Community Chat

[Deanie]

I was thinking, after reading the responses on this thread, do these people that engage in what one poster called "cyber begging" (good term BTW), pay taxes on these "gifts?"

I would imagine not all of them set themselves up as a tax exempt entity.  After all, there are many hoops one must jump through such as legitimate charities that dutifully fill out all the paperwork and such. That would be tax free income if they do not report.  Can you imagine?  People complain about the knock off purses sold on the back streets of NYC funding all types of nefarious activities but not this?  And, how does one know that these stories are true?  There was a recent incident of a man who was the head of a major religious charity funneling funds to terrorism.  He was just indicted in Israel.  Hmmm.  Just thinking out loud here.

[Trinity11]

I have never seen anyone on Facebook that I have as a friend asking for money. That said, I always think "There but for the grace of God go I" and I have donated to Go Fund Me Requests. There are many legitimate requests for money and just because there are a few rotten apples does not change my giving to legitimate causes.

[Kardi]

my first and only experience with Go-fund-Me was when my 50 yr. old cousin fell from a deer stand and busted some bones in his feet.  I felt bad for him and certainly hoped he'd recover well, but this guy hasn't worked in years.  He's perfectly able-bodied but just preferred to drink beer, smoke cigarettes and do as he pleased.  His wife does work and has a good job with good benefits.  Two grown sons live at home and are just like dear old dad.  His wife created a go fund me page when he fell.  It was a joke, saying now that he was injured they might lose the farm.  Farm?  They live in an old ramshackle house and have no livestock or garden.  She pulled in $5000!   Nothing but electronic begging!  

[Vickiv]

I know of a real Countess she lives in Florida. This person is not a phony I know her personally. Her mother and her live in this beautiful mansion in South Florida. On her FB page in her photos she shows her home,paintings,beautiful furnishings and jewelry. I kid you not. She had an operation and went on go fund me to help pay for rent on their office and other expenses for their home.  She received about 20,000. She said the father left them years ago. Yet on FB there have been photos with the father. Now she is on Singer Island in a condo recuperating. This should not be called go fund me instead it should be called go figure. 

[KingstonsMom]

There was a GFM request here on the forums a couple of months ago.

[Mmsfoxxie]

Oh, my.  I'm sure it was deleted right away.

[MomCat]

That site is full of scammers, and I can't believe people are so dumb to donate to it.  Plus, my one and only personal experience was when our animal shelter tried to raise money for a project.  The site takes out an enormous amount in fees.  What a rip off!  I will never again support that.  If someone wants to help an individual, why not just give them money?  Why does there have to be a third party involved? 

[JaneMarple]

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@MomCat wrote:

That site is full of scammers, and I can't believe people are so dumb to donate to it.  Plus, my one and only personal experience was when our animal shelter tried to raise money for a project.  The site takes out an enormous amount in fees.  What a rip off!  I will never again support that.  If someone wants to help an individual, why not just give them money?  Why does there have to be a third party involved? 

How is 5% an "enormous amount in fees"? Don't judge a few scammers by the company's good intentions! And don't judge your one experience with thousands of others.

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[JaneMarple]

I mentioned earlier on this thread about setting up a GFM account for a friend of mine. She was a former co-worker of mine and was such a sweet person. This friend is handicapped and was dumped by her husband and she was left with nothing. She was able to get an apartment but had to start out all over again getting items that she needed. so I started an account for her. I had been helping her but knew that it would take about two thousand dollars to start her off. If I had asked on her fb page for her friends to help but send me the money, how many would have trusted me since many of them didn't know me? By using GFM they pretty much could tell that it was legit and she received the check. 

[willdob3]

While some of these may be started it the same spirit, it takes on a very different feel than back in the days when friends saw a need and decided to pitch in to help another friend.