Do you donate to funds set up after disasters?

[DaveInPgh]

I hope this doesn't sound insensitive. That's truly not my intent, and it isn't this particular event that I'm picking on. It's on my mind every time something like this happens.

I agree with you 100% on this subject.

The Support the Grimmie Family campaign has raised $149,044 of$4,000. I suspect the creator of the page might have been thinking about funeral expenses. The campaign has exceeded the requested amount by $145,000!

[tripods68]

I don't gofundme period! Like others have said, this site is very disturbing.

My experience with this site, we found a very good friend of ours asked for money that we know they could afford (few years ago). At time, they live in Hawaii with a very nice home (worth $600-700K), and drive a Mercedes convertible they bought shared on FB...blah blah blah.. So when I saw them asking for $$ on this site so they could take her daughter to Florida for some cheerleading competition, I was completely floored...SMH! WTH!


But to answer the question, we have donated in the past in disasters like Hurricane & typhoon victims. I've done volunteer work with Veterans and homeless shelter called "stand down". My wife have done many more fund raising events with her Zoomba friends to raise awareness and donations. Last year we did FEAT for autism walk event that are dear to our hearts.

[disneysteve]

Right...as they should. If they didnt charge a fee they would need a gofundme page for them to stay in business. They probably have a building at the very least...rent, utilities, employee salaries, health care for employees?, servers, etc etc...

True. All charities have overhead. Heck, our synagogue is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and we have a $1.5 million annual operating budget. It takes money to stay in business.

[rennigade]

Dafuq...Ive never visited the gofundme site until this thread was started.

People are asking for money for the most random things...30th birthdays, golf clubs, putting people through college, class reunions..lol. Freakin bottom feeders.

Guess people will test the water on anything. Of course those are the odds ones...there are a lot of charity and disaster stuff too.

[AJ444]

I don't contribute via gofundme, if the person is close enough I will give them a check to avoid the fee. I don't donate to specific disasters but will contribute to secular groups like the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders.

[MonkeyMama]

P.S. I do feel similar about charities. I will always help someone directly and pass the middle man if I can. So I'm already a skeptic anyway. Just extra skeptical when it comes to these middle man type websites.

[sv2007]

Do you typically do this sort of thing? Is this really the best way to help people in need? Do you trust that the money will be distributed in a responsible manner?

Yes, for major events (which usually comes with unlimited company match too).

You can only hope for the best. Fortunately, there are way many more good poeple than bad in this world. Better to get some aid in a timely manner than none, right?

[kork13]

There are alot of crooked people and alot of crooked "charities". As a matter of principle, I never give money to a charity or other humanitarian organization that I don't fully trust to use the money wisely for the purposes as intended. The random "charities" and fundraisers that inevitably pop up after a tragedy NEVER get my support. There's no way of knowing what they're doing with that money, and how much of it merely lines the pocket of an opportunist.

I know and support a select number of charitable organizations that are proven highly successful in their impact for good. I'll stick to those that I trust.

[kork13]

You can only hope for the best. Fortunately, there are way many more good poeple than bad in this world. Better to get some aid in a timely manner than none, right?

Do you realize that many major charities keep entire warehouses full of goods & supplies on a ready alert for any sort of crisis or need? It takes days if not hours to mobilize thousands of tons of supplies & entire teams of support personnel.

[msomnipotent]

My daughter's school did a collection for Japan after the earthquake. My daughter decided to donate her Tooth Fairy money, which I doubled. The Tooth Fairy gives $2 bills, which no one at the school believed was real money. My daughter and I couldn't get an answer to whether they kept the donation or threw the bills in the trash. They wouldn't say what they did with any of the donations, come to think of it.

That was the one and only time I donated after a disaster. I think most charities that pop up after a disaster are scams anyway. I prefer to give directly to an individual. Between my large extended family and the kids my sister teaches, I'm always giving money or goods for something.