Anything goes these days when it comes to setting up a crowd-funding page. While some of them are for business start-ups, others are just for…whatever. It’s getting out of hand.
There are many legitimate reasons to crowd-fund and I’m more than happy to contribute. My friend Bruce “Barks” Barker suffered a stroke over the holidays, had no medical coverage and had just started a job in a new city where his girlfriend hadn’t yet found work. I and hundreds of my broadcasting compatriots happily donated to a fund to keep him fed and sheltered while he recovered.
My friend Kerry is battling aggressive breast cancer and unable to work. My pal Det. Const. Ken Steeves with the London Police Service raised money for his recent climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro to support Anago, an intervention program for young men and teens who’ve had a run-in with the law. My work-mate Ken and his sister are funding their triathlon entry fees for Team Sepsis, in the name of Ken’s late son, Duncan. These were all good reasons to donate. But some people just want others to pay for their stuff!
I had to block a guy on Twitter who was using my name in an attempt to attract crowd-funding so he can go to college. He has done some charitable work in the past and now in his 40s wants others to pay for him to go back to school. I’m sorry but…there are grants for that kind of thing. And there are thousands of people in the same situation. And using my name over and over was a cry for an endorsement from someone I don’t know. It felt icky.
I’ve seen Go Fund Me pages started by people who want to go on a cruise and can’t afford it (funded!) want to get a tramp-stamp (funded!) and all sorts of silly and frivilous things.
On one hand, if someone has the stones to put up the page and others are willing to contribute, who am I to judge? On the other hand, where are dignity and personal responsibility? Remember the Ohio man who raised $55,492 so he could make potato salad for the first time? (true story) Nearly 7,000 people donated to him. For potato salad. His goal was $10. How superficial have we become as a society when people will happily click past children with cancer to donate to a stranger’s potato salad quest? But come to think of it, I’ve never been on a cruise…