No
No
That's not something I would do myself.
Go Fund Me is great for helping out worthy causes, but IMHO, asking for money to do stuff you want to do but not pay for is pretty sleazy. Yours might fall under the category of helping a friend realize a dream, but I see too many from people who are lazy, entitled or both.
In reply to pinchvalve :
I can understand that. Back in my days of racing, we didn't have social media, or cell phones for that matter. We beat feet from shop to shop, and door to door to drum up sponsorships. Sometimes it was almost weekly. Landing a bigger sponsor was hard. That was kind of how I envisioned this. I am still pounding the pavement but GFM seemed like an easy way to funnel the money into one bucket.
And yes.. I have seen it. "buy me cigarettes" I think was one of the worst.
Using GFM for a personal hobby or interest is pretty crappy.
I like home theater, anyone want to buy me new gear? I've only ever once used GFM and that was when our dear friend HappyAndy died young and unexpectedly, leaving his young kids and wife. The money you awesome people on this board raised filled in the gap for them until she could get things rolling. To me, that's what that is for, not to send some kids to a race in Florida, not to buy someone a Chump car, not to help a kid buy his/her first car. Those things are what jobs are for. I call those Go Fund Yourself.
Stepping away form the keyboard before I make enemies.
Somebody already attempted that here awhile back and it ended badly. Poster never returned after that.
To each their own, but I think it is in bad taste to use it for things you want but don’t want to pay for.
Cooper_Tired said:To each their own, but I think it is in bad taste to use it for things you want but don’t want to pay for.
This x1000. Car racing is a luxury. Having cancer and needing cash for medical bills is something all together different and acceptable to use GFM.
In reply to dean1484 :
Funny you use that. I am three years in remission and my wife has an incurable blood cancer. Her medical bills are close to $1,000 a month and I have never thought of asking for money for that. I thought and maybe I misunderstood the use of the whole GoFundMe as seeking a sponsorship like any other race entity might.
Congrats to you and I am so sorry to here about your wife. The problem I have with GFM is that people mix up need and want. And then they try justifying a want by presenting it as a need. There is so much of that on GFM the place has turned in to a beggars haven. It is these people that have jaded me and I am sure many others when it comes to GFM type things in general.
GoGundMe is a mechanism for money to be collected. I see no problem using it for accepting money from race sponsors as long as you’re up front about it. It’s no different than asking people for money in person so how you feel about that is how you should feel about GFM.
I don't see why it should be restricted to charitable things. I do see why someone spamming their link to the funding campaign would be inappropriate and annoying but just using it to fund a race campaign is no big deal. It’s like PayPal or square cash but more open and able to host pictures.
Oh and VegasNick I found your page and that’s a neat car. Hard to believe it isn’t worth a fortune with the history it has.
There are other more investment focused sites you could use like startengine, indiegogo etc, or you could set up a Patreon for support. GoFundMe as mentions identity is about charity
No.
No. My thought is that if I need someone else to pay for my hobby, then I shouldn't be doing that hobby.
A high school “acquaintance” posted on Facebook one day to show off a beautiful new diamond ring from her husband. Later THE SAME DAY she posted a go fund me to ask for money to “repair their leaky roof”. Lol! berkeley off! Prioritize your responsibilities like everyone else.
dculberson said:GoGundMe is a mechanism for money to be collected. I see no problem using it for accepting money from race sponsors as long as you’re up front about it. It’s no different than asking people for money in person so how you feel about that is how you should feel about GFM.
I don't see why it should be restricted to charitable things. I do see why someone spamming their link to the funding campaign would be inappropriate and annoying but just using it to fund a race campaign is no big deal. It’s like PayPal or square cash but more open and able to host pictures.
I tend to agree. No one is forcing anyone to fund a GFM so as long as you're upfront about what it is you're doing, anyone that puts money in is doing it of their own volition knowing full well where the money is going. I don't see that as sleazy at all. Now, acting like it's a charity and then using it for your own project, yeah, that's sleazy. But telling everyone "Hi, I want to build something that I don't have the funds for" and they actually help you? Not sleazy at all.
