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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think a lot of GoFundMes are weird because it's this weird cross between charity and "start-up funding". Some situations are clearly one or the other:

[b]Charity[/b] -- a family has suffered a medical catastrophe and cannot afford their rent, so start a GoFundMe to cover the next few months of rent until they can figure out what to do. This is straightforward and sadly sometimes a person's only option. Even if you don't donate to these, I don't quite understand resenting them, especially if they are clear about how much they need and don't accept funds over that amount.

[b]Start-up funding[/b] -- person has a good idea for a toy, made a prototype and created a business plan, and is looking for seed funding. Usually they have concrete business plans or similar, but it's a business that is too small for a bank loan or VC funding, or alternatively might be a non-profit and this is their first foray into fundraising. If you donate, you're guaranteed something in return (a free product once manufactured, or some kind of prize/thank you like a gift card. Again, whether you donate or not, this seems fine and straightforward. I donated to one for a friend of mine who started a theater company and needed seed funding to get it off the ground. I have lifetime backstage "VIP passes" to all their shows. It's fun being part of the ground floor of something like that.

But what happens is people twist situations that don't really fit either of these. So they try to raise money for a family whose house burned down, but it's a middle class family and they are all fine plus are getting insurance money -- they don't actually need charity. Or they are asking for start-up funding but it's extremely vague, like instead of someone with a business plan starting a theater company, it's someone just saying "help fund my first year in LA for auditions to achieve my Hollywood dreams." Uh, no thank you but best of luck -- please just get a job as a cater-waiter or temping or as a barista like everyone else who does this.

I once got asked to donate to a GoFundMe for a well-known writer with a best-selling book who also regularly runs very expensive writing seminars (like way at the far end of expensive for the kind of seminar she's selling), and the explanation was that she has a compulsive spending problem. What? Why would I donate money to someone who is cash strapped to her compulsive spending problem? So she can blow it on 72 pairs of sunglasses? If she was destitute and needed money for a rehab program, that would be different, but this person wanted money to pay her rent because she spent all her money from her writing/teaching jobs on clothes. It's probably the only time I've actually been mad at a GoFundMe.[/quote]

Kickstarter is usually where you get a product out of it, not go fund me.

[/quote]

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