First GoFundMe of my Facebook...gross or good?

whitjoy · March 2014

"We are honored to have been selected for this mission, and can not wait until we depart! But before we depart, we have been asked to help raise some funds for our trip. Something each team member does, to help reduce to cost for the security, medicine, translators and hospital/clinic equipment. The mission we are completing is in a very poor and small isolated rural village outside of Guatemala City and Antigua called Retalhuleu, and Suchitepequez. Many of these people have never had any access to medical care throughout any point in their life. Many people also travel by foot for hours to reach the clinic, and wait in line for large parts of the day--- Your donation helps these individual's receive medical care, pharmacuticals, dental care, OBGYN access and screening for surgical missions that take place after ours. If you feel more comfortable contributing via a check, please email "D" at the email attached to this letter" What I want to say: So....IS it for charity...Or your trip??

grumbledore · March 2014

Eh, it's actually charitable work so I guess it's fine, I just f***ing hate GoFundMe. Even the reasonable ones I've seen ("My kid is sick" "I need a special handicap car modification") annoy me - they are always sloppy looking and it just rubs me the wrong way being asked for money on Facebook.

casey8784 · March 2014

If this is an actual missionary-style mission, then yes, I think they're actually trying to raise money to help supply these villages with medical supplies, etc, which I would put along the lines of friends posting on FB that they will be doing the 3 day Breast Cancer Walk (insert any other fundraiser walk/run/etc) and their team has to raise x amount money to be allowed to participate. My high school used to do these kind of trips, and many people wouldn't donate cause they thought the kids would just use the money to party and drink - even though all the paperwork stated that they would be supervised by many teachers, lol).

If it was something more like, "Shelley desperately wants a new pair of boobs before bikini season so please pay for them!"...then, no...

ei34 · March 2014

I'd really like to assume the requested funds are for charity, and not their trip. Even if it is 100% charity, the request itself irks me. Making health care more accessible in Guatemala is awesome, but what if I think it's more important to make health care more accessible in Darfur? Or I hold some other cause near to my heart? Like @grumbledore, even reasonable requests bother me. I just don't like the idea of asking for money in a public forum. (Though charitable requests like these just make me roll my eyes and move on. Wedding-funds and honeyfunds make me want to throw my computer out the window.)

thisismynickname2 · March 2014

I feel like most true "missions" were more funded by the community, not by an internet community of strangers and friends not in the community.

My parish routinely has their own pet projects that the parishioners could donate to, but it's probably a phenomenon of modern technology that requests for these donations are spreading outside the Church walls, KWIM?

mysticl · March 2014

thisismynickname said:

I feel like most true "missions" were more funded by the community, not by an internet community of strangers and friends not in the community.

My parish routinely has their own pet projects that the parishioners could donate to, but it's probably a phenomenon of modern technology that requests for these donations are spreading outside the Church walls, KWIM?

I've known people who have gone outside the church to raise money for their mission trips. The church members only have so much money to fund mission trips so parishioners look elsewhere for funding. However, 10 years ago they would have e-mailed their friend and family, before e-mail it would have been snail mail, and of course there is always going door to door asking complete strangers for money. Social media just makes it a lot easier to beg for money.

dolewhipper · March 2014

I just recently posted to my "feed" my Relay for Life donation page, people can either skip by it on their feed or choose to donate. Was this PM'd to you?

whitjoy · March 2014

No, this wasn't sent in a personal message. The whole paragraph about the trip is cloudy and loooong. They say at first that the money is for their trip, its not until later in the story that they say its for charity.

whitjoy · March 2014

They also comment on it to announce who donates and how much.

jessiray · March 2014

Commenting on it to announce who donates and how much is just tacky. Tacky, tacky, tacky...

