for my uncle-in-law's family as he was diagnosed with a very severe form of cancer.  He had to travel across the country, with his wife to care for him, for a month for the surgery and recovery.  He's still on chemo almost a year later.  He can't work, and they have the worst luck in the world b/c his wife can't work due to complications from a botched surgery only two years ago.  They got some sort of settlement in court because the surgeon messed up so badly.  Anyway, they have 3 kids still at home, and no income, so the community rallied around them.  We were happy to donate.

Every other week, so the non-chemo week, he spends about an hour or two per day redoing their basement.  He's the type that can't sit around, but isn't actually well enough to work, so this is his "project".  The basement is gorgeous: new floor, new wall color, new bar, newly built table.  I think I know where all of the GFM and fundraiser money went.  We will not be donating in the future.  I understand needing something to focus on during many months at home, but this is ridiculous.

Also:  I don't like donating to Other People's Causes.  Yes, that kids cancer camp is nice, but you see I support x, y, and z charities already and would rather write a few $100 checks than many $20 checks.  Am I just a grump?  I was always uncomfortable in school asking other people to donate to whatever cause my organization supported, b/c I'd rather just donate my own money since it's my cause.  Except school fundraisers, I'll always give $20 to those. 

P.S.  GFMs for people who want to study abroad, take a trip, volunteer somewhere...the only place I've seen it be acceptable to ask for money is for church mission trips, b/c the community of the church is supporting you.  Otherwise, work another job.  Unfortunately in the future I'm guessing I'll be giving a bunch of kids $20 each for trips just to be socially acceptable.

The guy needs a series of projects he can take on at his own pace that he can later sell. Restore antique furniture or make furniture that is inspired by antique styles or something. Fixing up cars or boats. Motivated = good. He's SO close to being the type that generates cashflows b/c he can't sit still. 

Apples

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #80 on: February 12, 2016, 12:57:53 PM »

The guy needs a series of projects he can take on at his own pace that he can later sell. Restore antique furniture or make furniture that is inspired by antique styles or something. Fixing up cars or boats. Motivated = good. He's SO close to being the type that generates cashflows b/c he can't sit still.

I knoooow!  It's so frustrating.  Unfortunately it always leads to money flowing out the door, not in it.

partgypsy

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #81 on: February 12, 2016, 01:19:18 PM »
Well these have been entertaining. I don't understand people. The only gofundme was someone in the community who was going to run a dogsled race (maybe the iditarod or something similar) and her significant other created a fundraising page and also sent out follow up emails about. Obviously not as bad as the ones on this thread, but I still didn't give money. I am for people following their dreams, but don't feel obligated to pay for said dreams.

Sydneystache

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #82 on: March 05, 2017, 09:52:12 PM »
Sometimes, Gofundme needs to be more socially responsible and remove pages such as the one below

https://www.gofundme.com/my-children-was-drown-by-my-ex

This page has been widely reported in the Australian press but still it is up. When does a page REALLY violates community expectations?

This incident is so tragic on so many levels and Gofundme is enabling this exploitation to continue.

nnls

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #83 on: March 05, 2017, 11:00:32 PM »
Sometimes, Gofundme needs to be more socially responsible and remove pages such as the one below

https://www.gofundme.com/my-children-was-drown-by-my-ex

This page has been widely reported in the Australian press but still it is up. When does a page REALLY violates community expectations?

This incident is so tragic on so many levels and Gofundme is enabling this exploitation to continue.

i dont think gofundme ever takes them down though do they?
though I have seen some questionable ones and I really think they should

rawr237

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #84 on: March 06, 2017, 08:01:56 AM »
I scrolled through GoFundMe, but found more sadness than amusement...plane crash killed dad and two kids, leaving pregnant mom alone....truck accident killed dad, leaving mom of one who then finds out she's pregnant with triplets, holy cow...

Also, this girl is adorable and amazing:
https://www.gofundme.com/HaileysHarvest

Wandered over to the Weddings section, figuring I'd find some ridiculousness there. Found multiple pages posted by or for couples whose wedding venue went bankrupt, so they lost $15-20k that had been paid. I would be so freakin mad...still don't think I could ask for money though.

