How did Go Fund Me and other crowd-funding websites become about securing some extra cash from strangers? They used to have legitimate reasons such as raising money for non-profit ventures. Then some guy crowdfunded his potato salad as a joke and people gave him $50,000. Now you can start a fund for just about anything.
There are legitimate reasons to crowd-fund. Our friend Kerry is fighting breast cancer and has no income or health plan. She worked several part-time jobs as a Personal Support Worker and therefore, didn’t qualify for benefits. One of her friends started a Go Fund Me campaign to give her other friends a central place to donate to, so she can afford the basics of life. She moved in with her son to be closer to London for the many weekly appointments she must attend. Kickstarter has launched many businessses by publicizing ideas that the marketplace thinks are worth investing in. Canada Helps is used by non-profits and people doing good deeds. But self-centred jerks who think the world owes them something are putting up head-shaking funding requests.
A quick scroll through one site revealed a family trying to raise money to take their kids on a trip to Disneyland. The kids aren’t sick. This isn’t a Make-A-Wish situation. They just want other people to pay for their vacation. They’re not alone. One millenial expects others to finance his “dream of a lifetime” to backpack around the world. It’s online pan-handling and it’s not the intended use of a crowd-funding platform. One guy wanted cash to buy a new Harley for his brother who’s coming back from serving in Afghanistan. How a new motorcycle (and an overpriced Harley, at that) will help one of many veterans settle back into civilian life didn’t come across. It’s an attempt to manipulate people based on the brother having served in the military.
There are hundreds of crowd-funding websites, some with stricter rules than others. I suppose one could take the perspective that if people have the guts to ask for a hand-out for themselves, and others give, there’s no harm done. It’s a sad commentary on our times, though, that there are so many folks with so little shame and so much belief that the world owes them something just because they want it.