{"id":895,"date":"2026-09-08T04:14:50","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T04:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?p=895"},"modified":"2026-09-08T04:14:50","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T04:14:50","slug":"meet-the-gofundme-grifters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?p=895","title":{"rendered":"Meet the GoFundMe grifters"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

In Polk County, Georgia, there lived a one-year-old miniature donkey called HeeHaw. He had been raised and bottle-fed by his owner, a woman called Hannah Israel. In the early hours of Sunday 30 August, HeeHaw was minding his business when a squad of police officers approached his field looking for a missing child. Officer Trenton Garner claimed the donkey \u201ccharged\u201d at him, so he Tasered it. When that didn\u2019t work, he pulled out his Glock 17 and blew HeeHaw to the great big haystack in the sky. Israel said her donkey was \u201cvery well socialized\u201d, a regular at petting zoos and nursing homes; \u201che was not, like, an attack donkey\u201d. In words I challenge you not to be moved by, she added: \u201cHeeHaw thought people were his family and he was our family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more America is still fighting the wrong war<\/a><\/p>\n

Officer Garner has been placed on administrative leave while an investigation takes place, but the court of public opinion has already handed down its judgment. Its medium of choice: GoFundMe, the fundraising platform which has in many ways become the purest expression of direct democracy. The tragic tale of HeeHaw has sparked online outrage on a scale reminiscent of some of America\u2019s recent human <\/i>police-brutality scandals; it is hard not to be appalled by the apparently senseless assassination of a small and harmless donkey. Israel\u2019s fund, which set a target of $30,000 to care for Elsberry Riding and Farm\u2019s other animals and set up a \u201cHeeHaw Foundation\u201d, has at the time of writing raised $155,000. Among the named donors are \u201cJustice for Heehaw Solana\u201d, an apparently California-based campaign collective which has made 14 contributions amounting to more than $75,000 and whose profile picture is a drawing of the donkey in heaven, complete with a halo. Another, who stumped up $5, has set their username to \u201cTrenton Garner is a coward\u201d. Many of the donors have sent hundreds of dollars. The page\u2019s main image is of the dead donkey, eyes glassy, a distraught Hannah leaning over his body.<\/p>\n

GoFundMe, which was set up in San Diego by two tech founders in 2010, has raised more than $30 billion so far for a multitude of causes. Anybody can set up a fundraiser, which has a target attached and is shared across social-media sites for friends and strangers to donate to. More than 150 million people have donated over the years. The causes are as richly varied as pots for weddings and funerals, cancer treatment, boob jobs, sex-change surgery, rent and helping Chelsea Manning pay court fines during the Assange trial. Whatever the story, the language is often identical: the deserving subject is portrayed as a weeping contestant backstage at the X-Factor<\/i> auditions, pitifully relating their life\u2019s hardships. Subconsciously or otherwise, they repackage their plea as an eminently shareable focus for sympathy, a flurry of vulnerability and gratitude with smiling or teary pics attached. Queasy though it may be, this approach has a cash value.<\/p>\n

The stakes are sometimes comically low \u2014 unbelievably, some shameless people ask for money so they can go on holiday without even bothering with a sob story; sometimes, though, they could not be greater. Many of the site\u2019s most famous appeals have served as political statements. In 2015 GoFundMe pulled a crowdfunder for Sweet Cakes by Melissa, an Oregon bakery which refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. Conversely, after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Florida in 2016, the platform waived all transaction fees and donated $100,000 to the fundraiser for victims and their families. The site is ostensibly a neutral platform for universal kindliness \u2014 but the causes it promotes or pulls reveals the handprints of gatekeeping just behind the curtain. In some cases, the appeals it hosts have national or global significance; just one week after George Floyd was killed in May 2020, his brother\u2019s fund to cover a memorial and legal fees had raised $7 million. By the time it closed, it had made $14.5 million. Since 2022, a fund called Stand with Ukraine set up by the married actors Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher has raised more than $37 million.<\/p>\n

