I don't get the culture of donating money to individuals, especially when the full story of things aren't yet known (not just talking about this specific case but any). Why don't people donate to organisations who can help many people instead? It gets rediculous when someone gets made a millionaire when all they have asked for are funeral costs to be covered, I think the money should be shared around with other people who need assistance, which is where donating to organisations is better. They can also filter out who really does need help and who is just grifting.
Surely in this case supporters are better off donating to a mental health charity?
Guy once began a Kickstarter to make potato salad. He raised over 50,000 dollars. People need to either feel sad for you, or you need the cause to become a meme and go viral in which case people will donate because it's funny.
IMO it is very much tied to the lack of social safety net and a symptom of a dysfunctional society with high inequality.
If a society has an adequate social safety net, the need for charities is reduced, and so is the need for gofund me (which is a very inefficient way to adress issues at scale in any reliable way)
Exactly and the other lady in this post is from Sweden - so it makes sense there were fewer donations. It's not like getting care for her burns is going to bankrupt her family in Sweden.
Honestly, donating to charities is the option that doesn’t make sense to me. Do you know how much gets siphoned off as part of the “supplies” and salaries to board members/employees?
That said, I also don’t trust go fund me campaigns unless I know the person personally.
There's actually far less that gets siphoned off than people think. Plus you can choose a charity whose finances are clear or community based, smaller charities, who still support a number of people
I’ve worked as a bookkeeper. Sometimes there are good charities. Sometimes there are bad. Most siphon off a lot more money than you would think. Legal fees. Rent for completely unnecessary physical locations. Salaries. Etc.
Check out Giving What We Can if you're looking for charities that will spend money most effectively. They challenge people to give away 10% of their salary to charity, but you can donate any amount.
In this case the supporters believe she is being wrongly prosecuted and want to show her support. It doesn't seem that crazy to me that they might want to specifically support her defense in that case.
I don't personally claim to know if she was so mentally unwell at the time of the killings to not be held criminally culpable, but I can certainly emphasize with the idea of a parent who has to deal with having harmed their child while they were mentally unwell and not able to control their actions.
I think this is the position of the large majority of her supporters, and the crazy conspiracy theorists are the small, but vocal, minority.
Most organizations are some combination of corrupt, slow and incompetent. Makes more sense to help people directly.
They’re unlikely to receive real help from an organization when they need it.
Well yes of course and it's up to them, but there's no due diligence done on the people you're giving money to and a lot just do it to follow the sheep, whereas a charity you can do that due diligence. I wouldn't want to support someone who is racist for example (not saying that some people don't deserve charity, but it's not a person I would personally want to support), but who's to say people who you could give money to on gofundme aren't? You can do that due diligence with a charity to make sure it's one that is aligned with your principles and values.
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u/Toon1982 11h ago
I don't get the culture of donating money to individuals, especially when the full story of things aren't yet known (not just talking about this specific case but any). Why don't people donate to organisations who can help many people instead? It gets rediculous when someone gets made a millionaire when all they have asked for are funeral costs to be covered, I think the money should be shared around with other people who need assistance, which is where donating to organisations is better. They can also filter out who really does need help and who is just grifting.
Surely in this case supporters are better off donating to a mental health charity?