HisGirlFriday13 · March 2014

I'd be leery of it, too. And I'd probably, if I felt the desire to donate, call up the church and see how I go about donating to the mission directly.

bethsmiles · March 2014

My SOs sister has a thing like this set up for her trip to Africa this summer. It's not GoFundMe but a very similar site, same idea. I know she is doing something good but at the same time the trip is $3000 and I think there are less expensive ways she could choose to give her time and talents if she can't afford it on her own...which she can't since she's already $20,000 in debt for student loans.

LondonLisa · March 2014

I work in development, and I believe whilst each of these people has a genuine, good hearted intention, they often do more harm than good.

I think everyone should read this article before they go on "voluntourism" trips. https://medium.com/race-class/b84d4011d17e

And I think the author hit the nail on the head with the people going on missions or trips to ask themselves if they have the requisite skills to help the community, such as are these people licensed construction professionals? doctors? nurses? experts in SUSTAINABLE international movement of medical supplies?

Teaching English is another problem. How can someone "teach English" for two weeks somewhere? Now if a trained educator wants to spend a school year in a developing country teaching English, that is great! But there is a reason why teaching is a postgraduate qualification- it is hard, and just because you can speak a language doesn't mean you know how to educate another person in it.

There are great charities that often exist in these places that already have the infrastructure on the ground and it would be better to donate the $1,000 airfare to this charity instead of paying for yourself to go there for 2 weeks to "volunteer". $1000 to doctors without borders will do SO much more for the community than a layman's $1,000 trip to Guatemala to volunteer. Yes, you wont have the great FB picture or story, but isn't the point of charity to help other without the want of personal gain?

Side note- I am definitely NOT saying don't visit developing countries. GO (and spend money locally!) that is actually one of the best way to help a lot of communities. I am speaking specifically on "voluntourism" companies which actually cost quite a bit of money and really don't help out the communities that much.

Also- this is a great comic to talk about the problems with some short-term development:

http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2797

whitjoy · March 2014

@londonlisa that is an excellent point and well-put. I didn't really get why the whole concept of these volunteer trips irked me...but after reading what you said I totally feel that way. There are so many things that people who don't have those requisite skills you mentioned can do right here.

Amyzen83 · March 2014

jessiray said:
Commenting on it to announce who donates and how much is just tacky. Tacky, tacky, tacky...

Ok so I've done mission projects and have asked for money so frankly I don't think twice about these types of things on social media, now if it was someone personally asking for money then yes I'd tell them to STFU and earn it like a normal person. But announcing how much people give on a public forum no matter how good the cause would be enough for me to take back my donation.

pinkshorts27 · March 2014

whitjoy said:
@londonlisa that is an excellent point and well-put. I didn't really get why the whole concept of these volunteer trips irked me...but after reading what you said I totally feel that way. There are so many things that people who don't have those requisite skills you mentioned can do right here.

My FI vet school goes to spay/neuter animals and treat animal diseases in livestock and such. But they are vet students under the direction of full time vets so they are qualified but they aren't trying to build houses, which they are clearly not qualified for. So some groups do things right.

LondonLisa · March 2014

@londonlisa that is an excellent point and well-put. I didn't really get why the whole concept of these volunteer trips irked me...but after reading what you said I totally feel that way. There are so many things that people who don't have those requisite skills you mentioned can do right here.
My FI vet school goes to spay/neuter animals and treat animal diseases in livestock and such. But they are vet students under the direction of full time vets so they are qualified but they aren't trying to build houses, which they are clearly not qualified for. So some groups do things right.

Absolutely- that is exactly my point. It is great when doctors, vets, sanitation/water engineers, etc want to spend some of their personal time doing some pro bono work in their respective area of expertise. But they aren't fundraising through these companies/organisations that say "raise $3,000 to pay us for your living costs for a week here". Because most of that money goes to administrative costs in Europe/North America.

