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The People GoFundMe Leaves Behind (theoutline.com)
citadrianne shares a report from The Outline: President Donald Trump's proposed budget seeks to slash $54 billion from social services including programs like Medicaid and Meals on Wheels. As these resources dry up, crowdfunding websites will further entrench themselves as extra-governmental welfare providers in order to fill the gap. For a lucky few, these sites are a lifeline. For most people, they are worthless. Crowdfunding's fatal flaw is that not every campaign ends up getting the money it needs. A recent study published in the journal Social Science & Medicine found that more than 90 percent of GoFundMe campaigns never meet their goal. For every crowdfunding success story, there are hundreds of failures. "As many happy stories as there are in charitable crowdfunding, there are a lot of really worthy causes when you browse these platforms that nobody has given a cent to," Rob Gleasure, professor at the business school of the National University of Ireland, Cork told The Outline. "People haven't come across them."
Feller and Gleasure's report highlighted how fickle crowdfunding can be. Of all the Razoo campaigns started in 2013, they found, more than a third didn't receive any funding at all. According to their report, donors are more likely to give to campaigns that feature lots of pictures and accompanying text.
I'm going to autofund me some popcorn and wait for roman_mir and all the usual suspects to enthrall us with their wisdom.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Failure of a croudsource project is a feature, it indicates the lack of a market so that people don't start a company and commit to expenses when there is not a market for their product.
> A recent study published in the journal Social Science & Medicine found that more than 90 percent of GoFundMe campaigns never meet their goal. For every crowdfunding success story, there are hundreds of failures.
No, assuming you are focused on GoFundMe and the study is accurate, then for every crowdfunding success story, there are tens of failures.
Who decide which causes are "really worthy"? And how can anyone conclude that by simply "browsing"?
It's true. The only causes that people should give to are kittens & puppies.
It really isn't. Sure, it could, but nothing has actually happened yet, just a lot of talk, and libs keep crying like the world ha already ended.
I'm disappointed that you didn't lead with a Trump angle on the previous Sci-Hub piracy article. It's like you didn't even try. This one was better.
"more than 90 percent of GoFundMe campaigns never meet their goal. For every crowdfunding success story, there are hundreds of failures." -- So around 9 failures, for every success story. How did we get to hundreds?
I assume that the mentality of the person who did the study was to compare it to conventional non-profits and the way they do fundraising. This is an important distinction because, under that model, there's a certain filtering process. If you've ever looked at a grant application, you'll see that the very nature of any of them tends to point out to you that there needs to be a valid reason for your request for funding. GoFundMe has no such filter, and as a result you get people like these three assholes or this snowflake. And those two are just what I came across by searching "Nintendo" on their site and seeing what came up in the first full set of results.
And then there's the other thing that the filtering process does...which is help reduce the level of scamming. GoFundMe also lacks any means to do this; you see a picture and a nice bit of text but there is absolutely nothing done to validate that either are true. As a result, scams are rampant, to such a degree that there's a whole site dedicated to uncovering the scams.
So, in short...I don't think there's anything wrong with the majority of GoFundMe campaigns failing to reach their goals. Most of them are just fucking ridiculous. And yes, I'm quite sure that some valid campaigns don't get funded as well...but 1, I would put some of the blame on the lack of any vetting process around the campaigns, and 2, that happens in the world of legitimate fundraising too. Posting a picture and type a few paragraphs describing your plight does not automatically guarantee you money...whether you are deserving or not...and that's just how life goes.
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
The problem is that so many people need money because the cost of medical care is beyond their reach. The problem is that we live in a society where the ability to continue living is something that you have to "earn". The problem is that so many people are callous and devoid of empathy until it turns into a problem for them. The problem is that we refuse to care for our fellow humans.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
"more than 90 percent of GoFundMe campaigns never meet their goal. For every crowdfunding success story, there are hundreds of failures."
