I hate the sponsored post titles

amother

Lemonchiffon

Wed, Nov 30 2022, 2:08 am

To echo what others post... I hate feeling like they are trying to manipulate me. I hate the way they do it, the fact that they feel they must expose the families to the world when most vulnerable, that they prey on the neediness of the families ...so I won't give to these campaigns. I will daven for the family or for the ill person.

I also know how the fundraisers make way too much money. Too high a percentage goes for overhead.

And I know one story personally where the advertisement was 95% made up. Yes their relative died but what happened after was not true. Being purposely vague but they are related to me. They took a tragedy, added to it, threw in a few lies, and capitalized on it to raise money.

Instead I give to people I know who need it or local reputable organizations that vet their recipients. Or communal organizations that no one is profiting off (mikvah, eruv).

amother

Poinsettia ↓

Wed, Nov 30 2022, 2:19 am

JCN and the others that create the clickbait ads charge a fortune. A huge percentage of the click through donations go straight to pay for the advertising, media, and their bottom line. It’s sad that that is the state of tzedaka campaigns today. I will not give a clickbait campaign even if the cause is worthy as a matter of principle.

Obviously enough people do click through and donate. That is why they are able to charge obscene amounts of money per cause.

↑ Jewishmom8

Wed, Nov 30 2022, 2:31 am

just in our defense, we do not pay an obscene amount of money for the people who run the campaign. I am paying for a service.
I am paying for them to do an enormous amount of work that I am not able to do.
We are able to help people who need help desperately because of the money from the campaign.
It is just a fact.
We have made weddings for orphans, paid medical bills, and more because of them.
It may not be your cup of tea or you may even feel that many are in poor taste but please realize that there is a legitimate other side of the coin here.

amother

↑ Opal

Wed, Nov 30 2022, 9:51 am

amother Bone wrote:

What do you mean they didn't see a penny?

So why did they let them use their name?

Is it legal?

The father died suddenly.
The mother was distraught and went into a deep depression.
She was an easy victim.
She wasn't in a mental state to fight for what was hers.
People donated because he truly was a great man, and the family was left bereft with no one to protect them, and to add insult to injury, there was money that could have helped them, but never actually reached the intended recipients.

Of course it's not legal.

amother

Skyblue

Wed, Nov 30 2022, 10:10 am

Sarah rivkah kohn of zisels links and shloimes club has a lot to say on this topic.

If you have instagram (which I dont) check her out.

Her motto is #dignitymatters

The way lots of these fundraisers work is not giving the family dignity.
And a lot of times it sounds like a keren of such is set up but it might severely limit the family's access to the funding st

imorethanamother

Wed, Nov 30 2022, 1:25 pm

What really upsets me is that The Chesed Fund got rid of their verification process, so now I don't donate to anyone. I mean, right now I can start a campaign and put anyone's name on there, and just start collecting money. I have no idea where the money is going.

Years ago, there was some crazy domestic abuse/violence/divorce situation that spread around the Jewish internet, with people being urged to donate to this poor woman to help her get free. I donated, and then found out in an article later that this woman's brother started the campaign and never gave the actual money to her at all, and then she went back to her supposedly abusive husband (she says she exaggerated the claims).

I also stopped giving to a few select tzedakah's that pay their CEO's an incredibly high salary. Bonei Olam pays salaries below ten percent of their contributions, which is just amazing. In contrast to others (cough) that give 40% and more to salaries and spend all year fundraising.

amother

↑ Poinsettia

Wed, Nov 30 2022, 2:16 pm

Jewishmom8 wrote:

They don’t vet the cause or prioritize more urgent needs. Their role is to psychologically manipulate people to open their purse strings for the cause that pays the most. In a way they are doing a disservice because it desensitizes us so we give less to the causes that don’t have a video of the orphan sobbing out a Kaddish on his fathers matzeiva or kallah in her wedding dress tears streaming down her face, or a lurid picture of a fire with “They screamed JUMP” emblazoned in huge letters.

It lacks the Jewish middos of tznius, hatznea leches and numerous other attributes and should have no place in our tzedaka giving.

WitchKitty

Wed, Nov 30 2022, 3:31 pm

Rappel wrote:

All true. But these ads give Yael parnassa, so I can't complain.

I thought it was funny that Amazon bought advertising space here last week. Who knew that imamother was on the map?

Used to be that if you posted the word 'amazon' it turned into a link that imamother got money from.