Rules-Discussion

[Catherine]

I think you pretty much clarify the issue. We just can't allow personal fundraising. Too often the sites are just a money grab and I doubt there even is an animal involved. The picture is always very generic and there is never any detail.

We put in a charity section so legitimate charities can post a link to their site. If someone chooses to donate to a cause that is their choice.

We try to verify charities to be sure they are real. If we can't confirm a charity within a reasonable amount of time, with a reasonable amount of research, then we cannot allow the link to stay on our site.
I like to put a warning message in the charity's post to let people know that we have not yet confirmed the site.
I think that is fair since this is our site and we are letting charitable groups use our site for their benefit.

So any charity that wishes to post a link needs to give us enough information to confirm the legitimacy of their cause.

I would not recommend that anyone send funds to a PayPal account that they come across on this Forum. Always be sure before you donate. As you say, real charities have proper web sites.