I remember vaguely one of these kinds of donation sites had a post from someone wanting money. It was set up initially as a "sorta-joking, but not really" things. They didn't "need" the money, there was no emergency. But they wanted to do something special that they couldn't otherwise afford to do. Might've been an anniversary trip or a nice wedding reception instead of pot-luck in the back yard, I really don't remember. They were up front and honest about their situation - they weren't in dire straits. They were hard-working people, paid their bills on time, set aside money for usual things like yearly week off and the kids' college funds. But they had nothing left over for this one special event that they REALLY wanted.
They ended up getting a lot more than they'd asked for, and put the leftover into their kids' college funds. I thought it was a nice idea, and admired their honesty. I didn't donate, but I thought it was a nice community gesture. At many businesses, the offices have a "Sunshine Club" that collects weekly or monthly from employees to cover the costs of birthday parties, work anniversaries, or even babysitting services when a co-worker will be recovering from surgery. I see nothing wrong with someone asking for similar on the internet, as long as they're honest about it.
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