I find it offensive. I don't see the correlation to going out and getting actual sponsors that are in the field. GoFundMe is literally you asking for hand outs. Don't do it for specious reasons like a "build" for your car, that's total BS and reflects extremely poorly on yourself.
I agree with the general sentiment on the thread, however, I could imagine a case where people might want to contribute to a project. Let's say someone has promised to document a certain type of build or challenge that hasn't been done before. I could see others with less skill deciding to contribute towards the project so they could gain the knowledge. If someone was doing the project less for themselves as something they would keep and more for the enjoyment and sharing of knowledge, they could do embark on more projects with outside funding.
In reply to Jaynen :
Thanks for making the delineation. I never knew that, nor did I understand that GFM was only for Charity. It really doesn't say that in anything you read.
In reply to dean1484 :
TOTALLY understood!
A 'sponsorship' should provide some meaningful return to the sponsor...Otherwise it's just a donation. However, under the right conditions, living vicariously through the sponsored is also possible to be considered as a meaningful return.
Now to be constructive. What I would do is get your own domain name that is relevant to your car or team or what ever. Build a page with photos the back story of the car the team and yes some of the back story about you and your wife. Then set up a paypal account and post that there. I would also get buisness cards made up with all the info on it as well. Then go market the hell out of it on line and in person. The return is you provide updates and photos of the build of the cars and obviously you have your premiere sponsers shown on the header of the web page. And be sure to repeedidly thank those that sponcer you on the page. If some one gives you a case of oil make sure you make it known to all that read your page just how great the oil is and how great they are for giving it to you. Also have a secondary sponsor page and or at the bottom of the page or pages you also list people.
Lastly keep things up to date and reach out to those that do donate on a regular basis thanking them. It could be as simple as a email updating them on progress on the build or how a test and tune day went and always be positive and thank them.
This is how I would start. It is a lot of work and needs to be treated as a job but done right it can be rewarding to both you and the people that help you.
dculberson said:GoGundMe is a mechanism for money to be collected. I see no problem using it for accepting money from race sponsors as long as you’re up front about it. It’s no different than asking people for money in person so how you feel about that is how you should feel about GFM.
I don't see why it should be restricted to charitable things. I do see why someone spamming their link to the funding campaign would be inappropriate and annoying but just using it to fund a race campaign is no big deal. It’s like PayPal or square cash but more open and able to host pictures.
Oh and VegasNick I found your page and that’s a neat car. Hard to believe it isn’t worth a fortune with the history it has.
I agree. Not that I would do it, but I think it's ok to do GFM for something like racing IF you are clear that's what it's for. A few people I know have done that, but they basicaly make sure that people who donate "get something" out of it. I.e. "you donate $20, I send you a team t-shirt." Wasn't there a feature on GRM about a Spec2 racer who basically would put your name on the racecar in vinyl for any donation? You could use that as a kid's birthday present "Hey look, I got your name put on a real race car!" or something like that. As long as it's up-front about what the money is for - if people are willing to fund a racecar, that's up to them. Just don't say "I'm collecting for (insert charitible cause here)" and then go spend it on a race car.
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OTOH, I once gave to a GFM page of a fellow racer who had some health issues and didn't have insurance, in order to help this person out with health expenses. I thought it was a worthy cause as this person is a good guy....but then here he is signing up for an expensive race 2 months later and I was like "wait....I thought you had no money to pay for medical costs, and now you have money to race?"
So I guess it cuts both ways.
GoFundMe is not a "charitable" platform. It is a fundraising platform. Those are two different things. There is nothing in their info about charity. It is not intended as charity. It is an easy way to crowd fund something, meaning allow people to give you money in various amounts and make sure it's tracked easily. It has massive advantages over a random web site with a paypal button. Using it to fund a race car or potato salad or a graduation party is just fine. There's nothing about it other than a misunderstanding that implies it's for charity.
Yes they highlight a lot of feel good charitable sounding things on their site because that's what makes people feel good about it. But they don't restrict it to charitable things or even intend it to be only for charitable things. It's a way for lots of different people to send you money, that's it.
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