Ugh! Begging for a Dream.

[GSNW]

It's fine for you to reply and ask to be excluded from future emails.  I casually know a woman with whom I work on an online product.  I got an email a few months ago from her daughter (who is inher early teens) promoting her current club fundraiser.  I replied, "Hi Daughter, please take me off your email list.  Thank you!"

You're not even obligated to say you can't donate.  Obviously, if you ask to be excluded, even the most dim-witted will get the message.

I DO think OPs situation is much more "gimme" than a kid hitting up adults for an activity.  I wasn't thrilled with coworker giving my email to her kid but since she honored my request, no biggie.

[Margo]

I think as a general rule, indigogo and kickstarter projects are better than kids/adults begging for sponsorship, as they work more like a pre-order or investment.
But the way this girl has done it is completely wrong. I  think *one* e-mail to let people know you are running a marathon for charity / crowd funding a project/ whatever is OK, provided it is sent to people you already know (i.e. NOT your parents colleagues who you don't personally know) or who have expressed an interest.

After that, updates on your *own* facebook page / twitter account are fine, but follow up e-mails to others? Absolutely not.

I'd be inclined to respond to the daughter saying "My name seems to have been added in error to your mail shot, please remove it" And I would then be filtering her mails straight to my junk folder.

[LadyR]

Indiegogo and Kickstarter -- there are probably more -- generally fund artistic efforts and generally give donors a chance to get involved in a project and follow it.  It can be fun for those who enjoy new music, or independent film, or new books, games or technology.  It can even be a way to learn about project development and production by getting involved in someone else's project.  Successful crowd source fundraising requires plans, budgets, samples, concentrated publicity campaigns, and using premiums to get a support base of people enthusiastic about the project.  What I see here is somebody doing it wrong.  I don't see any talk of a link to sample, I don't see a specific project description or a budget.  I don't see a premium for supporters at different levels.  What I see sounds like a kids's little hobby project, and not a serious artistic endeavor.  What I see is an attempt to solicit donations rather than sponsorship and project or artist support.  I wouldn't send this young woman any money because she hasn't done her homework.  I also wouldn't criticize crowd funding generally just because some people don't know how to use it.

Exactly this. Friends of ours are musicians and they used kickstarter to try and fund their first album (sadly it failed), but they went about in a much more organized way. Hey laid out exactly what they needed money for, offered reasonable incentives and didn't soam anyone (just posted some updates on their band facebook page) and when it failed there was no whining, they just went aout looking for other options and ended up instead producing an EP which got on itunes and has produced modest sales which they're adding to their record fund.

No sour taste left at all.

[mimi_cat]

Oh my.  I live in a city with a thriving music industry - and I know a ton of people who also play/sing in addition to holding down full time jobs.  I might consider donating to someone who I knew had talent, who had been making the rounds playing, etc.  All the bars/restaurants here have live music, and almost all of them are selling a CD for $5-10.  I've bought a few here and there, but I don't think any of them have been from someone who ends up making it big. 

I have some friends who recently used gofund.me to hassle people into paying for their daughter's spring trip to DC.  They posted on Facebook saying how "she NEEDS to go" and "she's so smart" and they raised $1500+ in a few days.  Ugh. 

[WillyNilly]

Interesting piece in the Wall Street journal this weekend about people doing this (begging for a dream) in order to move to NYC.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323628804578348413644156942.html

Now don't get me wrong, I love NYC and I think you should all move here, but I found this funny because honestly?  NYC isn't all that expensive!  Its not cheap, but it didn't even make it onto the Huffington Posts list of 10 most expensive cities to live in the US list last month.

[Eeep!]

Interesting piece in the Wall Street journal this weekend about people doing this (begging for a dream) in order to move to NYC.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323628804578348413644156942.html

Now don't get me wrong, I love NYC and I think you should all move here, but I found this funny because honestly?  NYC isn't all that expensive!  Its not cheap, but it didn't even make it onto the Huffington Posts list of 10 most expensive cities to live in the US list last month.

Aww, but Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan DID make the top 10 list prepared by the Council for Community and Economic Research!
http://www.businessinsider.com/most-expensive-urban-areas-in-america-2013-2?op=1

[WillyNilly]

Interesting piece in the Wall Street journal this weekend about people doing this (begging for a dream) in order to move to NYC.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323628804578348413644156942.html

Now don't get me wrong, I love NYC and I think you should all move here, but I found this funny because honestly?  NYC isn't all that expensive!  Its not cheap, but it didn't even make it onto the Huffington Posts list of 10 most expensive cities to live in the US list last month.

Aww, but Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan DID make the top 10 list prepared by the Council for Community and Economic Research!
http://www.businessinsider.com/most-expensive-urban-areas-in-america-2013-2?op=1

well... those are averages and when you consider how many millions of people we have in NYC, the number's get skewed. I actually recognize the photo that accompanies Queens, and I can say that yes a house might cost upwards of $500k in that area, within 3 miles of there one can a home in the form of a co-op or condo for half that. In some areas - perfectly nice, safe, clean neighborhoods - apartments sell for less then $150k. But places Malba, Jamacia Estates and Douglaston Manor, Queens where houses cost $1-6 million throw off the averages. NYC can be a very affordable place to live, especially considering wages tend to be higher here too.