Assuming on GoFundMe success story = meeting the funding goal, the above claims are mutually exclusive.
Basic math seems to be too hard for idiots.
Catalin Braescu
Ofaly.com
If you care about these causes, why not donate to them? Dem donors threw away $30 million to lose the GA-06 House electiion, and that wasn't even for a full congressional term.
If they cared about people, they'd donate to help people. But they're haters, so they'd rather spend their money on politics.
(Then they can take your money from your paycheck to setup an organization to "help" the people -- and put all their friends on the organization payroll.)
FTFY
The problem is that so many people need money because the cost of medical care is beyond their reach. The problem is that we live in a country where the ability to continue living is something that you have to "earn". The problem is that so many people are callous and devoid of empathy until it turns into a problem for them. The problem is that we refuse to care for our fellow citizens.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
Why is it that it seems the most prolific GoFundMes I see on the local news or shared on Facebook are for Medical Care. Shared by people that are firmly against the Government helping do exactly what they're wanting.
In the same breath the see no Irony in saying: "You libs just want to steal my money to pay for people that need it, but please sponsor Grandma's cancer treaments!!!!"
> Why do these people deserve money? They don't contribute to society, so they don't deserve society's help.
That's what we say about those corporations which only seek their profit, the rest be damned. Apparently when corporations do that, people come up and say "uh, ok, that's capitalism". And suddenly we're the "anti-capitalists".
Now if you fund someone to buy prosthetic legs so that s/he can go and work as a programmer, people get nervous -- possibly because they feel they'll look bad for not wanting to give -- and then start a campaign to smear the person in need as well as the few donors.
Nobody wants to waste resources. But there are costs and then there are investments, where you get something in return. If you want just money as ROI, life will be miserable. Because important work which does not yield immediate results will be left undone.
Education: the smart ones will find a way to get it.
Health: the weak should die, anyway.
Welfare: What? If someone is not sick, s/he should work; if s/he is sick look the phrase above.
Well, in the end, someone survives. And the survivors will carry a lot of resentment for not having received any kind of support. Of course, most will think along these lines again and a vicious circle is established. They will even post idiotic messages in sites with dysfunctional moderation mocking the idea of donating itself.
They ask people to donate to their whatever account to fund them....... so they can continue to sit around on the computer causing mischief instead of looking for a job.
It's $54 billion from a $3.8 trillion budget. That's 0.14% of the entire budget. A budget where 75% is already spent on social services. And that $54 billion is 9% of what we borrow every year. The Federal Government is spending about $1,000 per MONTH per man, woman, and child in the US - and it's still not enough? The problem really isn't how much we spend, it's how much of it is simply wasted...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
That's how it should be. Some taxes should be optional but this way is even better.
So, like Bobo then? He's pretty much resorted to begging.
HA HA! - Nelson
The fact that people live in a country where people have to go to a website to have their health care needs met without revolting, is pretty disgusting.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
You can't force people to pay into a welfare pot, oh millennials. There are no such things as 'guarantees' in life. The sooner you learn this, the sooner you can channel your energy into something that actually works (hint :it will require you to educate yourself, and no, a degree is not the equivalent of 'being educated'. I know, effort, anathema to you. An app isn't going to get it done). There is a word for activity that people are forced to engage in against their own free will. Please disavow yourself of your Elysian fantasies. We could use some more real people in the real world at this time, not those hiding in the matrix in a bubble of their own county. Get over yourselves and get busy.
and it hasn't for thousands of years of recorded history. Hell, you can see that in literally 2/3 of the world where second and third world conditions dominate. When the right say that charities and churches will step up they know they're lying. It's something they tell their base so they don't feel so bad about abandoning people to slow death.
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they already took out the folks just randomly asking for money. It's 90% of _medical_ campaigns that fail. But hey, you're uninformed rant probably made you feel better about not providing those 90% with life saving medical care and food/shelter while they're too sick to work, right?
