I've also read this story and thought it's a little ridiculous (just for me) considering that most people where I'm from also commutes daily, even myself. But anyway, the story did solicit a lot of interest regarding the effectiveness of the site. I for one will surely try it when I have fundraising projects.
I think that Go Fund Me campaigns can often only raise money for those who are popular. You hear about joke accounts raising thousands of dollars. I don't remember what it was, but someone a while ago made a campaign asking for help raising money to buy a burger or something and ended up getting hundreds of dollars. As fun as it can be to contribute a dollar or two to these campaigns, I think if everybody could put that effort into something that really mattered than we could make a huge impact.
I know plenty of people that have used GoFundMe. If you do it right, then you can get some great results from using the fundraising site. I believe they charge a small percentage of the proceeds, though, and you're not going to get much unless you can reach beyond your circle of family and friends.
That is amazing how this campaign took off to raise such a huge amount of money! I haven't used this site to raise fund, but I know a guy, completely healthy, capable of working, have a roof over his head, but too busy pursuit his dream of making chunk of money online, that he started a campaign for other people to donate money, a washer, a car, etc.. Now, if you ask me, I think this is abusing the system and it is pure laziness. Many of us work for pennies, and to contribute to such campaign is only pampering someone's dependency.