The problem is that those 3,000 dollar trips aren't benign, they can actually be malevolent. Often a lot of that fundraising goes towards flights and salaries not in the developing country. So people see kickstarters for these charity trips and think they are actually doing good, when in fact it is just contributing to donor fatigue, which is exactly what all you guys and gals are talking about. You're tired of being bombarded with "donate here" and "help me raise X for charity" so it is hard for the average person to tell what is an actual desperate need (such as money for food and blankets in Syria) and what is going to admin costs for a voluntourism trip (teaching English for 2 weeks in Thailand).

It is like when people do canned food drives for the typhoon in the Philippines- most people don't realise it costs at least 50 times the cost of the can to transport it to the Philippines from Europe or North America. so most charities can't afford to do it or worse, have to actively take money away from their successful programmes to ship it or store it. Places like the Red Cross or Save The Children have negotiated rates with bottled water and food companies for crises like this and for negotiated delivery (they can buy in mass quantities and bulk) and it is much easier to transport this way. So instead of going to the store and buying $20 worth of canned food to get sent to the Philipines, If you just gave that money to the Red Cross, they would be able to buy 50 times more food than you could.

Edited- typos!

LondonLisa · March 2014

Sorry, for some reason my paragraphs didn't format above!

pinkshorts27 · March 2014

LondonLisa said:

@londonlisa that is an excellent point and well-put. I didn't really get why the whole concept of these volunteer trips irked me...but after reading what you said I totally feel that way. There are so many things that people who don't have those requisite skills you mentioned can do right here.
My FI vet school goes to spay/neuter animals and treat animal diseases in livestock and such. But they are vet students under the direction of full time vets so they are qualified but they aren't trying to build houses, which they are clearly not qualified for. So some groups do things right.
Absolutely- that is exactly my point. It is great when doctors, vets, sanitation/water engineers, etc want to spend some of their personal time doing some pro bono work in their respective area of expertise. But they aren't fundraising through these companies/organisations that say "raise $3,000 to pay us for your living costs for a week here". Because most of that money goes to administrative costs in Europe/North America. The problem is that those 3,000 dollar trips aren't benign, they can actually be malevolent. Often a lot of that fundraising goes towards flights and salaries not in the developing country. So people see kickstarters for these charity trips and think they are actually doing good, when I'm fact it is just contributing to donor fatigue, which is exactly what all you guys and gals are talking about. You're tired of being bombarded with "donate here" and help me raise X for charity" so it is hard for the average person to tell what is an actual desperate need (such as money for food and blankets in Syria) and what is going to admin costs for a voluntarism trip (teaching English for 2 weeks in Thailand). It is like when people do canned food drives for the typhoon in the Philippines- most people don't realise it costs at least 50 times the cost of the can to transport it to the Philippines from Europe or North America. so most charities can't afford to do it or worse, have to actively take money away from their successful programmes to ship it or store it. Places like the Red Cross or save the children actually have negotiated rates with bottled water and food companies for crises like this and for negotiated delivery (they can buy in mass quantities and bulk) and it is actually easier to transport this way. So instead of going to the store and buying $20 worth of canned food to get sent to the Philipines, If you just gave that money to the Red Cross, they would be able to buy 50 times more food than you could.

Yea, I was agreeing with you, just providing a real life example of what I thought was a good thing to help you out

CaitlinGriffin · March 2014

I hate the go fund me for pets...im sorry I just had to drop like 600 bucks cause my dog got an ear infection and it made him dizzy so he hit his eye and scratched it which made it look like a stroke but let me pay for you to get your dog fixed... if you cant pay for your animal don't own it.

KatWAG · March 2014

I dont think I would mind a GFM for a mission trip, I just probably wont contribute. But I agree about vet bills. Your pet, your reasonability. Emergency vet bills should be consider when becoming a fur-parent.

The only GFM I have personally seen made me want to scream. A friend of mine from college set up a page for him brother. Brother just moved to Cali and wants a surf board for him birthday, but brother is very tall so he needs a special kind of board. So please help him raise $800 to buy a board for his brother.