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are the Elephant in the Room. Or "Snowflakes". Or Tax and Spend Liberals. Or whatever pejorative you want to use for people who get help but don't strictly speaking need it to survive.
Now, if you're clever and can use google to prove the Welfare Queen is a myth. But that myth _feels_ right. It also absolves us from paying for those Tax and Spend Liberals single payer healthcare system. After all, if you take money from me to pay for some guy's medical bills aren't you just stealing from me? Let's not forget taxes are taken at the barrel of a gun (you go to jail if you don't pay). Again, I could waste an hour of your time explaining why that's all bunk but it would be plaining to the wrong side of the brain. It wouldn't feel good like those myths do.
Until somebody can come up with a bumper sticker that shuts down Welfare Queen and Tax and Spend Liberal we're not getting single payer. They myths are just too pervasive. Anyone wanna give it a crack?
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Faceless, uncountable charity is not a good thing, it is in fact just as bad if not worse than government assistance, and that is why most donations go to real, private charities, churches, etc. that provide assistance but also require accountability. It is high time that we stop pissing away our tax dollars to healthy adults who choose not to work because the over 6,000,000 open jobs https://www.bls.gov/news.relea... are not what they went to school for or it is beneath them, they are drug addicted, etc. If you are concerned for their kids, then take them away and place them with loving families who are not drug addicted (this should be done anyway).
Welfare, food stamps and the like provide no road map to self sufficiency and very little accountability (i.e. drug testing, job searching, etc.) whereas most private charities are much more interested (and by the way effective) in leveraging their funds as a stepping stone out of poverty/dependency. The entire entitlement class created by government exists to buy votes for the Democrats, rather than truly helping people to become self sufficient. (Democrats demonstrably don't care about the needy beyond buying their votes, as demonstrated by their personal behavior: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12...
I personally have donated thousands to private charities with good overhead ratios (google it) and $0 to any Gofundme and I never will because of the lack of accountability, vision, and support structure. If you are truly in need (and don't have thousands in the bank/clothes/shoes/electronics/boats/jet skis/ATVs etc. laying around), you are much better off working with local charities/churches and you are also much more likely to come out in a better position, rather than trying to use Gofundme.
The only caveat here is you need to research where you are giving to make sure they are legitimately helping. I would never donate to the Clinton Foundation for example, because for 2014 (most recent available tax filing) the foundation reported total expenses of a little over $91 million but grants of just $5.1 million were paid out. That’s not even 6 percent of the foundation’s money. Where the rest of that money went and how it was spent is highly suspect. They do other work, but are not transparent about the spending, which for a charity is a huge red flag.
If you disagree, please post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like
The summary says that Crowdfunding Fatal Flaw is that fact that "not every campaign ends up getting funded". THAT IS NOT A FLAW. This is how it should work. The failure rate, according to the cited research is 90%. That is the crowd determining what is good/necessary to fund. When people actually give their own money to a program, they can decide what important it is to them. When a bunch of Congressmen/women get together and decide to fund programs with somebody else's money, it becomes very easy fund things that add up to $18T in national debt and counting. The national debt is doing a hockey stick. Maybe Meals on Wheels and Medicaid aren't the right things to cut, IDK, but somebody's got to start cutting something.
gotta build warplanes whose specs read like something out of Star Trek: The Next Generation and cost trillions to build. Fuck the poor, we gotta go kill, kill and kill people all over the world. Oh, God and Jesus is with us
90%+ of all beggars on the street asking for a handout go unfunded too. This is what happens when you have some stranger giving you a hard luck story that you have no idea whatsoever if it is really true or not. There are just too many scammers out there trying to feed their drug addiction or are just lazy bums. Sometimes you will chip in a buck or two to either make them go away or make yourself feel better, but logic usually takes over and you decide to give your hard-earned cash to people and causes that you actually know need it. Most people I know are very generous with their time, talents, and money if they know the cause is just.