Then there are the swindlers. The site has hosted fictitious stories several times over the years. In 2017, AP reported the heartwarming story of a homeless veteran in New Jersey who, after lending a woman his last 20 bucks, received $400,000 when her GoFundMe page to \u201cpay it forward\u201d went viral. Kate McClure and her boyfriend Mark D\u2019Amico, who masterminded the scheme, were sued by the homeless man, Johnny Bobbitt, when they pocketed and splurged most of the money. It turned out the trio had made up the story\u2014 and all three were convicted of theft by deception. Police found texts sent by McClure which read: \u201cI had to make something up to make people feel bad.\u201d The site has an investigations unit, and will police fraud when prompted \u2014 but this is not a charity doling out grants; it is a platform for financial transactions between strangers.<\/p>\n

GoFundMe has become an unlikely organ through which the public can intervene, in real time, in tragedies, scandals and amusing or moving stories. While official institutions like the police and the courts take years to grind out justice, crowdfunding provides instant satisfaction. In a sense, donations function like votes. In a time of mass disaffection with politics and politicians, GoFundMe gives people an unprecedented sense of control, a way of making their solidarity, sympathy or horror known. News cycles may seem increasingly senseless and frightening \u2014 think of those boy-racer crashes last month, which injured a family in Ireland and killed two police officers in Middlesbrough. Inquests in both cases could involve years of feet-shuffling; crowdfunders for the victims in both cases have now raised \u20ac750,000 and \u00a31 million respectively. These donations have an immediate purpose \u2014 to help the wronged \u2014 but they also work as decrees. They say \u201cI believe you\u201d; \u201cwe are on the good side\u201d; \u201cI am repulsed too\u201d.<\/p>\n

Read more How to save writing from AI<\/a><\/p>\n

Take the case of Lindsay Clancy. The torrid trial over her killing of her three children \u2014 an act her lawyers do not dispute, but claim she was not criminally responsible for on grounds of mental ill-health \u2014 may have collapsed, but on GoFundMe the emotional verdict has already been announced. A fundraiser for her parents is illustrated by a drawing of Clancy in her wheelchair surrounded by hundreds of women holding hands in solidarity. So far more than $1.2 million has been raised to \u201cgive [Mike and Paula Musgrove] back some of the financial stability they have lost\u201d supporting their daughter\u2019s court battle.<\/p>\n

Brandee Mulligan, herself a mother of three who vlogs on TikTok and who set up the appeal, wrote on the site: \u201cThis fundraiser is not asking anyone to agree on Lindsay, her case, or what the outcome of her trial should be.\u201d But of course it is <\/i>a referendum on Clancy\u2019s case. The debate over her postpartum psychosis has riven America and the world along sex lines; a look through this appeal\u2019s list of donors suggests almost all (who are not anonymous) are women. The site only allows you to comment if you give; those who have are not bashful about their support for Clancy.<\/p>\n

The Clancy case is a particularly extreme flashpoint \u2014 but crowdfunding culture has transformed society in other ways. GoFundMe\u2019s most common cause, making up a third of appeals, is for medical fundraising. In America the site has become an ersatz public-healthcare system, powered not by taxes but by good will. There is, of course, nothing sinister about these campaigns themselves \u2014 the success of fundraisers for the thousands of suffering adults and children on the site is a rare perk of the internet. But that people should have to rely on GoFundMe at all \u2014 and that they must narrate their struggles to optimize them for virality to do it \u2014 is bleak.<\/p>\n

Other causes on the site reveal a particularly despicable quality of the modern internet: the firm conviction that your own problems are others\u2019 responsibility to fix. So it is that the platform is littered with whingeing appeals to \u201csave me from homelessness\u201d or \u201chelp me through unemployment\u201d set off by unconvincing tales of persecution by evil housemates or evil bosses. In many cases, the person rattling the begging bowl looks rather like they\u2019re asking others to compensate for their own laziness or irresponsibility. GoFundMe culture has created a sense of victimized entitlement in people who see themselves not as agents in their own futures, but as \u201ccauses\u201d, personal brands navigating broken systems.<\/p>\n

