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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is this the cheekiest crowd-sourcing request ever?

76 replies

audaciousaudrey · 04/01/2018 16:57

A woman on my local FB group has posted a GoFundMe link asking for 27k for university fees, because she's not eligible for a loan and has decided she wants to work in TV. Makes much of how the government has screwed over students and it's an outrage etc.

In the comments, it's revealed that she has actually had four years of funding, but wants to study something different now.

Yeah, I'd retrain if someone gave me 27k too Grin Grin Grin

OP posts:
ladymelbourne1926 · 04/01/2018 17:48

An acquaintance of mine is crowdfunding £3000 for a holiday to India for her family, unsurprisingly I've declined to donate.

londonista · 04/01/2018 17:50

Maybe I should encourage her to post on my local FB page. Those Streatham mums don't pull any punches!

kathhere · 04/01/2018 17:54

Def same group OP, how funny! I would have assumed a bigger backlash. They’re all obsessed with vaccines instead!

YouOKHun · 04/01/2018 17:55

I posted on here once about a neighbour who’d put up a crowdfunding page to pull together £3k vets fees for her little dog who needed a lifesaving op. A couple of local animal lovers had given £10 or £20 and she’d gathered about £350 last time I looked. What the contributors didn’t know was that she was a wealthy woman with a yard full of horses and two kids at expensive schools and clearly plenty of loose change. The dog is still around so I’m guessing you coughed up in the end as I don’t think it went any further than £350.

expatinscotland · 04/01/2018 17:56

That's hilarious! Make it go viral.

HolyShet · 04/01/2018 17:56

A woman in our neighbourhood was crowdfunding to renovate her house, on the basis that it was a high profile building in the area and she'd spent all her money on buying it.

She was absolutely lambasted

Bellamuerte · 04/01/2018 18:00

I see numerous fundraising pages for people who want to do courses such as dance or drama, for which it may not be possible to get a student loan. They usually qualify their begging for money by saying "It's my dream!" Yeah, well my dream is to own a Porsche so should people give me money for that? What makes your dream so much more special than mine? Save up and pay for your own dreams like everyone else does!

KC225 · 04/01/2018 18:02

Hahaha some of the people should be copied onto the CF threads.

hendricksyousay · 04/01/2018 18:04

I hate this bloody begging culture .. I would never ask for money from anyone .. ever !!

PoorYorick · 04/01/2018 18:07

Well, if all these people get what they crowdfund for, we can't really complain. They're not forcing anyone, just asking. If enough people decide they want to contribute, that's how it is.

Rubies12345 · 04/01/2018 18:12

Internships seem to be the way now anyway - she should look into that.

labazs · 04/01/2018 18:12

thats the trouble with these sites they started off as genuine help things but now anyone can post on them and do

starbrightnight · 04/01/2018 18:14

Brilliant and hilarious observation from gunsandbanjos.

This reminds me of the kickstarter attempt by someone I know to achieve their dream of opening a charming little tea room.

Wouldn't we all love someone to fund our pipe dream.

MissionItsPossible · 04/01/2018 18:19

Reading all these CF threads and all these crowdfunding makes me feel a bit of a mug to go to work and maybe I should make one of my own. I wouldn't post it on here (quite rightly Wink) and don't have Facebook but I can easily make one and plug it there. It seems to be full of gullible idiots generous people.

HolyShet · 04/01/2018 18:23

Though, yannow, if you don't ask, you don't get. I suppose.

I did chip in for a crowdfunder for a local young woman to go to summer school at the Royal Ballet. She had a place paid for - this was for her subsitence and rent. Really sweet and talented kid and I know there was no way her family could afford it otherwise.

ReanimatedSGB · 04/01/2018 18:26

I don't get why you think people should be attacked and shamed for doing this sort of thing. It's entirely a matter of personal choice whether you give them money or not. We are all asked, pretty frequently, to donate to 'good causes' which we may or may not want to support: some people don't give money to animal charities because they think human charities are more deserving and vice versa; some people give money to one or another political campaigning organisation; some think it's wrong to fund the arts via donations when you could give your small change to help cure cancer, etc.
We also live in a hugely unequal world, where we are all expected to pay towards a bunch of fucking parasites ie the Royal Family, who we are supposed to support because they happened to be born to particular parents. So I really have no problem AT ALL with individuals saying, hey, give me some money. It's up to me whether I do or not.

misscheery · 04/01/2018 18:27

You see... I NEED to see Bora Bora this year....... GrinGrinGrin shall I leave my account details? if only someone'd give me £27k... I'd turn my life around...

winchesterfan · 04/01/2018 18:28

No the cheekiest one I've seen is someone whose kids and herself do karate, they tried out for some international tournaments and they all got on so she set up a go fund me to pay for their trip to the tournaments, one which also culminated in a holiday to Florida....this has been more than once Too and people give to her.
As far as I see it, if she wants to put herself and the kids forward for tournaments then you make sure that you can afford the travel and hotel costs yourself, not expecting everyone else to help you

Original poster
audaciousaudrey · 04/01/2018 18:45

That reminds me, on the same FB group, a woman crowd-funded for IVF, and got 40k! I’m sure she’ll be a great mother but at the same time, she bought a 500k house and put in a 50k extension! (I know because she’s a friend of a friend) Shock Shock Shock

Don’t ask, don’t get, I suppose!

OP posts:
Original poster
audaciousaudrey · 04/01/2018 18:54

@kathkate we’re surrounded by the CFs!

OP posts:
Roomba · 04/01/2018 19:42

Someone on my FB once started one to see if she could get enough for a house deposit, along with sob story about how they'd never be able to buy in this day and age without. She ended by saying yes it was cheeky, but if you do t ask you don't get so worth a try! I kept checking for a couple of weeks and she'd only managed to raise £10 of her £30k target, strangely. It was quite odd as she it really didn't seem in character for her so I wasn't sure whether it was supposed to be a joke about cheeky buggers tbh! It was never mentioned again afterwards.

Fekko · 04/01/2018 19:48

I guess it's like the 'eye want' section in private eye. I often wonder if anyone actually ever transfers money to these people!

wakemeupbefore · 04/01/2018 19:49

She can but ask. Fools will oblige.

PoorYorick · 04/01/2018 19:52

There was a long running ad in Eye Want which just said, "Not needy, just greedy. Gimme!"

I never did, but it made me laugh.

winters123 · 04/01/2018 19:56

Good for her. If I had the nerve I'd crowdfund for a new house/car/clothes/holiday. It's the people that donate that are the stupid ones, if they give her money and she gets what she's want she's done well for herself. I bet not many of us would turn down £27k. Please keep us updated as I'd love to know if she gets it. Bet she'll get plenty of f**k off replies though.