There was one couple who both lost their jobs and couldn't afford the wedding costs they'd already committed to...it was asking for $8k or something like that...how do you sign those contracts knowing you don't have that money? The possibility of unemployment is always there, and not being able to cover your predictable expenses for at least a year...oi. But most of those pages are not posted by the actual recipients.

Re: the kayak, it doesn't seem that different than pooling money for a gift -- my family has done that previously, mostly the kids pitching in to get something for Mom or Dad. I assume it's meant to be convenient for people contributing. But there are better ways, the fees aren't worth the convenience.

FWIW when I was in school I did fundraising for mission trips, but only asked family -- now that I work FT I would just pay myself if I wanted to go. I prefer to give to registered charities because of the tax deduction, and my employer matches donations. Would likely give to a GFM for someone I know for medical, etc.

Sydneystache

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #85 on: March 07, 2017, 12:40:50 AM »
Sometimes, Gofundme needs to be more socially responsible and remove pages such as the one below

https://www.gofundme.com/my-children-was-drown-by-my-ex

This page has been widely reported in the Australian press but still it is up. When does a page REALLY violates community expectations?

This incident is so tragic on so many levels and Gofundme is enabling this exploitation to continue.

i dont think gofundme ever takes them down though do they?
though I have seen some questionable ones and I really think they should

It has been taken down! Wow, there must have been many complaints against it (or he was happy with the $1200 and decided to take it).

PoutineLover

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #86 on: March 07, 2017, 12:53:34 PM »
I'm in a travel facebook group and lots of people post gofundme campaigns to go on vacation. First of all, save up, second of all, all of us are saving up to travel and don't feel like handing over our hard-earned money and third of all, it's just so tacky. Travel isn't a necessity, if it matters to you then find a way to do it without asking for charity. Especially when they are going on a "volunteering" trip that costs many thousands of dollars so they can "do good" and "save the children/elephants/planet". Uh, no.

Livingthedream55

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #87 on: March 07, 2017, 01:52:32 PM »
Not a gofundme but a close family member (uncle and his wife)  who have a paid for house, who both work "under the table" and so grossly under-report their income and who take lavish international vacations several times a year bombard the family with email pleas to fund their daughter's "dream" to go to California or Florida to "compete" in a beauty or talent contest (think "Toddlers and Tiaras").  I've never responded but the hubris is hard to take sometimes.

Sheesh!

Wilson Hall

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #88 on: March 08, 2017, 10:23:45 AM »
I saw one set up by an acquaintance who recently lost a lot of weight and now needed a tummy tuck to get rid of excess skin! She asked for $10k and I think received quite a lot. Then I saw pictures on Facebook of her in Thailand where she was having the operation showing off her new dresses for after the op, a new tattoo, and then she also decided to have a face lift while she was in there as well, because, YOLO.

I have an acquaintance who requested funds for the same procedure years ago, although to this day I don't know if she ever raised enough to have the surgery. Based on a visit to her home, it seemed clear she wasn't blowing money on anything extravagant. She was simply "working poor." Therefore, I didn't feel bad if what little I gave ended up going toward her rent instead.

After reading about the horrible floods in Louisiana last year, I donated a little to a school and to an animal shelter. GFM takes a cut of the funds, I know, but at least they're not badgering me constantly for more donations like the Red Cross does.

lchu

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #89 on: March 10, 2017, 05:02:53 AM »
I'm a teacher and I was recently approached by an organization that does summer programs for students. Online and all over their marketing materials, it states that they offer tons of scholarship money for students, no student who attends pays the cost of the program themselves-- all sounds great, right?

Yeah, after a little digging, their "scholarship program" is actually a pre-written GoFundMe page that students set up and advertise to their friends and family.

WTF?!

LadyStache in Baja

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #90 on: March 26, 2017, 07:40:57 AM »
One of my Facebook friends launched a GoFundMe to fund a European cruise later this year. It seemed tacky to me. I've never felt comfortable asking my buddies for money, even if it's just digitally.

Quote
We are taking this trip to reset our passion for teaching. This will not only help us, it will benefit our students. What we learn and experience can be brought back to our classrooms through stories and photographs. This trip will aid in our teaching of science, social studies, math, language arts, and humanities.

