go fund me accounts

[samton]

How do y'all feel about go fundme accounts to pay for your thru hike? This is is something i decided to do so I should pay for it. On the other hand I guess it would be ok to help a fellow hiker follow a dream. I am not going to ask for help to do it. So what do you think?

[TNhiker]

(here comes the big can of worms)

[rafe]

Generally frowned upon, on this forum. It's not like you're needy. A thru-hike is a privilege, a vacation. Save up and then have at it.

[Coffee]

Oh boy ... let's get the popcorn and soda out for another round ...

[saltysack]

Word of the day..........J...........O............B


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[10-K]

gofundyourself.com

[The Cleaner]

gofundyourself.com

+100, I'll go ahead and save others the trouble.

[-Rush-]

The issue with GoFundMe is when you're not returning anything of value. If you plan to provide something of value to the community that is supporting you, it's easier to gain followers who are more likely to fund your hike. So, you're going to circumnavigate the earth on an inflatable pool raft. Great.. but I need to know there will be photos, videos, and something of value to justify my donation to your cause. A video of you trying to escape from a monstrous wirlpool would be great. I'm sure RedBull would get on board too. Get it?

[HooKooDooKu]

Sort of obvious that asking strangers to fund your vacation would be frowned upon... but haven't some people talked about utilizing GoFundMe as a way for friends and family to gift money to help fund a trip? For example, I could see someone that is about to graduate from school setting up a GoFundMe page and ask those that might otherwise send money as a graduation present to gift them through the GoFundMe page... that way everyone can see how far along they are to funding their trip.

[jjozgrunt]

I've donated to a few gofundme pages or similar but they were all for what I considered to be good causes. Funding someone so they can have a holiday is not something I would support. Nothing wrong with asking but you will need to make your pich really interesting to money from most people.

I automatically ignore those that say they are for some cause, but if you read it carefully it's only money left over. that the cause will get.

[Engine]

Okay, this is a pet peeve of mine so the following will likely be a bit abrasive to some viewers...discretion is advised.

Why in the world would anyone think it's acceptable to beg for money in order to take what amounts to a 6-month long dream vacation? Seriously, it's bad enough when people use GoFundMe for personal or business needs that serve no greater good other than ease the financial burden on the individual holding their hands out. But, to ask strangers for a donation so you can go hiking is the epitome of entitlement...

If you want something, get off your azz and work for it. The value received from the experience will be tenfold what you would get if it were handed to you.

End of rant (for now).

[Lone Wolf]

How do y'all feel about go fundme accounts to pay for your thru hike? This is is something i decided to do so I should pay for it. On the other hand I guess it would be ok to help a fellow hiker follow a dream. I am not going to ask for help to do it. So what do you think?

only a fool would give money to someone for a vacation

[4shot]

only a fool would give money to someone for a vacation

and there is certainly no shortage of fools to be exploited these days.you know what they say about fools and their money. Therefor, gofundme for thru hikes came to be. With today's technology, you can exploit fools you have never even seen or met from the comfort of home! Fools hundreds or thousands of miles from your hometown!No more pan handling in the cold or rain! these are good times we are living in.

[MtDoraDave]

I want to do a thru hike. I don't have the money to do a thru hike and pay my mortgage, cc bills, etc. So I came up with a plan. A financial plan. My credit card debt will be gone in 5 years, and I have started putting $35 in a special savings account every week. In 5 years, that will be $9,100 plus interest.
Yes, I wanted to keep on hiking this past March when the Thru's I was hiking with on my section hike said "come on, stay with us" ... but one thing I've learned is that the attitude of "I want what I want, and I want it NOW" is not healthy. Work for it. Save-up for it. The habit of putting all my "wants" on a credit card or taking out a loan for them only creates a mess that takes YEARS to recover from.

I have given money to Gofundme accounts twice. First, when a friend of mine hurt himself and couldn't work for a while. Second, when a friend lost a child and needed the money to bring his remains home.
People I know keep getting cancer and/or dying, so a thought occurred to me just this past week: What if my hiking partner got cancer and wanted to do our Thru hike immediately? My first though was that I could do a gofundme account.

So, on the whole, I agree - if you want to do a thru hike, save up for it. Don't beg. But like many other things in life, whether or not it's worth my support will be determined on a case by case basis.

[samton]

One thing to note the people I saw wanting money were young not old like me

[Gambit McCrae]

I don't care young, old, " I want to dedicate my hike to my best companion ol Roy", to me its all a gimmick. Im going to Louisiana redfishing for 9 days during Thanksgiving. Its about a $2000 trip, travel, lodging, fishing licenses, bait, all the crap for a fishing trip. I also supposedly have ADHD, so everyone: I am going on a fun vacation with lots of travel time, I am fishing for awareness of ADHD, please fund my fishing trip?? I mean its for a GOOD cause

[Ankle Bone]

One thing to note the people I saw wanting money were young not old like me

Dang. I was hoping you were young and that would explain your entitlement mentality. I guess my generation has them, too.

[GoLight]

There is an older guy with a bunch of AT videos on youtube. His schtick is hiking sections of the trail and ¨interviewing¨ fellow hikers, a lot of which consists of hitting on young female hikers during the interview. He posts the videos on youtube. He doesn´t have a job. He lives in a tent in a friend´s backyard.
He smokes cigarettes on the trail and in the shelters while making his videos.
His plea in his videos is to contribute to his Go Fund Me so he can continue to make videos that will help newbies get started in backpacking. He´s asking for money, but he´s giving something back. Does his GFM seem worthwhile? Something I would contribute too?
For me, HELL NO. GET A JOB and QUIT SMOKING.
A one pack a day smoker spends $2200 annually just for the smokes, never mind the hackers cough that interferes with hiking and never mind the medical costs that are inevitable.
I am a charitable man, but I´m damned if I´ll go fund some a**wipe so he can foul up the air with cigarette smoke and bad breath and filthy butts littering the ground around him.

[GoLight]

However, using Go Fund Me for a worthwhile charity makes sense. Rowdy raised $40,000 during his thru hike to fund scholarships at the school where he is a teacher, then he wrote an excellent book about his adventure. He´s about my age and I benefited from his advice about attitudes, gear, food, trail advice. Yes, I would contribute to his fund again if he wants to do something else to raise money for charity.

In GFM charity , the money is paid directly to the beneficiary and the hiker is not going to use it to pay for his hike and only contribute what little bit might be left over.

A recent graduate hitting up his family and friends for money to fund his after-graduation adventure would be acceptable in my book. If my grand-nephew wanted to do it I would contribute. Provided he was taking other steps such as banking his graduation gifts and working part time to save money (and not blowing his money on cigarettes and drugs) then, yeah, I´d help fund him.

[dudeijuststarted]

there are a lot of bizarre people out there, many of which are dying for any reason to be separated from their money. this is how religions operate, after all. hiking>religion, so I say go-for-it.