30 Outstandingly Bad GoFundMe Projects By People Who Don’t Have Any Sense Of Shame (2024)

Fails

Just because people choose to be kind doesn’t mean that you can take advantage of this kindness. That sounds about right, doesn’t it, dear Pandas? Unfortunately, some people have so little shame that they flaunt their greed and beg for money openly. In the digital age, that’s easier to do now than ever.

For example, tons of people create GoFundMe projects to try and weasel out some money from naive altruists. That’s where the aptly named ‘Don’tFundMe’ subreddit comes in. It’s an online community that names and shames the most egregious and greedy GoFundMe campaigns.

Some of these projects are as shameless as they can be. However, some others are clearly tongue-in-cheek social commentaries, attempts to have some fun and brighten people’s day. Scroll down to see what the GoFundMe landscape is really like, dear Pandas. And be sure to tell us about the worst campaigns you’ve ever laid eyes on.

Bored Panda reached out to the founder and moderator of the subreddit to have a chat about the online group's history and dumb GoFundMe campaigns.

"I was inspired to create /r/DontFundMe after seeing a college friend post a GoFundMe for a Christian mission trip overseas that, at worst, looked suspiciously like a vacation and, at best, looked to not be especially beneficial to the community it was supposed to help. Her campaign was never posted to the subreddit and only served as the initial inspiration," they shared with us.

The founder of the online community told Bored Panda that they have no idea why the people behind the most egregious campaigns aren't ashamed of themselves.

"Maybe part of the reason is that these donations are entirely voluntary, so they don't have the same level of guilt as, for example, a pharmaceutical company holding lifesaving medication hostage behind outrageous costs," the moderator mused why some folks have an easy time begging for money on GoFundMe.

Bored Panda was curious what the mod would change about GoFundMe if they could do anything. However, they were candid that they haven't followed the platform's development over the years. Though they do have one novel idea.

"We could take all of the healthcare-related campaigns and bundle them all into one single one-day campaign, say on April 18th. We could call it 'Tax Day' and ensure that the funding is used to cover all healthcare costs for every citizen of the United States. Maybe we could even have all of the billion-dollar corporations donate to this campaign," they said. The idea sounds great. Hopefully, someone will pitch it to GoFundMe.

The founder told us that, unfortunately, r/DontFundMe "is a dying subreddit." There's been hardly any engagement or growth over the past several years.

"I'd like to believe that the majority of redditors are moving away from 'outrage' subreddits like this one I created. I've come to realize that subreddits like this probably don't have a positive lasting effect on mental health," they said.

California-based GoFundMe lets people fundraise money for pretty much anything and everything, so long as it fits the company’s community standards. So while you might see some fairly run-of-the-mill requests to help an animal shelter or a family who has lost their home, you’ll also find some Americans begging for help because they can’t afford life-saving medication or healthcare.

Between 2010 and 2020, GoFundMe raised over 9 billion dollars, contributed by over 120 million donors. However, not every project is altruistic. Some people see the platform as a way to make a quick buck by telling a sob story. And they get called out for it by the ‘Don’tFundMe’ subreddit.

r/DontFundMe has been active for almost 7.5 years. Founded way back in late October of 2014, it has amassed nearly 219k members since then. The entire subreddit is run by just a single moderator (though they also use Reddit’s AutoModerator for help).

The online group presents itself as “a subreddit for those born without shame-glands, dedicated to showcasing particularly egregious GoFundMe projects.” In other words, it’s about showing the weirdest, most shameless times people tried to swindle a quick buck or two from those willing to show kindness.

Now, there are a few rules that you have to be aware of if you plan on joining r/DontFundMe and posting content there. For one, as much fun as it is to poke fun at people who deserve it, the subreddit’s members are asked to blur out all identifiable info. What’s more, posters should avoid adding visible links to the projects themselves. That’s to avoid promoting any and all campaigns directly (whatever they might be).

What’s more, the content that you post on r/DontFundMe has to be in some way related to egregious GoFundMe projects. There’s a separate subreddit for bad Kickstarter projects. Meanwhile, general begging posts go on the legendary r/ChoosingBeggars. In other words, the content has to be mainly focused on GoFundMe. Though the ‘Don’tFundMe’ team explains that they do allow some non-GoFundMe posts “within reason.”

The sub also isn’t the place for any actually good campaigns. There has to be an element of malevolence, absurdity, or hilarity present. “This subreddit is for bad GoFundMe projects that obviously beg for money or don't have a clear objective other than the ability to sponge money from your wallet,” the mod writes.

Anyone who’s caught promoting projects or soliciting donations on r/DontFundMe will bet permanently banned. And, as always, members of the subreddit are duty-bound to follow Reddit’s general rules, aka be a nice person, not a jerk. That means no spamming. No harassment. No threats. No organizing witch-hunts against GoFundMe beggars that you personally don’t like. Poking fun at them online is fine—but there’s no excuse for abuse.

Which of these projects did you think were the dumbest, dear Pandas? What do you think it would take to ensure that people stop trying to make a quick buck at the expense of others? Is there anything that you wish you could change about GoFundMe as a whole? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

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