Yeah, we used to call this "charity." Some people see the fundamental component of a society as government, and anything outside of it is just weaselly.
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> Why do these people deserve money? They don't contribute to society, so they don't deserve society's help.
Consider the lilies of the field. They toil not, neither do they spin. Yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed so well.
Asshole. What do you contribute to society? Besides running a treadmill and producing shit. Be very glad that you don't get what you truly deserve, as Hamlet once said.
The people who hate private charity and private donations (and want to replace them with government programs) are progressives, socialists, and Democrats.
Sure, that must be why there were record breaking donations (from progressives) after Trump's election.
Cheap storage VM.
Record-breaking donations... to political causes, political causes intended to grow government.
That's not charity.
Crowdfunding is not about replacing welfare. It is about funding people that have a worthwhile idea or (as in Patreon) that produce content regularly that enough people want for direct funding, but that for numerous possible reasons the usual sources of funding are not interested in. Crowdfunding is _not_ charity.
Hence crowdfunding does not have any "fatal" flaw here, that is pure hyperbole of the most stupid kind.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
... country. Healthcare is one of them. That's the plain, simple and painful truth. Crowfunding for healtcare being an option is about as obscene as it gets. Obamacare was the first step. Not the best healthcare system by a long shot, but at least a healthcare system, like every other normal country on the planet. What the Trump administration is doing now by undoing all that is borderline criminal.
I'm so glad I live in Germany. And even though I don't like the way things are going here all that much either, we're not half as fubared as you lot across the pond.
My 2 Eurocents.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Not at all: conservatives, libertarians, and capitalists think that private charity is the best way of helping the poor.
Well, turns out they're wrong. Private charity is resoundingly ineffective. And corrupt. Just check out the Wounded Warrior audits.
What people get not just nervous but angry about is that the US government spends trillions of dollars on the "war on poverty", combating homelessness, helping unwed mothers, etc. and have little progress to show for it.
So they're angry that homelessness has gone up because of their cuts to social services, teen pregnancies have been continuing due to their refusal to teach sex ed, and that their enacted reforms have produced non-beneficial results?
Why are they angry? Or are they just in denial? Notice how Reagan preached about the poor having Cadillacs and Caviar, not about how he could do a better job. Sorry, but resentment is what drives them, not a desire to do better.
Heck, just check out how they don't even remember their own efforts. 20 years ago, PROWA was passed. This month? Trump says he'll do...the same thing it did. Didn't he talk to Newt about things?
What makes people even angrier is that the same people who demand redistribution in order to help the poor and unskilled then proceed and try to import even more poor and unskilled from third world nations.
Nope, the people who are importing the undocumented poor tend to be illicit employers. Who resist the aforementioned help for the poor and unskilled. But love having labor they can exploit and abuse
The people who hate private charity and private donations (and want to replace them with government programs) are progressives, socialists, and Democrats.
Well, no, just look at the Conservatives, Libertarians, and Republicans who try to shut down Planned Parenthood. They don't like it, and want to end it, and then hand government money to religious indoctrination centers that lie and deceive patients, and conservatives in several states have attempted to make going to one a compulsory experience to get an abortion.
Sorry, but some of us are aware of the actual facts of right-wing behavior.
I guess that doesn't include you. I suggest you reacquaint yourself with actual reality. Not Trumpreality, which is made up as he goes along.
the problem is that folks have to ask for money to get medicine they need to _live_.
And I know this: Charity doesn't work. In the entire recorded history of mankind charity has never made so much as a dent in the poor's lot. Charity makes people feel better. It does not solve problems. If it did poverty wouldn't be a thing, and folks wouldn't be begging for medicine on a website.
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and that's fine and dandy. But it doesn't solve problems. The left isn't saying government will take care of everybody, we're saying _everybody_ will take care of everybody. Government just happens to be what we named the structure required to do it. We could also call it "Civilization". We're not lying. It's the only way out from the coming Dark Ages as the Uber wealthy seek to consolidate their power. Maybe it'll fail, but I know this: we'll be no worse off for the failure and a lot worse off for not trying.
