I know some people hold strong opinions that GoFundMe is a concept that should just go away. I disagree. I do think that there are times that people set up GoFundMe accounts to deal with problems we all deal with in life. I do not feel a need to pass judgement; I simply do not donate.
So what is appropriate for GoFundMe? Do we need to set boundaries? Can’t we just ignore a GoFundMe that we do not agree with? Yes, we can simply choose to not donate. That said, in general a GoFundMe to throw a celebration for one’s self such as a birthday or wedding, without some sort of extenuating circumstance, makes me frown.
I do feel strongly that GoFundMe serves an important purpose at times. A friend of mine’s grandson nearly died of a sudden illness affecting his brain. The parents were hit with extraordinary expenses and difficult decisions in an instant. We all wanted to help in some way, and GoFundMe gave us a much needed avenue to show our support.
This past summer, a family here in Tomball lost four children and the children’s grandfather to murders committed by an escaped inmate. Our entire community wanted to help in someway, and once again GoFundMe provided us a means to show our support. Our hearts will never heal from this tragedy. Seeing our community come together during such an unthinkable circumstance is the only thing that helped many to stay sane.
These are just two examples of GoFundMe serving an important purpose. There are literally thousands more.
When is GoFundMe a problem? The aspect of fraud is an obvious problem. There are plenty of instances when a GoFundMe went viral raising tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars under false pretenses. Either there are lots of stories like this to cover, or the Extra News loves to cover them. It feel like there are always examples in the gossip type news outlets.
It feels like fraud is easy enough to avoid; do not donate to a GoFundMe that you do not know the recipients of. I admit; I have violated this rule at times, and I have donated to the GoFundMe pages of strangers. In every case, I knew the story to be valid. For example, I once made a fairly large donation to a child’s family where the child had been horribly injured in a car accident. The child attended one of the elementary schools in our area, and friends of mine that knew the child shared the page asking for help. I held enough faith in my friends that asked for support for the child to know it to be a worthy cause.
What about the less tragic? A female friend of mine spoke critically of another friend when he started a GoFundMe to replace his stolen car. Since he lost his job some years back, he had been making ends meet by driving Uber. Honestly, if I could afford it, I would buy the guy a car outright. Perhaps if he would have planned better, he would not have wound up in financial hardship after losing his six figure income, but the reality is that most of us would. Right now, I can go about ten years without working, what if I got to year eleven? Moreover, Uber drivers serve an important purpose. They do not just keep drunks off the road, they help people that cannot drive for a huge variety of reasons get from place to place. I have a friend that is legally blind, and Uber has been a life changer in a good way for him. Lastly, no one should have their livelihood stolen from them, which is what literally happened to my friend after he rebuilt his income as an Uber driver and his car was stolen.
So when is GoFundMe not okay in my mind? I will reiterate what I said at the beginning of this post, one can simply choose not to donate, so we do not need to police them. In my opinion GoFundMe becomes inappropriate when someone continually reaches out and asks that one share their GoFundMe page. I feel that it is fine to tell me about one’s cause, and ask me once to share the GoFundMe page of their cause, but do not reach out to me continually. If I felt compelled to share it, I would do so without being asked. Life is hard. I was once in a mountain of debt from my medical bills. I soldiered through it on my own.
It has been forever since I wrote a blog post about something other than the basics of what is going on with me and the Birds. Feel free to leave your own thoughts on this opinion post, just don’t ask me to share your GoFundMe page ;).