Massive number of fundraisers creates opportunities and potential problems
A dream wedding, help while fighting cancer, money for a custody battle, a mail-order bride, new career training, business assistance, a new dirt bike and more could all be yours — if you get lucky on GoFundMe.
In the last 12 months, all these requests appeared on the site from various Gilmer County residents.
They are among roughly 300 GoFundMe pages made in Gilmer County.
The structure of GoFundMe’s website makes it difficult to say exactly how many fundraiser pages are from within the county.
The site’s high levels of traffic bring opportunities for misuse, too.
Mark Belongie, who used a GoFundMe page to rebuild a local barn, said the crowdfunding website is a “Wild West” for donors and fundraisers alike.
“It was a really good tool to have,” he said. “It’s a way for people to help out.”
Between GoFundMe and generous local donation, Belongie raised about $17,000 to restore a crumbling 100-year-old barn on 6573 Rock Creek Rd., Cherry Log.
In a community-wide effort, local carpenters Travis Davenport, Jerry Norton and Nathan Ensley repaired the structure with donated lumber and dollars.
The simplicity of fundraising on GoFundMe helped make the work possible.
“There’s a historical barn presentation society,” he said. “But, it has lots of hoops to jump through. There’s a lot of underwriting. [With GoFundMe] we were up and running in 24 hours.”
But this simplicity also left Belongie with concerns. He was never contacted by anyone from GoFundMe during the process.
“We could have been a total fraud,” he said. “No one would have been the wiser.”
For Belongie, rebuilding a barn the community appreciates would have been impossible without GoFundMe.
Other cases are more difficult to analyze and can have layers of complications.
Is it okay to ask GoFundMe for help with a health issue if you already have insurance? Should GoFundMe donors pay your overdue parole fees? What if you’re a teenager and really want a mini bike?
The Times Courier contacted a fundraiser organizer who said he was a teenager who wanted a mini bike. He didn’t reply.
If enough people are interested, you can probably get exactly what you want. GoFundMe has raised more than $40 billion worldwide since its founding in 2010.
But, every dollar spent on dirt bikes isn’t going to people with serious medical issues.
GoFundMe spokesperson Brian Hill said the group’s mission is to “help people help each other.”
“Over the past 15 years, the platform has become a real-time mirror of societal needs and aspirations. There are hundreds of thousands of active fundraisers currently in Georgia,” he said by email.
The organization’s goal is to create a platform that is “safe and welcoming for everyone to help each other.
Fundraisers for animals, education, medical and memorial needs, businesses, sports and more can all find a place on the platform, Hill said.
For the most part, GoFundMe pages in Gilmer County haven’t been a guaranteed path to granted wishes.
Most fundraisers make a few hundred dollars.
So far, the fundraisers for the mini bike, dream wedding, mail-order bride, custody battle and career retraining haven’t received any donations.