Our plan is to visit Barcelona, Provence, Pisa, Florence, Naples, Rome, Pompeii, Crete, Rhodes, Turkey, and Athens. Many of our students may never get the opportunity to travel outside of this state and will be able experience these places in the classroom through our eyes.

We know our students and both of us will be forever grateful.

This journey will renew our love for educating and broadening the minds of our students.  Thank you!

I would be more inclined to donate if it was money for a school trip so the students could experience it themselves. No students are going to want to listen to their teachers holiday stories.

That exactly!!! I remember we had a teacher like that in high school - whenever her travel stories came out, we zoned, and then we'd be behind on the things we were actually supposed to be learning.

I highly doubt the students "will be forever grateful"

TravelJunkyQC

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #91 on: March 26, 2017, 08:08:48 AM »
I contributed once to a Go Fund Me campaign. An acquaintance of mine lives and works in Brussels in human rights (although not a lawyer). Her neighbour is a single mother, from India, who has lived in Belgium for years and whose son was born there. After several years of legal red-tape, the neighbour in question, who previously seeked asylum in the country, was still about to be deported.... without her 5 year old son.... who has no other family in Belgium, but who is not an Indian citizen. He would have gone into the system. I donated 20$ to help get a new lawyer to help her case. I'm not sure this neighbour had any idea that my friend had reached out to the general public to help her. The woman was doing the best she could with the resources she had, and simply asked my friend for suggestions for better human rights lawyers. My friend went one step further and I was more than happy to help as much as I could.

Villanelle

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #92 on: March 26, 2017, 08:21:30 AM »
I've made one donation to a coworker whom I have great respect for.  He and his wife are struggling to have their first child, and IVF treatments have sucked their savings.  They needed a loan for the subsequent round.  They have no children yet and badly want a family.  Outside of a long work commute, both are frugal people and terrific human beings. 

Other than that one, all gofundme's have made me want to gag:)

I don't get this.  If they can't afford the IVF, how can they afford a child?

I guess I just see 99% of the requests as personal choices.  And if you can't afford your choices, putting a sad veneer on your story in order to guilt your friends (and strangers) into donating money is ridiculous.  Often this is even the case with a death.  Sure, the death may be tragic, but so often the GFMs mention funeral costs.  You can get remains taken care of for a few hundred bucks.  You don't need a hall and a fancy casket and a zillion flowers.  And not having those things doesn't in any way honor the dearly departed any less.

 

ltt

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #93 on: March 26, 2017, 08:33:15 PM »
I've made one donation to a coworker whom I have great respect for.  He and his wife are struggling to have their first child, and IVF treatments have sucked their savings.  They needed a loan for the subsequent round.  They have no children yet and badly want a family.  Outside of a long work commute, both are frugal people and terrific human beings. 

Other than that one, all gofundme's have made me want to gag:)

I don't get this.  If they can't afford the IVF, how can they afford a child?

I guess I just see 99% of the requests as personal choices.  And if you can't afford your choices, putting a sad veneer on your story in order to guilt your friends (and strangers) into donating money is ridiculous.  Often this is even the case with a death.  Sure, the death may be tragic, but so often the GFMs mention funeral costs.  You can get remains taken care of for a few hundred bucks.  You don't need a hall and a fancy casket and a zillion flowers.  And not having those things doesn't in any way honor the dearly departed any less.

You would not believe how many people are on GFM asking for money for their adoption/s....

I've given once on GFM.  The people did not live in our local community, but they had lost their home to a fire.  It was announced on the news about the GFM page, and their church was trying to help them the best they could.  They were looking for money to help them with hotel/motel costs for a few weeks. 

KodeBlue

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #94 on: March 27, 2017, 06:12:47 AM »
Someone sent me a link to one; a firefighter is trying raise money to climb mountains this summer. The usual "I want to follow my dream with your money" stuff. But with added guilt because he's a firefighter. No thanks.

