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Crowdfunding your big life changes


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I just cut from facebook everyone who was using crowdfunding to help deal with normal life.

 

Babies, out of state moves, medical bills... one person even crowdfunded to help get a smart phone. Maybe I'm judgmental, and I certainly understand people aren't always prepared for what life gives them-- but I think there is something really self absorbed and irresponsible about people who do this.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

Yeah, when these internet fundraising websites first came out, they seemed like a good idea. People can donate to something or someone they believe in. Also, I can understand extreme emergencies, or charitable events, but I think crowdfunding and gofundme is definitely becoming abused.

 

Ever since the Shanesha Taylor debacle, however, I have now come to think of these gofundme accounts as the internet equivalent to the well, able-bodied 20-30 something people who smear peanut butter on their holey t-shirt, and stand at a freeway on ramp with a cardboard sign begging for money.

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I have a friend who is crowd funding her vacation to Alaska. oh, and a relative who has a son who wrecked his motorcycle and needs expensive medical care and is uninsured and needs skin grafts and physical therapy. He wasn't wearing a helmet and was speeding when he lost control of his own bike. The cops said he road rashed his pants right off.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

Well, I suppose if people are up front that they are just wanting to take a vacation on someone elses' dime, and people still donate, I guess they have the right to ask for the money (and people have the right to give it). As long as no one is being deceived, it may be douchey to me, but whatever. I sure as hell wouldn't be donating, though.

 

As for someone needing surgical reconstruction and physical therapy, I can understand that. I recently had a guy who I work(ed) with (at least until last Wed, anyway) who had a stroke at work. He had the good fortune to have stroked out in front of two practicing DNP nurses, who literally saved his life, and he has a good shot at recovery, albeit a long one. His wife started a gofundme, and I had no problem donating $100 to that.

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I haven't had too many on there, fortunately. Some have been pretty reasonable, though. One of them is one of my former roommates who ran track in college and is still competing professional, but isn't aligned with any of the big companies, asking for funds to help support funds for going to compete at the next Olympics (which is a reasonable goal for him and something he has been training for for a long time). Another was a few years back from someone from my class in high school who was requesting help for medical bills after being unexpectedly hit by a speeding car while she and her boyfriend were crossing a street.

 

Both of these I have contemplated helping. The first one is because the guy is a really good guy who works in the community with kids and doesn't have the financial support from big money and is legitimately pursuing a long-time dream. The second was just really difficult for me to hear about. My funds were extremely limited at the time, too, though, as I was still in school. Otherwise, I would have chipped in something.

 

However, others haven't been so reasonable. A year or so ago, a person was requesting funds to go to "acting school" in New York after previously hyping up other big passions for her that seemed to change every few years. This is the type that annoys me.

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I don't think I have really experienced any annoying requests. Some medical stuff, which doesn't bother me. Some people asking for support to build schools and feed people in impoverished countries where they are working. A couple of adoptions, including one kid who was rescued from the Ukraine. I haven't given to many, but none of them has annoyed me, but I think I must not have as many "friends" who are so self-centered.

 

I do get annoyed by being asked to "like" silly little "business" pages. If you are actually doing something I will like it and most likely unfollow immediately (unless your page is an awesome blog and your name is NumberSix) but if you just started selling anything that involves parties and you aren't really making a career of it, I'm probably ignoring it. And so far I know one person who has made a career out of that type of sales. She sells Scentsy and somehow makes more than me.

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I just cut from facebook everyone who was using crowdfunding to help deal with normal life.

 

Babies, out of state moves, medical bills... one person even crowdfunded to help get a smart phone. Maybe I'm judgmental, and I certainly understand people aren't always prepared for what life gives them-- but I think there is something really self absorbed and irresponsible about people who do this.

No difference between this and standing in a corner with a hat in your hand.

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Well a good family friend died yesterday and two campaigns were set up, one for her kids and the other for funeral/travel costs. One member of the family lives in Tennessee and while the rest are in Arizona.

 

I chipped in and shared this one. Only time I've ever donated to a gofundme campaign and don't at all feel bad about sharing it.

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There's a difference between funding unexpected expenses and some of those Driver mentioned. I'd gladly help your friends in this situation, but I can't justify asking people to help me buy a new car or go on vacation (other than our honeymoon fund.)

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Yeah, tragedy and emergencies are not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about people who have a history of bad choices behind them asking for money cause their goal seems to hard to work for.

 

Basically, if they say the need money for X, and they have no options, and you suggest they get a job as a janitor and they won't do that because they are too good for it-- they can suck it.

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I can understand extreme emergencies, or charitable events, but I think crowdfunding and gofundme is definitely becoming abused.

 

THIS.

 

I've given to exactly two GoFundMe campaigns: one for a Usenet peer who was downsized and nearly lost his house; and one for a couple we know from church with two (2) daughters who both had cystic fibrosis and needed lung transplants. It was in enough time to save the younger one.

 

But I've ignored all the rest, especially when I started seeing abuses. A blogger who hoped his followers would buy him a new computer. Geeks who wanted other people to pay their way to San Diego Comic Con. Stuff like that.

 

The winner and grand champion had to be this one young couple who tried to Kickstarter themselves a geek-themed road trip so they could go on vacation on other people's dimes and then write or vlog all about it. My head wouldn't stop exploding for hours.

 

 

If you are actually doing something I will like it and most likely unfollow immediately (unless your page is an awesome blog and your name is NumberSix)...

 

'SRIGHT! Maybe I can work this into a new ad slogan: "MCC: Proudly Paying Our Own Way Since 1999™."

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Despite my earlier snark, I did give to 2 gofundme campaigns. One was for a moms group friend whose baby was diagnosed with a very aggressive cancer and was also at Seattle Children's around the same time as Ethan. Unfortunately, her little girl didn't make it, so the funds went towards funeral expenses. Another was for a high school classmates son, it was for living expenses for them to move to Boston for experimental stem-cell treatment for an incurable disease. A much happier ending on that one.

 

On the other hand, I had a local friend whose husband put on a Kickstarter campaign for an inductive wireless electricity kit. It sounded really awesome. But they really used the funds to get a second vehicle, he already had the resources to put these kits together. I was super pissed when she bragged about that and it pretty much soured our friendship.

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  • 4 weeks later...

An acquaintance from college just started one to help him pay off debt so that he can go spend (at least) a year living and presumably working in Israel. He just posted it again on Facebook and I see that he has raised only $20 so far. He has cut down his goal of being "debt free" to paying off some of his debt. It's still a ridiculous goal, though, and a ridiculous thing to crowd source.

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The whole idea of crowdfunding is, of course, absurdly silly; but then again, the idea of seeking donations for a cause in general is just a rather bizarre one to me. It can be cloaked in whatever facade of enlightened philanthropy one wishes, but in the end it's all just pathetic begging for whatever bullsh-t you made up. I am proud to have never donated a single cent to any cause whatsoever in my entire life, I've never added $1 to so-and-so bill for whatever bla bla cancer research racket I'm presented with, I have never given to charity and never will. The few times in my life I've unwillingly found myself in church, I've placed a total of $0 in the collection plate con-game. The whole idea is simply preposterous to me, in fact I have laughed at people's faces for even suggesting it. You want me to give my money to you? Like give? Part with voluntarily? For nothing in return? What do I look f-cking retarded or something?

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