Go Fund me or Go **** off?

There was someone in the News yesterday who gambled on not taking out travel insurance despite his age and health issues, and is now stuck in a Turkish hospital having racked up a medical bill of £40,000. His daughter has set up a Go Fund Me. Why should other people pay for his foolhardiness? I won't be contributing.

I have occasionally contributed, e.g. for an electric wheelchair for a disabled child, but I’m certainly very selective.

I will only fund what I feel are very deserving people.

It is a business and takes a percentage from each donation. I can see where it can be a useful tool for specific fundraising and anyone can decide whether a cause is worthy or not.

I will only give if it’s someone I know that is raising money for charity.

I have made an exception for a GN member.

I think many of us contributed to that one GG3

You hear of so many cheats I wouldn’t contribute unless I knew them personally.

Yes, we did. The only other contribution I have made was towards the cost of surgery for a stray dog.

It has certainly become ubiquitous but you can choose what you want to contribute to. I agree there are some ridiculous ones and I wouldn’t contribute to someone’s incredibly expensive wedding, for instance.

So many times we see appeals to raise money for funerals.
My mother’s generation, people born in the early years of the last century nearly always had enough money put by “to bury them” it was a point of pride to them.
I remember the burial fund which they paid into weekly to pay out when they died.
I have a friend of my own age who has had a very unlucky life financially for the latter part.
Serious illness of both her and her husband, but she told me a couple of years ago that she had money in her bank for her funeral, she does not want her children to have to pay.

I also contributed to the fund declared above and if someone had the misfortune to need funds for a totally unexpected situation which could not have been insured for, then again I would but not for people who take risks to save money and then expect to be bailed out.

I contributed to the one mentioned above however some seem to be very entitled. A local boy crashed his car due to drink driving which was indeed sad a fund was set up immediately to purchase a brand new car and insurance so his mum could visit him in hospital. I thought that was very cheeky

I wouldn't contribute to any crowdfund where I believed the recipient had other 'options' to responsibly source his or her own funds. Nor anything that was for what I would consider a trivial event. Judgmental? Yes it is, but I can only consider what I would do in any given circumstances, and I would not do what he did.

If he'd been visiting Turkey to see a dying relative and time and money were tight, that might be a different matter. But this was a holiday and he was prepared to put his family through the stress of funding his emergency treatment, which they obviously cannot - so they now need rescuing financially.

He was selfish and inconsiderate, and a tad 'entitled', and that type of individual raises my hackles.

I contributed to the fund of a local man who everyone knew, when his brother in Africa needed cancer surgery.. and also a homeless man wanting to find accommodation so that his daughter could visit him.. I like local go fund me if I feel they are justified..

I've used Go Fund Me for people I know raising charity money and one instance of a local child needing very expensive surgery after becoming very ill.

I think I've mentioned before that a very well off family put their daughter through Uni by lying about their circumstances on a Go Fund Me page. This was some years back, I don't know if they could get away with it now as there is more vetting.

I think it’s fine. We can look and decide for ourselves. I’ve only ever donated if o know the people involved. My choir uses it for our fundraising. In 5 years we have raised over £150,000 for various charities. We do provide a song or songs or a performance and funds always go direct to the charity.

This year is the Samaritans.

Dickens

I wouldn't contribute to any crowdfund where I believed the recipient had other 'options' to responsibly source his or her own funds. Nor anything that was for what I would consider a trivial event. Judgmental? Yes it is, but I can only consider what I would do in any given circumstances, and I would not do what he did.

If he'd been visiting Turkey to see a dying relative and time and money were tight, that might be a different matter. But this was a holiday and he was prepared to put his family through the stress of funding his emergency treatment, which they obviously cannot - so they now need rescuing financially.

He was selfish and inconsiderate, and a tad 'entitled', and that type of individual raises my hackles.

We have NEVER travelled anywhere without adequate insurance. If we couldn’t afford the insurance we wouldn’t go on the holiday.

Cossy

Dickens

I wouldn't contribute to any crowdfund where I believed the recipient had other 'options' to responsibly source his or her own funds. Nor anything that was for what I would consider a trivial event. Judgmental? Yes it is, but I can only consider what I would do in any given circumstances, and I would not do what he did.

If he'd been visiting Turkey to see a dying relative and time and money were tight, that might be a different matter. But this was a holiday and he was prepared to put his family through the stress of funding his emergency treatment, which they obviously cannot - so they now need rescuing financially.

He was selfish and inconsiderate, and a tad 'entitled', and that type of individual raises my hackles.

We have NEVER travelled anywhere without adequate insurance. If we couldn’t afford the insurance we wouldn’t go on the holiday.

That's my point Cossy.

I wanted to do a trip a while back but because of my complex medical conditions, the insurance was whopping. I could have afforded it, but as I also have family living abroad, I'm 'saving' the money in case I ever need to go in an emergency situation.

I would imagine this man felt OK and thought the risk was slight so decided to take it, but even healthy people sometimes fall ill or have accidents.

I'd not have peace of mind knowing I was relying on luck and chance, because that's what it amounts to - he must have felt very confident! I feel sorry for his family because he's landed them in it, and they must be stressed out with the worry.

Dickens Very sensible, though a bit sad. We managed to get an annual policy for Europe which included all of our conditions and was fairly reasonable. Though we will have to take out a new policy if we go to Canada next summer as planned.

Blossoming

It has certainly become ubiquitous but you can choose what you want to contribute to. I agree there are some ridiculous ones and I wouldn’t contribute to someone’s incredibly expensive wedding, for instance.

... and I wouldn’t contribute to someone’s incredibly expensive wedding, for instance.

Golly gosh, do people actually do that?

I don't know much about crowdfunding, though I have partaken (a poster on here who many others helped, too).

But do people actually ask to be funded for an expensive wedding? How do they word their 'appeal'?! Is it real, or an urban myth?

I'm flabbergasted!

Yes, they do - I've seen examples of it. And not just for weddings - I've also seen some shameless people crowdfunding for things like holidays or even their kid's birthday party! Some people have very brass necks indeed.

If you look in the Go Fund Me website there are numerous requests for money towards weddings/honeymoons.

How to Set Up a Honeymoon Fund: The Ultimate Guide for Newlyweds

This from their website.

I saw about the man stuck in a Turkish hospital and he only has himself to blame.

Last year we didn’t go abroad because my husband was being quoted outrageous amounts for insurance. This year we got a very good quote and off we went!

I find some crowd funding quite odd, recently a local family set one up to buy son a car. He had got a job in another city and they thought a car would be better than public transport!
Also a tradesman I used asked me to contribute to a crowd funding site to help with the cost of the time he would have to take off work and also travel costs to visit his stepdaughter in hospital who was having a brain operation for epilepsy, ok I thought. But then he said he had set up an Amazon wish list for gifts for his stepdaughter if I would like to buy something.
This week a Just Giving has been set up for the parents of a local 12 year old boy who was killed by a hit and run driver, he was doing 80 in a 30 mile speed limit. It’s very sad, I have just donated to this.

Sparklefizz

There was someone in the News yesterday who gambled on not taking out travel insurance despite his age and health issues, and is now stuck in a Turkish hospital having racked up a medical bill of £40,000. His daughter has set up a Go Fund Me. Why should other people pay for his foolhardiness? I won't be contributing.

He was unable to get travel insurance in spite of trying.

I would not have taken that risk, but it is important not to assume that he just did not bother.