At its best, the site is an apparatus for democracy, empowering the public to correct institutional failures or register their disgust. At worst, it teaches us that every grievance has a price tag. I for one look forward to seeing the great works of the HeeHaw Foundation, which if nothing else will provide catharsis; in other matters, though, I remain a skeptic. It seems we live in a world where a single mother\u2019s desire for a BBL warrants mutual aid. In a saner time, you\u2019d get off that flat ass and work for it; today every news story, personal tragedy and vain desire has a \u201cdonate\u201d button attached.<\/p>\n

Read more Who owns the Bayeux Tapestry?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Polk County, Georgia, there lived a one-year-old miniature donkey called HeeHaw. He had been raised and bottle-fed by his owner, a woman called Hannah Israel. In the early hours of Sunday 30 August, HeeHaw was minding his business when a squad of police officers approached his field looking for a missing child. Officer Trenton […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[256],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dead-donkey"],"yoast_head":"\nMeet the GoFundMe grifters - \u0421ity Flow Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?p=895\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet the GoFundMe grifters - \u0421ity Flow Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In Polk County, Georgia, there lived a one-year-old miniature donkey called HeeHaw. He had been raised and bottle-fed by his owner, a woman called Hannah Israel. In the early hours of Sunday 30 August, HeeHaw was minding his business when a squad of police officers approached his field looking for a missing child. Officer Trenton […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?p=895\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0421ity Flow Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-08T04:14:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/?p=895#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/?p=895\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/eb5442f0ad6aa87f0eddf619a8d0abc4\"},\"headline\":\"Meet the GoFundMe grifters\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-08T04:14:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/?p=895\"},\"wordCount\":1543,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/?p=895#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/fb4e8d43bcd898f448b3d6b8d14ead6b.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Dead donkey\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/?p=895#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/?p=895\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/?p=895\",\"name\":\"Meet the GoFundMe grifters - \u0421ity Flow Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/?p=895#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/?p=895#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/fb4e8d43bcd898f448b3d6b8d14ead6b.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-08T04:14:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/eb5442f0ad6aa87f0eddf619a8d0abc4\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/?p=895#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/?p=895\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/?p=895#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/fb4e8d43bcd898f448b3d6b8d14ead6b.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/fb4e8d43bcd898f448b3d6b8d14ead6b.webp\",\"width\":650,\"height\":430},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/?p=895#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Meet the GoFundMe grifters\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u0421ity Flow Journal\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/eb5442f0ad6aa87f0eddf619a8d0abc4\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityflowjournal.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Meet the GoFundMe grifters - \u0421ity Flow Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?p=895","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Meet the GoFundMe grifters - \u0421ity Flow Journal","og_description":"In Polk County, Georgia, there lived a one-year-old miniature donkey called HeeHaw. He had been raised and bottle-fed by his owner, a woman called Hannah Israel. In the early hours of Sunday 30 August, HeeHaw was minding his business when a squad of police officers approached his field looking for a missing child. Officer Trenton […]","og_url":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?p=895","og_site_name":"\u0421ity Flow Journal","article_published_time":"2026-09-08T04:14:50+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?p=895#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?p=895"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/eb5442f0ad6aa87f0eddf619a8d0abc4"},"headline":"Meet the GoFundMe grifters","datePublished":"2026-09-08T04:14:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?p=895"},"wordCount":1543,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?p=895#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fb4e8d43bcd898f448b3d6b8d14ead6b.webp","articleSection":["Dead donkey"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?p=895#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?p=895","url":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?p=895","name":"Meet the GoFundMe grifters - \u0421ity Flow Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?p=895#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?p=895#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fb4e8d43bcd898f448b3d6b8d14ead6b.webp","datePublished":"2026-09-08T04:14:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/eb5442f0ad6aa87f0eddf619a8d0abc4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?p=895#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?p=895"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?p=895#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fb4e8d43bcd898f448b3d6b8d14ead6b.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fb4e8d43bcd898f448b3d6b8d14ead6b.webp","width":650,"height":430},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?p=895#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Meet the GoFundMe grifters"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/","name":"\u0421ity Flow Journal","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/eb5442f0ad6aa87f0eddf619a8d0abc4","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/cityflowjournal.com"],"url":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityflowjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}