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I am sure a lot of them are people putting up a made up sad story to scam people.
The same as midicaid, billions go to people who don't need it, it is about time to reign in the waste we can't afford.
Planned Parenthood is not a political organization. The ACLU is a human rights organization. The big political donations are the GOP backing PAC's.
Cheap storage VM.
You must be joking, trying to claim that donations to Planned Parenthood and the ACLU arise from charitable impulses to help the poor. And you need to look up what PP and the ACLU actually do; a good look at their history would also be a good idea.
You need a reality check.
we're forcing you to take part in civilization. It's not different than being forced to get vaccinations or a license to drive. Your actions do not happen in a vacuum. When you deny people access to health care you make them desperate. Dangerous. Sooner or later a rabble rouser will come along, organize them, and turn them against you and everyone else for his own profit using populist rhetoric to cover his true motives. This has happened again and again. Hitler. Stalin. Mussolini. Mao. They're just the best known examples.
Civilization doesn't get to be an option. Take care of everybody or be taken 'care' of by them. You abandon the poor at your peril.
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You must be joking, trying to claim that donations to Planned Parenthood and the ACLU arise from charitable impulses to help the poor. And you need to look up what PP and the ACLU actually do; a good look at their history would also be a good idea.
Let me guess, you're going to fume and fuss about how Planned Parenthood wants to suppress the poor by offering them birth control. The fact is, Margaret Sanger established her first clinic in her OWN community. She knew the value of health care.
Same with the ACLU. Both Crystal Eastman and Roger Nash Baldwin were deeply concerned with the oppression of their time, and yes, they even worked to fight disenfranchisement in the South.
You need to look up the history of lies by the Right-wing about Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, a good look at the truth would be a good idea for you. It's a common practice among the conservative right, they quite frequently concoct fabricated stories to denounce those who oppose them.
Most campaigns are vaguely worded, lack a compelling sales pitch, and as others have stated above, provide little to no accounting for the donations. People aren't going to donate money because someone is asking for it.
Then there are the campaigns for people who have house fires - and expect $25,000 in donations - when in reality, insurance will eventually cover their losses. I never donate to these.
Why do rent-seeking industries deserve money?
They don't contribute to society.
By definition.
Planned Parenthood provides healthcare for women, all sorts. They are the go to location for poor and young women to get healthcare.
Cheap storage VM.
PP doesnt provide healthcare.
Even Jon Kyl wouldn't believe that. He only lied about how much of what they do. He never made such an inane claim as that.
It's not a free general practicioner.
Which proves that they don't provide healthcare how? There are other manners of operating a healthcare facility.
I'm in favor of abortion and feel that it is underused everytime I drive in traffic, but be real about what PP means to the prochoice cause.
Be real about what it means to the anti-choice crowd. There's a reason why Jon Kyl LIED about what Planned Parenthood does. Now you are. For reasons that make no sense.
It is a paid outlet that supports abortion rights and actively advances that platform.
Yes, they do that. Which is why so many hate them, even if they can't admit to their reasons.
No one goes there if they have a sinus infection.
I also don't go to a knee surgeon if I have a sinus infection. I wold never say they don't provide healthcare.
But actually, you lie.
If you want to support healthcare, then support your local "doc in a box" and give money to groups that provide specialized care for free (some dentists, optometrists, GPs, and surgeons that provide care in poor and underserved areas).
You mean like at Planned Parenthood?
I get it, you want to lie. Why? What's the point? Why lie?
"If you want to support healthcare, then support your local "doc in a box" and give money to groups that provide specialized care for free (some dentists, optometrists, GPs, and surgeons that provide care in poor and underserved areas)." ...and send pregnant women to dentists, optometrists, GPs for help giving birth?