Go Fund Me -- some questions

[Totally Tunsie]

2. Haven't set one up, but have donated to three.

Two were for local families facing hardship - one dealing with a draining family illness, and the second with victims of a house fire. The collections did very well, and were greatly appreciated by the recipients.

The other was a bummer. As a huge N.E. Patriots fan, I was drawn into a GFM that was ultimately going to be donated to the Patriots' charity. It was set up by a guy out of Seattle (so he said) who was a transplanted fan of the team. This was at the time of "Deflategate" when Tom Brady was being maligned so badly. A whole bunch of people donated - some big, but most gave $12 in honor of Tom's #12. The Fund amassed over $16,000 in a very short time and then...disappeared. No updates, no news, nada. Someone contacted the GFM administrators who, oddly, had no information about the disbursement of the funds raised, and no donation had been made to the Patriots' charity in that amount. We've come to conclude that "guy from Seattle" made a quick $16K for his Christmas shopping.

Fortunately, I was in for only $12, but I'm limiting my donations to local situations only now.