San Francisco groups fight each other with rival GoFundMe groups for and against homeless shelter

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In a little over a week, a coalition of San Francisco residents raised more than $50,000 in an effort to block a new Navigation Center proposed for construction along the Embarcadero. Its creators attracted generous — often anonymous — donors, but also ridicule from critics who said the group is attempting to thwart badly needed aid for homeless people.

Now a rival fundraiser is hoping to counter the coalition’s efforts, raising money to support the advocacy group Coalition on Homelessness and any of the Navigation Center’s potential legal hurdles. The pro-Navigation Center’s GoFundMe page is called “SAFER Embarcadero For ALL,” a play off its anti-center counterpart, “Safe Embarcadero for All.” William Fitzgerald, the creator of the “Safer” page, said he was disappointed but not surprised to see wealthy residents fight a shelter in their neighborhood.

“It was kind of brazen,” Fitzgerald said. “They’re (trying to stop) a shelter in the neighborhood, and these are the same people who complain about homelessness all the time.” Fitzgerald said he drew inspiration from another GoFundMe page that was created to counter a group raising funds for a border wall. The group, “Ladders to Get Over Trump’s wall, raised money for immigrants seeking legal asylum.

Those opposed to the 200-bed center, which is proposed for Seawall Lot 330 near the Bay Bridge, say it will threaten the health and safety of the community. A group founder did not return a call and message for comment. Rob Solomon, the chief executive officer of GoFundMe of Redwood City, explained why it granted a donation to the rival group: “I don’t think the tech industry is doing enough about the homeless issue. We wanted to do our small part, even though we’re not located in San Francisco.”

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-group-creates-rival-GoFundMe-to-13725483.php

[SWBTATTReg]

1. I guess GOFUNDME is, I thought, for various causes, costs for setting up a business, etc., but...

I wonder why these people (IMHO) who feel so strong against having a homeless shelter in their neighborhood, why aren't THEY paying for the efforts to block the shelter from being built/setup themselves, instead of taking money from gofundme?

I find it rather hypocritical that they feel strongly enough to have this 'not in my backyard' mentality, but then don't put up their own money in fighting against the having a shelter in their own neighborhood?

I know that gofundme does do quite a bit of good for lots and lots of people but I thought that their primary goals was (1) raise money to start a business (2) raise money for charity. Perhaps I'm overlooking something/that the donations all come from residents there in the neighborhood.

It's just that I think people go running to other people for money when they have an issue on something, in their own neighborhood, don't step up to the plate themselves to help fund their own efforts, and instead, try to get others to pay their way. Don't each of us have our own issues in our own neighborhoods to deal with that if there was I am kind of tired of this in that people complain about stuff in their own neighborhood (the shelter in this case) and then don't do anything about it, financially or otherwise, in their own neighborhood, and leave the grunt work to others.

Of course the gofundme is totally voluntary, totally at the whim of donators, so that's great. I guess I'm kind of commenting about people pushing off responsibility of raising / providing money to deal with issues in their own neighborhoods/backyards onto other people not even in their neighborhood. There are so many gofundme events out there that I don't even go out there anymore. Not even remotely interested since so many people have (IMHO) gone running to 'gofundme' that it's been overdone. That's fine. I'll still donate, but not via this mechanism.