I don't normally talk about what/when I've donated to mutual aid fundraisers, because it feels kind of like tooting my own horn.
But I'm starting to think that maybe I should, even if just to create an ambient social expectation.
@joepie91 I do it to spread the message and get more donations. Like “just donated to X who needs money for X, if you can please help X” rather than “just gave five pounds to a unhoused person, 😎”
@james Hm. I'm not sure to what degree this is actually an issue, but I feel like that might cause an imbalance where 'blessing' a particular fundraiser with my mention causes money to go there instead of distributed better across all the folks who need it.
I don't want to be "the guy who decides whose bills get paid", even at a smaller scale, to be honest. Even picking out fundraisers is already difficult, knowing that I can't realistically distribute my own donations well (but that at least has a limited/fixed scope of effect).
@joepie91 heh yeah I just replied as much :)
@joepie91 I do understand that, yeah. But often people don’t get a lot of traction when they’re the one posting their need, and I think going “hey I donated to X” will get people donations they wouldn’t otherwise.
It can feel like a weird power thing though, especially if you have a lot of followers.
@james Yep, that's exactly it.
@james (At the same time I recognize that calling out someone by name is likely to make the message more effective)