Slee_stack

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #95 on: March 27, 2017, 01:32:19 PM »


I highly doubt the students "will be forever grateful"
I highly doubt the teachers will actually be grateful either.

wonkette

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #96 on: March 27, 2017, 02:16:40 PM »
I've made one donation to a coworker whom I have great respect for.  He and his wife are struggling to have their first child, and IVF treatments have sucked their savings.  They needed a loan for the subsequent round.  They have no children yet and badly want a family.  Outside of a long work commute, both are frugal people and terrific human beings. 

Other than that one, all gofundme's have made me want to gag:)

I don't get this.  If they can't afford the IVF, how can they afford a child?

I guess I just see 99% of the requests as personal choices.  And if you can't afford your choices, putting a sad veneer on your story in order to guilt your friends (and strangers) into donating money is ridiculous.  Often this is even the case with a death.  Sure, the death may be tragic, but so often the GFMs mention funeral costs.  You can get remains taken care of for a few hundred bucks.  You don't need a hall and a fancy casket and a zillion flowers.  And not having those things doesn't in any way honor the dearly departed any less.

You would not believe how many people are on GFM asking for money for their adoption/s....

I've given once on GFM.  The people did not live in our local community, but they had lost their home to a fire.  It was announced on the news about the GFM page, and their church was trying to help them the best they could.  They were looking for money to help them with hotel/motel costs for a few weeks.

I understand it is a big up front cost but raising money for adoptions and IVF just leads to deeply uncomfortable comments like "I helped your parents pay for you!" because people are awful. I know this through some personal experience with adoptee friends unfortunately and I'm in my 30s so this was well before platforms that invited people even deeper into the details of someone's personal lives. I really worry about the impacts on people's privacy, especially children.

BFGirl

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #97 on: March 28, 2017, 10:39:03 AM »
I contributed once for a friend whose husband was diagnosed with cancer pre-ACA days. 

The worst one I saw was one in my neighborhood where they were seeking money to buy iPads to keep the 5th graders in our neighborhood learning during the summer.  Interesting that the fundraisers would get to keep the iPads.  Last I looked, no one had donated.  Seemed like a scam to me.

BabyShark

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #98 on: March 28, 2017, 10:42:41 AM »
The worst one I saw was one in my neighborhood where they were seeking money to buy iPads to keep the 5th graders in our neighborhood learning during the summer.  Interesting that the fundraisers would get to keep the iPads.  Last I looked, no one had donated.  Seemed like a scam to me.

I'm confused how this was even supposed to work?  Was the person raising the funds going to host a summer school of some sort?

nobody123

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Re: Give me Money: GoFundMe Campaigns
« Reply #99 on: March 28, 2017, 11:57:15 AM »
So, a local family had an unexpected death of their young adult son.  Apparently had a fight on the phone with his GF, wandered off into the night, and was found dead a few days later.  Horrible situation all around.  He had graduated high school and was living at home, so it's not like he was a breadwinner and the family is going to financially suffer other than paying for the funeral expenses.  Well-intentioned friend sets up a GFM with a $20K goal so the family can take time off to grieve and pay for the funeral, and of course it is blasted out on the local FB group pages.  Someone else sets up a collection through a well-respected local charity for those who don't want to donate via GFM for whatever reason, and that info is added to the FB posts.  A reasonable use for GFM, no issues so far.  Just checked it, and they are over $6500 in GFM.

Fast forward a few weeks, grieving mom starts posting weird FB messages asking about who donated to local charity because she's trying to figure out if the money was going to the charity instead of their family.  Odd.  A couple of more posts like that over the next few days, some with the explanation that she wanted to send thank you notes, others just said she was trying to figure out where the money was and couldn't believe that nobody donated.  Tacky.  Latest FB post from her claims the charity stole all of the money.  A reply from someone involved said that they charity returned it to the donors after she refused to meet the charity rep at the police station to receive the cash.  Now she's demanding to see deposit slips and other records from the charity so she can investigate their alleged wrongdoing.  While doing this, the family has also planned a few fundraisers around town to celebrate son's memory, get more money to pay for the funeral, and "raise awareness" for the rare disease that affects some of their kids, including the deceased, that they had never publicly mentioned before.

I know it's a bit judgey on my part, but now it looks like the mom is just trying to exploit her adult son's death and turn it into a money grab.