Reply to I think that nearly *all* GoFundMe campaigns are tacky

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[quote=Anonymous]It was Covid that woke me up to this and now I think about gfm differently. I felt this overwhelming need to help people and be civic minded when the pandemic hit and I gave to a number of gfms and community assistance funds as part of that. I later learned that several of the people and groups I donated to were not really that needy -- they basically used Covid as an excuse to claim they were hurting financially (claiming they'd been furloughed when they were actually still being paid not to work or claiming their business needed extra funds to stay solvent when their landlord had given them a break on rent while things were closed for instance). In one case I learned a mutual aid fund I gave money to wound up with such a surplus of funds that they held a series of private events for themselves with the money. During the pre-vaccine days of the pandemic when the rest of us were staying home because we were told it was morally wrong to gather. Thinking about how money I'd donated was being used to buy alcohol for a super-spreader event while my family and I stayed home and played board games alone for the 40th time that year actually made me mad.

That experience made me cynical. What I learned is that some people are very comfortable asking others for help even when their need is low or moderate. And some people don't consider the sacrifice others might be making to give that help -- a family that gives $100 to a mutual aid fund might be giving up something tangible to help someone with greater need. If that person's need is not actually greater it feels manipulative to me.

I no longer give money to ad hoc causes anymore. I think it's too easily manipulated and too many people abuse it. I give money to longstanding charities with good records on channelling money to the right places. Generally charities that help families in need of help after a tragic event will income qualify the families. They also often offer in-kind assistance like an apartment near the children's hospital for families who can't afford a hotel to stay or care packages of essentials for families whose homes have burned down. I think this is a better use of my money than giving money to a gfm that may turn out to be for an upper middle class family who will use it to buy new iPads for their kids because the old ones seemed dated.  [/quote]

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