After learning that hopeful pilots using their site to raise money for flight training are being met with mockery and closed wallets, GoFundMe is considering donating $200 to pilots who sign up in the next week.
As it turns out, Senior Executive at GoFundMe, Kevin Sharpe, has been a private pilot for 17 years and is hoping to give back to the community.
“I remember when I was a young guy struggling to follow a dream,” Sharpe said. “I just want to help.”
According to Sharpe, pilots are being called things like “losers” and “douchebags” when they beg for donations.
It’s true. We saw one hopeful lose… uh, pilot, post their GoFundMe the other day and the moderators quickly deleted it. They then taunted the poor kid on Twitter.
As if the name calling wasn’t bad enough, fundraising pilots are also being hammered by chest-puffing stories from fellow aviators about how they never slept, ate or breathed for years because they were too busy working 50,000 billion jobs just to fund their training, and that’s how “real” men do it.
Sharpe said that he does expect something in return for the $200 donation, asking that pilots be willing to share their fundraiser in at least two Facebook pilot groups despite potential backlash.
“If your skin isn’t thick enough for backlash, it isn’t thick enough to be a pilot,” he added.
Sharpe said they are also considering donating $50 per additional social media page shared, so pilots should share in as many places as possible.
“This will not only give them a better shot at raising enough money, but it will give our site some positive advertising,” Sharpe said, feeling that it was a fair trade.
If interested, sign up quickly and begin sharing your fundraiser on facebook, reddit, twitter and anywhere else you can think of within the next week. GoFundMe will then assess how much to donate to each pilot. https://www.gofundme.com/sign-up
Good luck, lose… uh, pilot!
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