Online funding efforts have got out of hand

This week, depressingly, we found out the homeless man who heroically ran into a bomb site at Manchester Arena to help victims of May’s terror attack perhaps might not be quite as much of a top bloke as we all thought, allegedly. Chris Parker was due in court yesterday (Wednesday) accused of stealing one of the victims credit cards.

The 33-year-old has continued to sleep rough ever since the bombing despite the fact more than £50,000 was raised for him via website GoFundMe.

Part of the reason for that is the money has never reached him, and whether it ever does will probably depend on what happens in court.

But the issues here are deeper rooted. Whether its GoFundMe or JustGiving, online philanthropy has got out of hand.

Of course, the intentions are noble, but it’s open to abuse and has become the rule rather than the exception when it comes to anything tragic happening.

These websites are big businesses at the end of the day, and even if they do plough all their profits back into the companies, that doesn’t take away from the fact expansion is their number one goal.

Even a couple of years ago the idea of having a JustGiving funeral would have seemed bizarre, now it’s the done thing.

For atrocities like Manchester’s fundraising it is of course welcome, but the sheer number of separate campaigns set up led to confusion and some were, at times, ill-judged.

I remember googling the Manchester Bee Appeal to find a dozen different campaigns all on the same site.

It’s all a bit much and – as with Parker’s, where more than 3,000 people’s money is still in limbo – it isn’t always the best option.