# Go-fund me **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2022, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-fund-me/962238 "2022-04-04T12:40:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stosh1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@stosh1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stosh1)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2022, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-fund-me/962238/1 "2022-04-04T12:40:08Z")
On these go-fund me things. How much do the people really get? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2022, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-fund-me/962238/2 "2022-04-04T13:00:21Z")
GoFundMe withholds 2.9% of each donation, plus a transaction fee of (in the UK) 25 pence. (That’s for individuals. There is a lower rate for charities.) ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2022, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-fund-me/962238/3 "2022-04-04T13:07:09Z")
I suspect there is a wide array of Go-fund me appeals. My son did a couple to fund an RP game he was developing, and made his relatively modest goals (approx $6k IIRC) quite quickly. At the time, GFM impressed me as a decent way to support creative efforts. Personally, I’m a little more dubious of the “woe is me” sort of appeals. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2022, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-fund-me/962238/4 "2022-04-04T14:18:11Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > At the time, GFM impressed me as a decent way to support creative efforts. For those, I’m more inclined to back Kickstarter things, precisely because GFM’s association with social appeals has soured me on it. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2022, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-fund-me/962238/5 "2022-04-04T16:29:19Z")
Oh drat - I think I conflated the 2. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2022, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-fund-me/962238/6 "2022-04-04T18:22:55Z")
Yeah, they’re quite different in terms of purpose. GoFundMe is for collecting donations of a generally charitable nature, rather than transactional. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2022, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-fund-me/962238/7 "2022-04-04T23:52:14Z")
GoFundMe claims that less than one tenth of one percent of the fundraisers it hosts are fraudulent 🤨 even if so, that still leaves a lot of fraud. And they apparently don’t include unproven medical treatments and outright quackery in that total, as a brief perusal of the site shows. There are numerous fundraisers for therapy at the Burzynski clinic in Houston and for questionable stem cell treatments. You can even find appeals for money on behalf of _providers_ of quackery, like the person who offers “distance reiki healing sessions”. Another example involves someone raising money on behalf of “wave regeneration therapy”, which is said to be quite the cure for what ails you, whether it be: “Reduction of Covid Aftereffects, Chronic Pain Relief, Diminished Wrinkles, Improved Circulation, Body Detoxification, Accelerated Healing, Keloid Reduction, Neuropathy Minimization and MORE” There are a lot of sad stories on GoFundMe and people desperately trying to find cures for loved ones. I hate to see money, time and energy diverted down useless avenues and benefiting only hustlers. ---
**Author:** ![stosh1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@stosh1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stosh1)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-fund-me/962238/8 "2022-04-05T02:00:16Z")
I have a problem with someone making money off of another’s misfortune. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-fund-me/962238/9 "2022-04-05T02:18:36Z")
I have donated to several GFMs; one of them was just a few days ago, to a local acquaintance whose husband is terminally ill and she is partially disabled and cannot work full time. They do not have any children. I’ve seen a few, usually memorials for families with young children who lost one or both parents, that went into the 6 figures, whether they expected it or not. Those people definitely need some competent financial advice. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-fund-me/962238/10 "2022-04-05T02:20:24Z")
Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me, either. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-fund-me/962238/11 "2022-04-05T04:54:51Z")
> [@stosh1](#): > > I have a problem with someone making money off of another’s misfortune. Doctors, nurses, lawyers, undertakers, appliance repairman, roofers, auto repair shops – there’s a whole lot of professions you must not like. ---
**Author:** ![stosh1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@stosh1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stosh1)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-fund-me/962238/12 "2022-04-05T11:05:44Z")
You’re a special kind of idiot if you don’t understand what I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-fund-me/962238/13 "2022-04-05T13:04:53Z")
GFM is providing a service to help people in need. Why shouldn’t they make a reasonable profit? If they don’t, then the service won’t be available. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-fund-me/962238/14 "2022-04-05T13:35:33Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > GoFundMe claims that less than one tenth of one percent of the fundraisers it hosts are fraudulent 🤨 How would they know? > [@stosh1](#): > > You’re a special kind of idiot if you don’t understand what I’m talking about. Apparently I’m probably a special kind of idiot, because I’m not at all sure what you are talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-fund-me/962238/15 "2022-04-05T14:23:25Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > How would they know? I suppose things like that can probably be audited in depth on on a random sample, then extrapolated, but looking at the [relevant page](https://www.gofundme.com/en-gb/c/safety/fraudulent-campaigns), I suspect it might not be done with anything like that sort of rigour. It sounds like they have a reporting mechanism for suspected fraud, and that they perhaps only find 0.1% of those reported cases to be fraudulent. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-fund-me/962238/16 "2022-04-05T14:31:11Z")
That depends on someone finding out about the fraud and complaining though. If someone falsely claims they are sick and gets donations from random public benefactors, it wouldn’t be hard for them to get away with it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-fund-me/962238/17 "2022-04-05T14:59:10Z")
True, although from memory, the signup process was pretty rigorous and required some identity verification steps that probably make it reasonably difficult for people to fake their identity (at least, if they want to get the money out at the end). Still, I expect most of their investigations probably assume innocence unless there is some glaringly obvious evidence to the contrary. I have seen some campaigns that were obviously fake - in fact when I set up a GoFundMe campaign to help my friend in Nigeria (related to a video collab on my channel), I did get some comments saying ‘guys actually the GoFundMe is here…’ and containing links to counterfeit copies of the campaign. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-fund-me/962238/18 "2022-04-05T16:53:55Z")
**Moderator Warning** > [@stosh1](#): > > You’re a special kind of idiot if you don’t understand what I’m talking about. This is an official warning for persona insults. Do not insult users outside of the BBQ Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-fund-me/962238/19 "2022-04-05T20:11:49Z")
Don’t forget the complete BS, lap-of-luxury ones - I want to have the complete princess wedding - cost $6-figures - Help me pay for my trip of a lifetime that I could never afford, it included ~~first-class airfare~~ private jet, renting a mega-yacht, & other things that only **B** illionaires do. 🙄