JeeGooDowster · March 2014

Another reason why FB sucks LoL. Although it is for a good cause...I think it's bringing more attention to the fact that they are "good people" going on a mission to help out the less fortunate (again, this is a great act of kindness and all) it's a way of bragging (sorry, I know this is bitchy)...and asking for money the way they did - they used a damn "cutesy" poem!!. Verdict = Tacky.

JeeGooDowster · March 2014

carynNchan said:

Another reason why FB sucks LoL. Although it is for a good cause...I think it's bringing more attention to the fact that they are "good people" going on a mission to help out the less fortunate (again, this is a great act of kindness and all) it's a way of bragging (sorry, I know this is bitchy)...and asking for money the way they did - they used a damn "cutesy" poem!!. Verdict = Tacky.

ERROR on my part...they didn't use a cutesy poem...but I still stand behind that asking for money on FB is tacky.

hellohkb · March 2014

I don't *particularly* mind any sort of GoFundMe online campaigns because I can always choose to ignore them without feeling guilty (like when people have stands outside of supermarkets asking for donations, for instance).

Although I just saw a GoFundMe for a car. THAT irritated me. It has nothing to do with charity or volunteering at all, so why should I help? I need a car too since I'm driving around in a '98 Chevy Malibu.. and I.. Y'know.. Save for it.

cruffino · March 2014

@LondonLisa
Thank you for your comments on this thread. You have really educated me, and I appreciate that!

LondonLisa · March 2014

@cruffino, Thanks so much- that is really kind of you to say!

I work for a multinational charity that focuses on sustainable development (I specialise in women's health, microloans and education) and have worked in the field for years (mainly South East Asia and Africa). I'm really glad to see how many people on here are interested in sustainable development!!

pinkshorts27 · March 2014

So I'm assuming that the following probably wouldn't be a good thing @LondonLisa

It is an email I just got from school to a list of PhD students. There has been fliers on the walls for weeks asking for donations and for people to join the bake sale. This is the third email I've gotten in the last 3 days. I can't be taken off the email list because it is the list tells me graduation information, construction info, building shutdowns, etc.

I am sure many of you have seen posters up announcing that a bake sale will be taking place on Monday 10th March starting at 10am in the building in XXXX

All the proceeds will go directly to the non profit organisation, called Finding Sophia. http://findingsophia.org/

I will be working with "Finding Sophia", in which I will take a trip to Tecate, Mexico with 15 other women. Once there, we will help build a home in one day and serve the community of Tecate. My aim is to raise about $1000 and with your help and support I think I can accomplish this. So please stop by the bake sale or if you are unable to make it then please donate via the website.

In addition, if you would like to contribute by baking something for bake sale then email me and bring your goodies on Monday.

mysticl · March 2014

I'm a Social Worker and I spent several years working for non-profits. In my experience people like to be able to say they did something other than just writing a check.

I used to work in foster care and we would solicit donations for Christmas presents for the kids. Most years the kids would fill out wish lists and we would distribute them to our donors who would go shopping and bring the gifts in to us. One year we just asked for monetary donations so we could do the shopping ourselves (to solve a lot of the problems we had with outsiders buying gifts). The year we asked for money we had a lot fewer donations than other years. People wanted to be able to say they went shopping and bought presents for the poor foster kids. It makes them feel good, like they are really being part of the solution.

ashleyep · March 2014

A lot of these "mission trips" aren't really actual mission trips. They're often upper middle class kids going on this trip thinking that they're "helping" but in actually doing nothing. They're basically a scam a lot of the time. I wish I could find a better article, but this is the only thing I could find.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/06/18/why-you-should-consider-cancelling-your-short-term-mission-trips/

ETA: London Lisa mentioned it, nvm. Voluntourism, like she mentioned. "Help me raise $3K so I can go help poor orphans in Africa!!"

First GoFundMe of my Facebook...gross or good?

Re: First GoFundMe of my Facebook...gross or good?

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